MBMBaM 789: Meditations on Bean

Summary

My Brother, My Brother and Me 789: Meditations on Bean

Hosts: Justin, Travis, and Griffin McElroy
Date: November 17, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into the McElroy brothers' ongoing fascination with Rowan Atkinson’s latest Netflix comedy, Man vs. Baby, unpacking its trailer in hilariously obsessive detail. The brothers reflect on the nature of "react content," offer advice to writers in public, and riff on wild fast-food PR stunts. With their trademark blend of sincerity, surrealism, and sibling razzing, they continually blur the line between affectionate mockery and genuine cultural criticism.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Meditations on Man vs. Baby

(Starts ~2:22)

• The Rowan Atkinson Cinematic Universe:

  • The episode kicks off with the brothers expressing excitement for the trailer of Man vs. Baby, a spinoff from Man vs. Bee.
  • The trailer’s massive popularity (4.7 million views in two days) shocks and slightly disheartens Justin:

    "That I don't like to. That doesn't make me want to do jokes." — Justin (03:22)

  • The brothers discuss the legal intricacies of fair use and transformative reactions while poking fun at internet video culture, suggesting “overlaying a picture of Rowan Atkinson making the face” to boost engagement (05:17).

• In-Depth Trailer Analysis:

  • The trio riff on the absurd escalating stakes: from fighting a bee to fighting a baby, joking about franchise power-creep and potential future entries like Man vs. Babies and Man vs. God — with Rowan Atkinson playing God, of course (11:41).
  • Griffin summarizes the permissively cartoonish violence ("tucks the cork right in the baby's mouth"), contrasting it with outdated humor that "doesn't really fly anymore."
  • Justin proposes a surreal theory:

    “That was him from the past. And he is watching himself as a baby… Every time he makes a mistake, another baby happens with the baby. He adult him gets dumber.” — Justin (09:46)

  • Griffin and Travis speculate further about the existential feedback loops this would create, and the possibility of an infinite onslaught of Rowan Atkinsons ("Mr. Bean Baby, Johnny English baby...Black Adder baby...") (11:18–11:39).

• Ethics & Tone:

  • The brothers are both fascinated and uncomfortable with the physical comedy involving babies:

    “I don't think Netflix is gonna let a movie go on streamable where Rowan Atkinson even harms an infant.” — Griffin (14:30)

• Reality & Franchise Expansion:

  • Jokes are made about alternate-universe "reactor" creators (“If they don't want to hear us saying the same stuff, they should listen to different people.” — Justin, 17:09) and the fatigue of relentless content creation ("It's a little exhausting making the amount of content that we make.") (17:33).

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2. Reflections on Reaction Content & Creative Work

(Starts ~17:33)

• React vs. Original Content:
  • The brothers openly envy the ease of "react" content creators compared to their own improv-heavy show:

    “Everyone has discovered it is a lot more fun to just watch TV shows and talk about them.” — Justin (18:09)

  • Fantasies include being a well-loved reaction YouTuber ("listen to a song that you've never heard before but everybody else has heard and you really love the song" — Justin, 19:00) or a meme games channel.
  • Travis muses about being "an extremely ethical Mr. Beast. Yes, Mr. Beauty, I'd call myself." (21:03)

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3. Advice: Crying Over One's Own Writing in Public

(Starts ~22:41)

• Listener Question:
  A writer asks how they can keep from unsettling coffee shop regulars while crying silently over an emotional work-in-progress.
• Support & Suggestions:
  • The brothers affirm the emotion as commendable:

    “That's brave. To be so invested in one's own art that it make you cry..." — Travis (23:24)

  • Justin notes:

    “You have become extremely distracted at the coffee shop. Your plan of avoiding distractions has been so completely foiled that you've been distracted to a point where you're emailing us...” — Justin (23:36)

  • They jokingly suggest setting up a tip jar or QR codes for preorders and coffee, riffing on the concept of "writing buskers" (25:27).
  • Travis hypothesizes people might assume the writer is “drafting a breakup letter” (27:28).
  • Justin shares a touching real-life anecdote about kindness—a story of warning a stranger about a spider in her hair at a football game (28:00–30:31).

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4. Munch Squad: Fast Food Press Releases & PR Stunts

(Starts ~41:36)

• Taco Bell's Baja Blast Pie:

  • Tackles the limited-edition Baja Blast Pie hype and frustration over PR-driven scarcity.

    “I hate this, like, capitalization on these great dreams and then not everybody gets to try the dream.” — Justin (43:00)

• Hardee’s “Tender Bender” Lock-In:

  • Skewers Hardee’s attempt at viral marketing via a “Tender Bender lock-in” with streamer Duke Dennis and banana ball players — riffing on lock-in logistics and the implication of being “trapped” with endless chicken tenders (45:17–53:10).
  • Griffin, searching for concrete rules in the vague PR, says:

    “You gotta stop announcing shit gang, without explaining how it's gonna work. It drives me absolutely batty when these companies announce some wild shit and don't even think to put in some of the brass tax sort of rules and regulations.” — Griffin (52:20)

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5. Final Riffs: The Nature of Online Fame and Content

(Throughout, esp. ~53:15–55:02)

• More jokes on the Mr. Beast-style giveaways, laughing about the peculiar economics and trappings of influencer culture.
• “You get your Beast wet,” becomes a running punchline for pocketing profits (54:06); general absurdity about giving away or winning items in surreal online contests.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On franchise escalation:

  "I'm so worried about the power curve of this franchise, you guys, because man versus BE already...there's not many places left to go...then they announced man versus Baby...I don't think you can go anywhere except man versus Babies in the squeak-well.” — Griffin (11:07)

• On emotional art in public:

  “That's brave. To be so invested in one’s own art…” — Travis (23:24)
  “Maybe like a little QR code...it says, yeah, I'm crying about my book again. Scan to pre order.” — Justin (25:27)

• On the ease of reaction content:

  “We just barely misreact.” — Justin (20:43)
  “Everyone has discovered it is a lot more fun to just watch TV shows and talk about them.” — Justin (18:09)

• On bewildering fast food PR:

  "Where do you think your market is? ... We need it here." — Travis (43:26, on Taco Bell)
  "You gotta stop announcing shit gang, without explaining how it's gonna work." — Griffin (52:20)

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• 02:22–18:41: Main discussion of Man vs. Baby trailer, franchise speculation, and media analysis
• 17:33–22:37: Reflections on content creation vs. “react” content culture
• 22:41–31:10: Listener question about crying writers & kindness anecdote
• 41:36–53:10: Munch Squad (Taco Bell Baja Blast Pie, Hardee’s Tender Bender Lock-in)
• 53:15–54:59: Influencer/“Mr. Beast” jokes, surreal online economics

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Tone & Style

The episode is classic MBMBaM: fast-paced, riff-centric, and affectionate in its sarcasm. The siblings bounce seamlessly from intricate pop-culture parody to sincere advice and then into entirely imagined alternate realities. Their tone alternates between fraternal mockery, genuine affection (for each other and for the weird corners of media they explore), and an ever-present willingness to dissect the absurdities of modern life.

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For Listeners Who Missed the Episode

• The episode is an extended riff on pop culture’s increasingly bizarre media franchises, internet “react” trends, and the boldness (sometimes bordering on cynicism) of modern marketing.
• It features a thorough comedic breakdown of Man vs. Baby, musings on the grind and allure of online creation, and thoughtful, funny advice for writers (and anyone feeling a little out of place in public).
• The Munch Squad segment is a highlight — not for serious foodies but for fans of marketing absurdity and the brothers’ deft ability to spin even the oddest press release into comedy gold.
• You’ll leave with one burning question: Just how many Rowan Atkinsons could exist in one cinematic universe? And, what would happen at a Tender Bender lock-in?

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(Summary created from the original transcript—quotes and timestamps preserved for authenticity; advertising, intros, and outros omitted.)

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.

[Justin McElroy]

Also, this show isn't for kids, which.

[Griffin McElroy]

I mention only so the babies out there will know how cool they are for listening. What's up? You cool, baby?

[Guest or Musical Interlude]

It's the start of something beautiful A small acquaintance has blossomed it's ripened into 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.

[Justin McElroy]

Life.

[Guest or Musical Interlude]

It'S better it's better with you this is who you are it's better it's better with two.

[Griffin McElroy]

Travis looks like a. Look at Travis. Travis looks like.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah, man.

[Griffin McElroy]

Griffin rules.

[Justin McElroy]

Everybody loves Griffin.

[Travis McElroy]

It's about the background. You guys see the empty water jug?

[Griffin McElroy]

That's.

[Travis McElroy]

It's mise en scene, baby.

[Griffin McElroy]

My kids love. My kids love Griffin. They want me to spend more time here. I say I can't. Uncle Juice has to diddle with his gadgets and gizmos of plenty. Like Ariel under the Sea.

[Justin McElroy]

Oh, sorry. I'd rather not be consigned to the dustbin of history. I'm just trying to keep us relevant, okay?

[Travis McElroy]

No, it's okay. We've inspired people who will be more famous than us.

[Griffin McElroy]

We started this shit on a rock band, Mike Juice. Don't get.

[Justin McElroy]

Don't get.

[Griffin McElroy]

End it.

[Justin McElroy]

I'd rather not end it on one. All right.

[Griffin McElroy]

That felt good to be in show. I like the little gentle razz.

[Travis McElroy]

We never do a cold open.

[Griffin McElroy]

No, we don't.

[Justin McElroy]

Was that cold open?

[Griffin McElroy]

That was our cold open.

[Justin McElroy]

Okay. Hi, welcome to My Brother, My Brother. Main advice show for the modern era. I'm your oldest brother, Justin Kn McElroy.

[Travis McElroy]

What's up, Trav Nation? I'm your Miller's brother, Travis. Big dog. Wolf. Wolf. Roof McElroy.

[Griffin McElroy]

What's up, trap Nation? It's me, your sweet baby brother, Griffin. 30 under 30. Media luminary macrame.

[Justin McElroy]

I have a question.

[Griffin McElroy]

How do you keep this straight every time that you say Trav?

[Travis McElroy]

I gotta not think about it. I gotta not think about it.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Travis McElroy]

When I think about it, that's why many whoopsies.

[Griffin McElroy]

God damn.

[Justin McElroy]

Okay, so here's my question for you guys. Who will save us from the babies? Thank you. Who will stand against the babies?

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, I have. I mean, I got one name in mind and it's Rowan Atkinson. Or will I be able to remember the name of that character from man vs. Froy? Freund. Trestor. Freund. Does that sound fucking right?

[Travis McElroy]

Can I tell you guys, I'm so eager to watch this trailer? Mostly because I have it paused on my screen right now, and it's a.

[Griffin McElroy]

Close up of Owen's face.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah, he's making the face.

[Griffin McElroy]

He's making the face.

[Travis McElroy]

Making the face.

[Griffin McElroy]

His money maker. And no friends you haven't tuned into an episode you've already listened to. Last time we talked about man versus did you hear the whole man versus B arc? It's all we fucking talked about for like a month and a half.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

So forgive us for being enthused about man versus Baby, which didn't have a trailer last time we did this. Now we've got 2 minutes and 3 seconds.

[Travis McElroy]

And his trailer two days ago has 4.7 million views. Don't say that.

[Justin McElroy]

That I don't like. That I don't like to. That doesn't make me want to do jokes.

[Travis McElroy]

Oh, man.

[Griffin McElroy]

Well, J Dog, they put this up on the main Netflix channel. This is not going up in like Netflix British comedy, like one of their little splinter cells. This is bringing a lot of heat. Can we talk about that?

[Travis McElroy]

I think we probably got that many views on our CISO show. Justin. Don't worry.

[Justin McElroy]

We're right up in the same cumulative.

[Griffin McElroy]

Can we put the audio in? Are you still set up to do that juice in Studio 2.0 to pipe in the audio of the man vs Baby trailer? I don't know if we're allowed to do that, but I think it'll help it hit for the folks at home.

[Justin McElroy]

I mean, Rachel, I think what would be better is for us to watch it silently if we sync it, and then Rachel can layer on that audio later if need be. I would like to make it an indelible part of the recording.

[Griffin McElroy]

Okay.

[Justin McElroy]

As long as we talk.

[Griffin McElroy]

Fair use says we gotta transform it. We can't just play 2 minutes and 3 seconds of Rowan. But it's gotta be ripping.

[Travis McElroy]

What if it transforms us? Is that still transformative? If it transforms us?

[Griffin McElroy]

Yes. Yes, absolutely it is. So let's just get that shit ready at 00.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah, I'm right there.

[Griffin McElroy]

Get those captions on volume down so we can have, like, a conversation while it's happening. And transparency.

[Justin McElroy]

Can we just. Can I pop this? You guys want me to pop this up in the.

[Griffin McElroy]

Oh, in the riverside so we can.

[Travis McElroy]

Get a little bit of.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, can you full screen that for Me. I need every pixel. Please, Daddy. Every pixel down.

[Justin McElroy]

I'd rather. You know what?

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Can't. What's the law on a fourth heat that is just a. A still image of Rowan Atkins? I feel like that fourth heat that we needed was Rhode Atkinson.

[Griffin McElroy]

You can't. You can't fucking trademark a picture. So we can definitely, in all of our videos, Netflix logo in the corner.

[Travis McElroy]

That's going to get that out.

[Griffin McElroy]

Put a smaller video of Rohan making a different face over the Netflix logo and just keep him in all our clips for the near future. It'll be like how they put Subway surfers in, like, TikToks. If they want you to really pay attention. People will think our shit is funnier if there's a picture. Picture of Rowan Atkinson making the face.

[Travis McElroy]

The more I look at this, the more I'm starting to see messages in his furrowed brow.

[Justin McElroy]

So please don't do that. Don't do that.

[Travis McElroy]

I know.

[Griffin McElroy]

Don't do that. I'm so psyched, dude. Are we gonna be able to hear it?

[Justin McElroy]

I don't know. Okay, I'll hear it.

[Griffin McElroy]

Okay.

[Justin McElroy]

I'll hear it for sure. Hello?

[Griffin McElroy]

Sorry to bother you, sir. We're making inquiries about a missing. Jesus Christ.

[Guest or Musical Interlude]

A baby? A misplaced baby. What do you mean?

[Justin McElroy]

Dad, what are you doing?

[Griffin McElroy]

Trevor, it's a bit of a long story. That baby just flew in the window and tackled Roman earlier about a baby that was.

[Justin McElroy]

Don't do this.

[Griffin McElroy]

Don't put babies in the front seat of a car. Jesus Christ. So the name's Mr. Bin.

[Justin McElroy]

Is that right? Well, it's Bin and then Glee. Got it.

[Griffin McElroy]

Bingley. Bin's Your first name, Mr. Glee?

[Justin McElroy]

Bingley.

[Griffin McElroy]

He hung up on the police officer helping him find a home for this baby.

[Travis McElroy]

I think with a baby already there, it's too late for plan B. We are naturally looking for a highly responsible individual.

[Justin McElroy]

Got a baby.

[Griffin McElroy]

He has a baby in his backpack.

[Justin McElroy]

He's got a baby in his backpack.

[Travis McElroy]

So he's brought a second baby in. Sorry.

[Justin McElroy]

Christmas. He reminds me a lot of Mr. Bean if I think about it.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's so sinister.

[Justin McElroy]

He's got the baby. Prison. The baby sucking on a wine form.

[Griffin McElroy]

This is good.

[Justin McElroy]

Oh, goodness.

[Griffin McElroy]

This is an emergency. We have a missing infant.

[Justin McElroy]

Whose baby is this?

[Travis McElroy]

This man is a criminal.

[Griffin McElroy]

Trevor.

[Justin McElroy]

Trevor, no.

[Travis McElroy]

I'm afraid we have a problem.

[Justin McElroy]

Second baby has hit the trailer.

[Griffin McElroy]

Mr. President. Mr. President, a second baby has appeared in the movie. Oh, about three months.

[Guest or Musical Interlude]

He's huge.

[Justin McElroy]

For three months.

[Griffin McElroy]

Well, you should see his mother.

[Justin McElroy]

Huh?

[Travis McElroy]

Oh, Boy.

[Justin McElroy]

He'S.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, Rowan, we don't joke like that anymore.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

The reason that that joke didn't land with those three women you met in the park, Rowan, is that that thing doesn't really fly so much anymore.

[Justin McElroy]

That's actually kick ass, though. But that's the joke they ended the trailer on. They ended the trailer. Not a lot of people have the gusta end a trailer on video of.

[Travis McElroy]

A joke not hitting.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Travis McElroy]

When I was bombing. I would like to highlight two but exactly the same kind of moments in that trailer.

[Justin McElroy]

That's good. That's good.

[Travis McElroy]

One, when he says his name and when he says plan B. Do you think that's for the man versus B heads to be like, Bingley's back. And then time for.

[Griffin McElroy]

Okay, it's. It's like plan B, which is I'm going to term. I'm going to eliminate the threat, which is this time a baby. Not a lot. Not going to win a ton of fans with that whole dudes.

[Justin McElroy]

What if the baby is like, encourageable? Right. He can't get the baby to behave.

[Griffin McElroy]

Seems like a real shit.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, it seems like a real shit. Time for plan B. He calls in the bee.

[Griffin McElroy]

The bee to fuck up the B.

[Justin McElroy]

He gets the bee to babysit the baby. You know, like the baby.

[Travis McElroy]

My takeaway from that trailer, the baby seemed like a non factor with takeaways.

[Justin McElroy]

From that trailer because if you take away more than even a little bit, there's not gonna be anything there.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah, that's fair. I just think Trevor Bingley is a monster.

[Griffin McElroy]

He's bad. He kidnaps a baby and then decides he's going to keep doing his house sitting job.

[Justin McElroy]

You find out the circumstances, you will be ashamed of your words.

[Travis McElroy]

The circumstances that make sense of putting a champagne cork in a baby's mouth.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

So that's the other thing that I really like about this trailer and what's got me excited about this movie all over again. I worried with his opponent this time being an infant, they were going to really pull their punches in the versus department. No. In this one trailer, we are looking at a front seat, baby seat, passenger seat, baby seat. You simply don't and cannot.

[Travis McElroy]

That's facing. Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

101. Fucking shit, my dude. Two.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

Drinks champagne, tucks the cork right in the baby's mouth. I don't think that's actually safety rated, actually.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah, in a lot of ways.

[Griffin McElroy]

Stop. A backstop.

[Justin McElroy]

I don't think you guys were picking up on the plot. Oh, okay. Because I was watching it and I Was. Here's what I was getting was that was him from the past. And he is watching himself as a baby. This is what I was getting from the.

[Griffin McElroy]

Okay, little Russian doll action.

[Justin McElroy]

Right? So he's watching himself as a baby. And the thing is, every time he makes a mistake, another baby happens with the baby. He adult him gets dumber.

[Griffin McElroy]

Every time. Okay? So, yes, he makes a mistake with the baby, and it makes him in real life, dumber. Wouldn't that form a feedback loop? That would eventually.

[Justin McElroy]

That's what leads to endless mayhem.

[Travis McElroy]

That's what he's for.

[Justin McElroy]

The watch it all unravel. Like, yes, you're right, Griffin. It will be an endless feedback loop of fun.

[Travis McElroy]

And the second baby is created by that loop.

[Griffin McElroy]

I wasn't getting.

[Justin McElroy]

There's one. There's one moment at which he. He does something with the baby that causes him to do a teen pregnancy in his own life later where he's pregnant. Where he's pregnant with himself again right now with himself. But this is his second chance, right. To get it right. Yeah. Because he is done. He's done. He can't help that baby because every mistake he's made with that baby.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Is now revisited onto himself. There's no coming back.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'm so worried about the power curve of this franchise, you guys, because man versus BE already. It was like, wow, there's not many places left to go. This BE really did a number on this human man.

[Guest or Musical Interlude]

And.

[Griffin McElroy]

And then they announced man versus Baby. I was like, okay, I could see that. That definitely seems like an escalation in the opponent where I don't think you can go anywhere except man versus Babies in this. In the squeak. Well, where we're talking about every Rowan baby that comes out is a different. There's a Mr. Bean Baby and a Johnny English baby. And the love actually salesman baby.

[Travis McElroy]

Black Adder baby.

[Griffin McElroy]

Black Adder baby.

[Travis McElroy]

Rat race baby.

[Justin McElroy]

This will be the plot of man versus God. God will come down to Trevor Bingley and he will look at. Beheld what Trevor Bingley has created. Right. And he'll say, you've. You've gone too far.

[Griffin McElroy]

Who's playing God? Is it Rowan Atkinson?

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, of course it's Rowan Atkinson.

[Griffin McElroy]

Okay, cool.

[Justin McElroy]

Just make sure I'm never giving that.

[Travis McElroy]

Away in the trailer. Justice. That's the twist.

[Justin McElroy]

You don't carry around a Swiss army knife and a little screwdriver, you know?

[Griffin McElroy]

Good point. Good point.

[Justin McElroy]

Of course it's Rowan.

[Travis McElroy]

One more thing that just jumped out to me right in the first 10 seconds. The quality of the video call with the police officer is so reminiscent of when Pee Wee's Playhouse used to do phone calls in the booth with people.

[Justin McElroy]

It does look like that. And listening Dinah Shores singing on Days.

[Travis McElroy]

Of Christmas, we, my brother and me, draw a hard line about using AI. Absolutely. But how else were they gonna get some kind of background to put behind this police officer fair dude without burning down a couple acres of rainforest?

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Travis McElroy]

Worth it.

[Griffin McElroy]

I, I still. The Vegas odds are still heavily favoring man in this contest. Even after the trailer, I thought that we would see some change over on Giraffe Kings and the other big ones. And nothing. Nothing. So far. People are still saying I didn't see baby wasn't bringing a ton in this trailer. That made me think he's going to win. And that Trevor Bingley will die, I guess, is the fail statement.

[Justin McElroy]

It has to end on death.

[Travis McElroy]

There also didn't seem to be in man versus B, a through line of police involvement. This man is a criminal. Will be going to jail.

[Griffin McElroy]

Sure.

[Travis McElroy]

There seems to be a through line in this. One of two different realities existing where Trevor Bingley's just on a romp with a baby. Meanwhile everyone else. Yeah, it's like, well, they'll play that.

[Griffin McElroy]

For laughs, for sure.

[Travis McElroy]

Crimes are being committed, and this is very serious.

[Justin McElroy]

The trailer for this film got 4 million views in two days. If I'm the baby, I'm looking at that marquee and I know where I rank. You know what I mean? This is. This is me versus a franchise heavy hitter. This is me versus the darling of Netflix. Ask. Ask Le Chiffre, you know, ask Goldfinger. Yes. Ask them how it pans out. Because you know what happens at the end of it?

[Griffin McElroy]

They get by bullet.

[Travis McElroy]

But you didn't see the baby die, did you?

[Justin McElroy]

Cause he is Trevor Bingley.

[Griffin McElroy]

So that would be.

[Travis McElroy]

Yes. That would be crazy.

[Justin McElroy]

That would be insane. You know, it would be insane. It's like the last thing that happens is he messes up so bad. The baby dies. He dies. All reality winks out of existence. The paradox, I don't think.

[Travis McElroy]

And you see a little baby hand punch up through the ground and you're.

[Griffin McElroy]

Like, oh, no, I don't think Netflix is gonna let a movie go on streamable where Rowan Atkinson even harms an infant.

[Travis McElroy]

I don't think they put a cork in the baby's mouth, Grandpa. What are you talking about? They were one step away from.

[Justin McElroy]

That's how they're putting sickos in the door.

[Travis McElroy]

They were one step away from Putting those little white frilly things on his feet like they do turkeys in cartoons.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's gonna be in there for sure.

[Justin McElroy]

Drew.

[Travis McElroy]

I think he shoots out of a dryer. At one point, I got my watch.

[Griffin McElroy]

Stuck in the baby. Oh, man. At one point. You probably didn't pick up on this listener if you're consuming the audio product. At one point, Rowan Atkinson is interviewing for a house sitting job mid kidnapping, and he has the baby just in a big backpack, not visible at all. Fully hidden, fully contained within the backpack.

[Justin McElroy]

Let's hope oxygenated.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, I hope so. The baby rips it.

[Justin McElroy]

Huge fart.

[Griffin McElroy]

And then the lady looks at him like, did you fart? And his instinct was hesitation. Instead of, I would immediately say, yes, I farted. Because the alternative is, there's a stolen baby in the backpack I'm wearing.

[Travis McElroy]

I.

[Justin McElroy]

You can see her say, I. Yeah, I actually shit.

[Griffin McElroy]

I shit my pants bad.

[Justin McElroy]

I like to go with dress.

[Travis McElroy]

You need to leave the room now.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

This is weird for you. Not me.

[Travis McElroy]

I guarantee 100% odds. One to one odds. Netflix has on file already written up fully drafted.

[Justin McElroy]

A.

[Travis McElroy]

Actually, this was all a social experiment. That's what this movie was to figure out. Yeah, like, we didn't mean any of this. Actually, please don't be mad at us.

[Justin McElroy]

I would love to see Trevor Bingley join the stable of Netflix reality dating stars. Holy. If it's like Perfect Match and you get Trevor Bingley, like, waddling in like, I've never had sex, but I'd like.

[Griffin McElroy]

To try it with a baddie. Yes, yes. I've never had sex, but I'd like to try it with a baddie is what he'd say.

[Justin McElroy]

Take that, please.

[Griffin McElroy]

You guys are doing Bean. You know that, right? That's not his.

[Justin McElroy]

Did you not watch the trailer, dude? It's like meditations on Bean Man.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's like a little more sophisticated moods of Bean.

[Travis McElroy]

There's changes, but without the removal of cartoonishness that allows you to believe he's not a monster. Yeah, that's what they did.

[Griffin McElroy]

I can't wait.

[Justin McElroy]

Versus Bean. It could be like he's raising Bean man versus Bean. Fuck me running. Who wants to be a Millionaire?

[Griffin McElroy]

We definitely made that joke with views.

[Travis McElroy]

I'm just saying, if he's raising an alternate reality Trevor Bingley, that baby's been.

[Griffin McElroy]

That baby could be Bean Griffin.

[Justin McElroy]

If they don't want us to. If they don't want us here. If they don't want to hear us saying the same stuff, they should listen to different People, you know, listen to.

[Travis McElroy]

A different man versus baby.

[Griffin McElroy]

This is episode 4911. We've said everything at this point.

[Travis McElroy]

Listen here. On man vs B, man vs Baby and Me, we talk about man vs B, man vs Baby & Us.

[Griffin McElroy]

Can we part the curtain a little bit and put the tiger on the table and yell at it a little bit? It's a little exhausting making the amount of content that we make. And I get a genuine amount of real pleasure out of just watching the man vs Baby trailer and talking about it with. With you guys.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's really nice to just kind of sit and do it.

[Justin McElroy]

I get.

[Griffin McElroy]

I guess I get why the YouTube react thing is such a big deal. Because, like, sure, it feels good to just kind of chill on it.

[Justin McElroy]

And so this is actually what you're hitting on is kind of the crux of the whole Internet is.

[Travis McElroy]

Oh.

[Justin McElroy]

Everyone has discovered it is a lot more fun to just watch TV shows and talk about them. Like a hundred percent. We'd all like to be that kind of creator, because that's awesome. The only better kind of creator you.

[Travis McElroy]

Can fill a day.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Okay. That's like. That's like top five creators I wish that I have been instead of this, instead of what I am, which is just a man who has to husk it out five times a week down in the. In the comedy mind chucking chuckle nuts down. My life experience for a guy. Here's the kind. Here's the kind of creators I wish I had been. Okay, I'll get started. This is a thought starter.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Number one for me is. And I wanna mention to the listener, I'm saying this because what we do.

[Griffin McElroy]

Is really hard and we're not gonna change the things we do.

[Justin McElroy]

Right.

[Griffin McElroy]

So we love these things.

[Travis McElroy]

I want you to know how hard.

[Griffin McElroy]

Work is, but there's other things we could be doing that would be so much more chill to do.

[Justin McElroy]

Number one type of creator that I wish I had been is listen to a song that you've never heard before but everybody else has heard and you really love the song. That would be.

[Griffin McElroy]

People love that shit, dude.

[Justin McElroy]

A dream. Everybody's happy. Yeah, everybody loves it. You're a little surprised you've never heard the song. But when Bohemian Rhapsody hits. When Bohemian Rhapsody hits, I like the video banging. And you're loving it.

[Travis McElroy]

And you're going, oh, this is actually great. And everyone's like, it's great.

[Justin McElroy]

I love this.

[Travis McElroy]

I want to be an old.

[Justin McElroy]

You take it to your mom.

[Travis McElroy]

You say, mom.

[Justin McElroy]

They like the old shit you like.

[Griffin McElroy]

Look, I wanna be a. I wanna be an old orchestra conductor, sit down at his computer and listen to, like, one winged angel for the first time and be like, oh, this is good stuff. And everyone's just fucking love it. Chill job, dude.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah, here's the one I wanna do.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Travis McElroy]

If I could be a creator. It's where they take fail clips, right? Or bad things happen and it cuts back to them and they're going, oh. And then it goes back to another clip and then it comes back to.

[Justin McElroy]

Them and they're going, oh, that would be ice.

[Griffin McElroy]

You don't even have to get hit in the nuts and the feet. What if we did, like.

[Justin McElroy]

What if the only thing we did was try not to laugh?

[Travis McElroy]

Compilation. Oh, my God, baby, that would be bad.

[Griffin McElroy]

I mean, it'd be bad, bad, bad. Valueless.

[Justin McElroy]

We wouldn't have a career. But, like. Yeah, but imagine. Chill.

[Griffin McElroy]

I like.

[Justin McElroy]

Oh, man.

[Travis McElroy]

Is it too late to pivot to.

[Justin McElroy]

Sorry, do you want to wait? No. What?

[Travis McElroy]

Do you want to pivot? Is it too late to pivot to finding stories other people have written about things that happened to them and then reading that out loud and going, whoa.

[Griffin McElroy]

I mean. I mean, I think it's all. It's all react.

[Justin McElroy]

It's all react. React is what I wish, man. We just barely misreact.

[Travis McElroy]

I wish I'd done memed games. Now it seems hard.

[Griffin McElroy]

Travis would do it good. Like, Travis would do it in a way that was good and affirming.

[Justin McElroy]

In a different era, Travis would have been an extremely ethical Mr.

[Griffin McElroy]

Beast.

[Travis McElroy]

Yes, Mr. Beauty. I'd call myself.

[Justin McElroy]

Mr. Beauty would have been.

[Griffin McElroy]

That was a SNL sketch this past weekend. We must have hitting. We must tread lightly.

[Travis McElroy]

But I'd be Mr. Beauty and I'd be nice about it.

[Griffin McElroy]

I do like that.

[Travis McElroy]

And my games. Everybody get Lasik. Even the losers. You don't have to win to get Lasik.

[Justin McElroy]

Everybody get Lasik.

[Travis McElroy]

Everybody get Lasik.

[Justin McElroy]

Hey, thanks for coming. Get Lasik.

[Griffin McElroy]

Get Lasik.

[Justin McElroy]

I wish it would be cool. Wouldn't all reality TV be better if, like, at the end of Traders, you get revealed and you're like, step to the left. If you'd like some Lasix, your way out.

[Griffin McElroy]

Alan does some Lasik. Alan's got some fucking cool goggles he puts on.

[Justin McElroy]

People are starting to get. They're probably starting to get a little worried that we're going to do not only no show.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Sometimes we don't do the show. So I would like to begin the show.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

If we may.

[Griffin McElroy]

We can't talk about how dope it would be to only do react content just from an ease of creation standpoint.

[Travis McElroy]

And then not three brothers into a podcast where they're not allowed to do react content.

[Justin McElroy]

You can't react.

[Travis McElroy]

The first brother who reacts to something is out of the circle and everything they can fit in the circle.

[Griffin McElroy]

Why would you have. I guess my question is why would you have a different pay for if you were Mr. Beast or Mr. Beauty? Why would you have a different voice instead of just the voice you have? What would be so intrinsic to the point.

[Travis McElroy]

I've forgotten what my own voice sounds like now.

[Griffin McElroy]

Okay.

[Travis McElroy]

I'm too.

[Justin McElroy]

That's a voice in his head. Like he's forgotten what his own internal model of. That's how disconnected he is from his own self.

[Griffin McElroy]

Cool juice. Has that little doll boy been in the corner of your frame the whole time or is it haunting?

[Travis McElroy]

What little doll boy?

[Justin McElroy]

I don't see little doll boy.

[Griffin McElroy]

Okay, let's do a question, please.

[Justin McElroy]

I'm a writer working on a novel and I've been going to a local coffee shop to write in order to keep myself from getting distracted at home. Thing is, it's all in caps, so that's the best. That's my. Does that feel right?

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah. Justin's not mad at you. That's just how it was written.

[Justin McElroy]

I am currently writing a particularly emotional section of my book and I keep crying. Like, I'll just show up, cry big silent tears for two hours, and then leave. How do I make it so that I not frightened slash upset strangers, particularly regulars who have seen me do this for literal weeks?

[Griffin McElroy]

We're not gonna make fun of your process. Crying in the cafe is the name you've chosen. Cause I think that's incredible. I would love to make.

[Justin McElroy]

That's so brave.

[Travis McElroy]

That's brave. To be so invested in one's own.

[Griffin McElroy]

Art that it make you cry or makes you feel like writing a horror story and you get scared of it. That's cool.

[Justin McElroy]

So, like, I want to start by saying I have bad news. You've become extremely distracted. Question asker. Okay. You have become extremely distracted at the coffee shop. Your plan of avoiding distractions has been so completely foiled that you've been distracted to a point where you're emailing us rather than writing your book. So that on this. I said the experiment has ended.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yes.

[Justin McElroy]

The coffee shop is not a distraction free environment. Can we start with that?

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah. No. But it's nice to go to a coffee shop and I Love the idea of it. Yeah. On tour. Last time we were on tour, I went to a coffee shop because I needed to finish prepping some test stuff. And I sat down at the table, I was like, I'm hungry. I'm order some food. I got an omelette. You know what that omelette came with a giant leafy green salad with not much stuff going on in it. And now, guys, I'm in a salad prison because I can't go. I'm working here. I'm working here, and people are looking at me working, and they're also looking at me not eating this salad. It's tricky when you go to a cafe. It's gotta be a discreet joint.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

With no salad.

[Travis McElroy]

When we were kids and we went to church because I don't know, what else are you gonna do? Your parents drove you there? I and or Sunday, I would yawn real big and it would make my eyes tear up and I would become so worried that someone would see the tears rolling down my face from yawning too big and think, wow, Travis is having a really powerful religious experience right now. And they wouldn't know that. No, I just yawned. I'm not invested at all.

[Griffin McElroy]

You gotta be careful, man. You have a sneezing fit at the wrong time during service and you get a little teary eyed, people will be like, hell yeah, man. Rededicate your whole life. And it's like, no, man, this is actually gonna be one of those chill Sundays or Wednesdays where I come and I eat my Taco Bell and I go home and play chrono trigger. Thank you so much. I'm not ready for the whole kitten cathoodle.

[Justin McElroy]

Maybe like a little QR code and print it on. It says, yeah, I'm crying about my book again. Scan her to pre order.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah. Shit, that's good. Use your tears for juice and leave.

[Travis McElroy]

A tip for the artist at work.

[Justin McElroy]

Oh, that's getting a little. Is it a separate QR code?

[Griffin McElroy]

I know that there's a lot.

[Justin McElroy]

Scan this third QR code to buy me a coffee.

[Travis McElroy]

No, that's a coffee code. I never know how to pronounce it.

[Griffin McElroy]

I love busking and buskers, but you don't see a lot. Buskin Bakery and Buskin Robbins. But you don't see a lot of writers out there just like on their computer. And it's like, drop a penny in the slot and support my. Do I get to read it? No, you just watching the process, like.

[Justin McElroy]

Give it to him. Hey, isn't that what Patreon is no digital, but, like, it's. As you're passing the case, you chuck a five in, and then they pipe on the computer, and they're like, it was a dark and stormy night. You go on your way. That's hard. As long as you get it at.

[Griffin McElroy]

The end, they shouldn't give it to you at the end. You just get to watch some cool writing.

[Justin McElroy]

Cause if I listen to someone else's song in the subway that they gave a dollar for, they're not gonna come after me, you know, like, it's not mine. I'm just, like, supporting the art.

[Travis McElroy]

They also don't then, like, write out that sheet music, hand it to you, and erase it from their brain.

[Griffin McElroy]

Fuck, man. Get me out there on a Wednesday afternoon, just kind of sitting and thinking with a guitar case open in front of me, and they'll be like, what are you doing? And it's like, I'm thinking of ideas. I'm like, I'm coming up with ideas.

[Travis McElroy]

But I can't think of an idea until you put a fiver in there. I'm like one of those robots that dances, only it's from creating.

[Griffin McElroy]

Watch me think. I would not come up to you if you were crying at the coffee shop to check in, because there's a pretty good chance that you don't want that. And I would rather run afoul of that than provide some human comfort. And I realize that makes me a very small person. So I think you are probably in a little bit less danger here than you assume. I don't know that you're gonna get a lot of interaction.

[Travis McElroy]

Worst case scenario, I see you there over the course of multiple days, and I think that person is very thoroughly drafting a breakup letter.

[Griffin McElroy]

Oh.

[Travis McElroy]

Oh, yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

That's the assumption. Yeah, that's the assumption. 100% I might give him. If I saw someone racked with sobs at a coffee shop. I think I would say as I passed, I think I would say, would you like me to put my hand on your shoulder? And they would say yes or no. And then I'd go about my day. I think that's. That's what I would do.

[Travis McElroy]

I think that's a beautiful and simple, kind gesture, Justin.

[Justin McElroy]

Well, I have. I have some evidence of this. I was at a football game on my birthday, and there was a lady in front of me, and she had white hair, which is only notable because it made it extremely obvious when there was a giant spider on the back of her head. Like, extremely obvious, Extremely giant. It's One of those spiders where you see colors on it and you're like.

[Travis McElroy]

I don't like this.

[Griffin McElroy]

No, no, no, no.

[Justin McElroy]

You see colors and you're like, no, no, no, I don't like it.

[Travis McElroy]

So this isn't a hypothetical. Justin, you weren't saying. I noticed the white hair and thought, wow.

[Justin McElroy]

No, no.

[Travis McElroy]

If there was a spider on there, I'd really see it.

[Justin McElroy]

Okay. And then Sydney past me and she points as a spider. Okay, guys, John Quinones, slap the spider.

[Griffin McElroy]

Out of the hair. If it's a. It could. It could be harmful. It could be poisonous. I would gently. I would use the. Did you have a program.

[Justin McElroy]

You're thinking through it now, and I want you to tell me on. I'm not taking what you're saying at face value yet because you are still doing the math.

[Travis McElroy]

Without even.

[Justin McElroy]

I would get it off.

[Griffin McElroy]

The. I would get it off. They couldn't be mad at me for flicking their hair if there was a spider in their hair. That would be a huge. There's 100 times out of 100 I say, thank you for doing that to me. I'm going to do that for a stranger.

[Travis McElroy]

I was assuming. Because you effectively removed it.

[Justin McElroy]

Griffin.

[Travis McElroy]

Because if I flick and I watch the spider hide and I'm like, hey, yeah, I flick. It's still there.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, there is. Okay. So I wanted to. I was pressing because I wanted to see what you two normal dudes would do because City thought what I did was incorrect. So I just wanted to see. What you guys thought before I told you is that I tapped her on the shoulder and I said, excuse me, ma', am, I don't want to alarm you, but there is a spider in your hair. And I am about to grab it out. And she said, oh, God. Then I grabbed it out.

[Griffin McElroy]

Like, just like a quick, awesome, fuck yeah, dude, awesome, quick sash.

[Justin McElroy]

But then her husband goes, ah. I don't know why. He was scared, but he was really scared.

[Griffin McElroy]

I mean, if someone came up behind my wife and went like that in her hair, I would probably yell, because.

[Justin McElroy]

I think no one did that. Someone came up to his wife and said, excuse me, ma', am, I don't want to alarm you, but there's a spider in your hair and I'm about to grab it out.

[Travis McElroy]

Justin, what I love about this is your approach and delivery. Seems like this is your job that you go throughout the stadium and say, excuse me, there's a spider in your hair. If I could just. There you go. Thank you very much. Enjoy the rest of the game, and then you move on.

[Justin McElroy]

It is my job, Travis, because I'm a human being. Yeah. Beautiful. I think that's what we owe each other. That, I think, at least, is picking spiders out of our hair.

[Griffin McElroy]

I think Thundering Herd kicker Lorcan Quinn wasn't the only one splitting the uprights that day. Juice, I think you found the perfect exit from that situation, and you did extremely well.

[Justin McElroy]

Lorcan had a. Had to pull a fake put this week, guys.

[Griffin McElroy]

He kicked ass.

[Justin McElroy]

I love it. I think if you're in college sports, you should have to do one fake play per, like, game. One play per half. Like, you have to. The stakes aren't that high. It's fun. I love a fake punt. As long as it's on size kicks, please.

[Travis McElroy]

In college sports, there should be required one of those weird. A bunch of lateral and backward passes that, like, keep the thing going a little crazy, and you never know when it's coming.

[Justin McElroy]

Oh, guys, this is even the better. I didn't even tell you the best part. Guess who was there? West Virginia governor Patrick Morrissey.

[Griffin McElroy]

Whoa.

[Justin McElroy]

Dude was there at the game. And, guys, better than this. He came up our aisle.

[Griffin McElroy]

Whoa.

[Justin McElroy]

The man was 10ft from me, and.

[Travis McElroy]

He put a spider in this old lady's hair.

[Justin McElroy]

No. But I was feeling very cocksure about that when I announced, everyone, boo this carpetbagger. Boo this man.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

And then we all got a little bit of a boo going for Patrick Morrissey, and I got to yell, you stink right to his face. That's a guy I dislike more than anybody else on the whole planet. And I got to tell him how much he sucks right to his face.

[Griffin McElroy]

What a great day.

[Justin McElroy]

I get sports. I think.

[Griffin McElroy]

Well, that. I will say. I've been to sports stuff. I've never gotten to yell at a.

[Justin McElroy]

Like, between that and the spider, though, I get the appeal.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, man, for sure. This is a huge change for you, Juice.

[Travis McElroy]

Power.

[Griffin McElroy]

You're really stepping into your power, and. Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Thanks, man. You want to hear another question, or should we take a break? We might take a break.

[Guest or Musical Interlude]

It started with you.

[Travis McElroy]

Squarespace.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yep. Listen, let's give it. Let's give. Let's give this one a little. We got Squarespace and Rocket Money in the zone today. Let's, like, I don't know, make it special. It's felt a little bit like we've.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah, yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Okay. Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

Kind of giving them the same lip service, same treatment.

[Justin McElroy]

Let's talk for a few minutes about Squarespace. Let's really give them their money's worth.

[Travis McElroy]

This idea is a seed.

[Griffin McElroy]

Now we've done this, almost certainly. I want to get fucking.

[Travis McElroy]

He's a baby.

[Griffin McElroy]

I want to get weird, dude.

[Travis McElroy]

An idea is a thought that can turn into a dream, a dream that can turn into a plan, a plan that turns into a series of executables, deliverables, and one of those deliverables.

[Justin McElroy]

You're making it sound.

[Griffin McElroy]

You're making it sound bad. And I want it to sound fun and cool and weird. Twisted.

[Travis McElroy]

What up, perverts? Do you like websites?

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah. Do you like websites and, you know code HTML? I don't know if they do HTML.

[Travis McElroy]

What up, Chodes? What up, codechodes?

[Justin McElroy]

I don't think code Chodes is bad.

[Guest or Musical Interlude]

Okay, great.

[Travis McElroy]

Good, good, good, good.

[Justin McElroy]

I didn't know how. That's his name.

[Griffin McElroy]

He thought code Chodes was gonna be bad until the end of that sentence, and then he decided that code chodes the neurons. Okay, so now we gotta sort of like, welcome to the man cave. Time for Squarespace code Joads. This is cool. And they'll like it, and they will.

[Travis McElroy]

That's good because we have offer codes, and it's like a website and stuff, so it works on multiple levels.

[Griffin McElroy]

And the offer code for Squarespace is still my brother, and it's a great code, but we may be able to get them to swap it to code shows, or they may be able to.

[Justin McElroy]

Swap their money that they give us.

[Griffin McElroy]

They're patronizing us.

[Justin McElroy]

They might do that swap instead.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, we joke because we care, because we love, because we use squarespace and have used squarespace. It's just the fucking one you do. If it seems just the one you do, it's just the one you do. If it seems like we're really phoning these in, it's because it's the one you do. When you make a website, basically, to us, it's the one that you do. And you don't think about it. You just do it.

[Travis McElroy]

Hey, Squarespace. I just got an emergency email from Squarespace. They love code toads. Yeah, they hate that you use the phrase phoning it in in the middle of their ad.

[Griffin McElroy]

Well, I mean, they're not phoning it in. They turn in a great product day in, day out. But when we come to you and we don't bring this nasty boy energy. Yeah, I think we could be serving them better code shows.

[Justin McElroy]

Thank you, Griffin. And thank you for continuing to say code shows despite our. Please, I really appreciate that. We're making private pleas via text message that he changes ways, but There is.

[Griffin McElroy]

You can make your website do whatever and run a whole business and get. And get paid through it.

[Justin McElroy]

The websites look good.

[Griffin McElroy]

It looks good, and it's easy, and it's. Why would you do fucking?

[Justin McElroy]

There's a reason. There's a reason that every scam artist.

[Travis McElroy]

At least has a website come on.

[Justin McElroy]

They make you look really professional. And with the Squarespace tools, you can.

[Griffin McElroy]

Make them look even better than that. Yeah, I would cut out what Justin just said. I don't think that was in there.

[Justin McElroy]

But head to squarespace.com mybrother for now. For now it's my brother. For now. For a free trial. And when you're ready to launch, use offer code, my Brother, to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. Okay. To be real, they've been supporting us for so long, I don't know what we'll do if they stop. If you need to make a website, for Christ's sake, for Christ, please just.

[Travis McElroy]

Go make one with that code.

[Justin McElroy]

For God's sake, please. If you've never done it, just go shit out something.

[Griffin McElroy]

Please. With that code, we can come up with, like. Let's come up with 10 really quick website ideas for people to use, and then they can just like, make those and use our promo code and just, like, do it real quick before, because.

[Travis McElroy]

We will get code, show gov, code, show biz, web code family. Not that one.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Code shows.net.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah. Code shows can be, like, a community of people who like to code. Just like, little, little lines.

[Justin McElroy]

See how many. See how. See how bereft. We could make the codechodes dot domain. Just anything. Codechodes dot anything. Yeah, with a Squarespace website. Please. Just do it one time for us. Thank you.

[Travis McElroy]

What was that?

[Justin McElroy]

Blasting off to savings, Trav.

[Travis McElroy]

Whoa.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah. Get in the rocket with me.

[Travis McElroy]

Castronauts.

[Justin McElroy]

Castronauts. I love that. Why are we talking about Rocket Money, Trav?

[Travis McElroy]

So you can get castrated with Rocket Money?

[Justin McElroy]

I think.

[Travis McElroy]

What?

[Justin McElroy]

Wow. I just got a fax from them.

[Griffin McElroy]

They hated it. We have to do better. We have to do better.

[Justin McElroy]

Griffin actually gave us a call, A charge.

[Griffin McElroy]

To do better, we must do better.

[Travis McElroy]

No, you're a Castronaut. You get castrated because they are keeping your cash in your pocket where it belongs.

[Griffin McElroy]

You can keep explaining it. It doesn't make the word not embracing, though.

[Justin McElroy]

It sticks in your head a little bit, doesn't it, Griffith?

[Griffin McElroy]

A little bit. So Rocket Money is an app. And when I use it, I'll share my personal experience. Lead with that. When I Use Rocket Money. I turn it on, and all of a sudden I am confronted with five to six announcements that I have been paying $6.99 a week for games like Goopman 3D or Hairstar Fidget Slime, Relax or Hairstar or Plink. Plinko Blinko. And that's a Swedish Skippy's Toilet Boys. Skippy's Toilet Boys. We're talking about Skibidi Investments. We're talking about Panda Pop. Yay. And that one's $25 a day. And Rocket Money is.

[Justin McElroy]

You got it Just so your kids would be quiet.

[Griffin McElroy]

You got it so your kid would chill for like a second. And then you're like, I'll remember. And you never have. But you do have this app called Rocket Money that is your absolute number one primetime road dog. Cause he will at you, and he'll be like, you're still paying for goop, man. And I'll be like, God damn, you're right.

[Justin McElroy]

Right?

[Griffin McElroy]

That's. He putting money right back in my pocket. That's. That's Rocket Money.

[Travis McElroy]

So if you get hit with savings cravings, then you want to go to Rocket Money. Because Rocket Money is a personal finance app that helps find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions, monitors your spending, and helps lower your bills so you can grow your savings coach. Rocket Money has no.

[Griffin McElroy]

Don't cross pollinate. No. Rocket Money has saved users over $2.5 billion, including $880 million in canceled subscriptions alone. Their 10 million members save up to $740 a year when they use all the app's premium features.

[Travis McElroy]

So Investicles, 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 I needed that.

[Griffin McElroy]

I needed that long to know how I felt about Investicles and Lego.

[Travis McElroy]

If you're listening, I'm willing to license Investigles for, like, a new kind of finance bro toy you want to make.

[Justin McElroy]

Yes, dude. Yes.

[Griffin McElroy]

Oh, my God. I would absolutely kill for, like, they could be like little Bionicles, but they.

[Travis McElroy]

Are worth money over time.

[Griffin McElroy]

Little business.

[Justin McElroy]

You push a button on their back and they're like, time in the market beats timing the market, except beats by a laser sword. And then it's like, yeah. Yeah.

[Travis McElroy]

Hey, I'm Jake Heath Van Stratton from Go Yourself. And I'm here with Max Fun member of the month, Josh mentor, who has been a Maximum fun member since 2016.

[Justin McElroy]

Hello, Josh.

[Griffin McElroy]

Hey, Jay, Keith. How you doing today?

[Travis McElroy]

I'm so well, and thank you so much for being a listener and supporter of our show. What made you decide to support Max Fun in general and to support our show?

[Justin McElroy]

Go fact yourself. Jordan Morris on Jordan Jesse Go has.

[Griffin McElroy]

A thing that he likes to say, which is, you know, you tip your bartender a buck of beer, you tip your podcaster a buck a month. You know, I get way more use out of Max Fun podcasts than I do like Disney or Netflix.

[Travis McElroy]

Well, it's something we very much appreciate. And by the way, when was the last time Netflix selected you as a.

[Griffin McElroy]

Member of the month? Exactly. Exactly.

[Travis McElroy]

Josh, mentor, congratulations and thank you again for being the Max Fun member of the month.

[Griffin McElroy]

Thanks so much, guys. Become a Max Fun member [e-mail] join.

[Justin McElroy]

Walking about is the podcast about walking. It's a walkumentary series where I, Alan McLeod and a fun, friendly guest go for a walkabout. You'll learn about interesting people and places and have the kind of conversations you can only have on foot. We've got guests like Lauren Lapkis.

[Griffin McElroy]

I figured something out about this map, like how to read it.

[Justin McElroy]

Betsy Sedaro.

[Griffin McElroy]

I had no clue.

[Justin McElroy]

That's awesome. And nuts. John Gabris. This is, like, great first date for, like, broke 20 something and more. Check out Walking about with Alan McLeod on Maximum Fun.

[Griffin McElroy]

Why.

[Justin McElroy]

I wanna Munch Squad. I wanna Munch Squad. Welcome to Munch Squad. It is a podcast within a podcast, profiling latest and greatest brand eating. I have a few reefs that I'd like to bring to your attention. Number one is the Taco Bell Baja Blast Pie. I heard about it from a lot of folks and I would file this one and I just want to say, yeah, okay, I saw it. I get it.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's a joke, right?

[Travis McElroy]

It's like. It's the color.

[Griffin McElroy]

No, it's colors.

[Justin McElroy]

Joke. They just made such a limited amount. They're really hard to get. And Slice tries so hard to get me one. There's a guy on Facebook marketplace trying to charge 100 bucks for these fricking things.

[Griffin McElroy]

What? Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Friendsgiving isn't just a holiday. It's a cultural loophole, a break in the calendar where creativity is encouraged. I don't like traditions get tossed at. The most surprising dish takes a spotlight. That's why after years of fan obsession, Taco Bell is finally dropping a dish made for this moment. Mountain Dew Baja Blast Pie. When nothing means anything. Pie can be whatever. Fuck. That's what it says here. It says it.

[Griffin McElroy]

And syntactically it's like, doesn't work, but it does.

[Travis McElroy]

It actually tracks that a company that thinks friends giving can be quantified as a cultural loophole.

[Griffin McElroy]

Really, really, really sinister language. Like, hugely, hugely sinister.

[Justin McElroy]

So, yeah, this is teased back in 2024, and I'm. I'm just not giving it a bunch of time because I hate. I hate this, like, capitalization on these great dreams.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

And then not everybody gets to try the dream.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

If you try the dream, have the.

[Travis McElroy]

Courage of your conviction to put it in multiple stores. And frankly, if you're not selling the Baja Blast Pie in West Virginia, what is your market?

[Justin McElroy]

What are you doing?

[Travis McElroy]

Where do you think your market is? Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

What, you need that corn syrup somewhere else? Doubt it.

[Travis McElroy]

We need it here.

[Griffin McElroy]

The shade of this pie, the. The. The. The hue of the pie is truly retro. Retro sort of refrigerator, pistachio, neon stashio.

[Travis McElroy]

Oh, my God.

[Griffin McElroy]

There's simply no way that they were able to get these pies out to all of the different Taco Bell locations and have them end up looking like that.

[Justin McElroy]

Speaking of. Speaking of Taco Bell conspiracy, when Slice asked the one over in Kinetic park, you know how there's a Taco Bell in Connecticut Park? Of course he asked there. And the lady said, no, we. We ran out of those so fast, but they were so good. And went on to tell them how delicious they were.

[Griffin McElroy]

Hmm, that sounds a little suspicious.

[Justin McElroy]

How did you get one? Oh, did you maybe, like, take advantage of your position of privilege a little bit, maybe? God. And then bragging about it. Taco Bell employees used to have ethics.

[Travis McElroy]

You know, it used to mean something.

[Justin McElroy]

It used to mean something. They used to put. I mean, they used to put a lot of love and care into it. Now they're eating the pie before you can have any.

[Travis McElroy]

Now it's just about the money.

[Justin McElroy]

It's just about the money Pie. I want to talk about Hardee's because they're doing something dumber.

[Travis McElroy]

Oh.

[Justin McElroy]

Hardee's is hosting a Tender Bender lock in featuring. What if it's a Tinder Bender lock in featuring streamer, Duke, Dennis, and banana ball players for an epic night of chicken and challenges. Oh, no.

[Travis McElroy]

Our forefathers just exploded.

[Justin McElroy]

That's the headline. That's something everyone can enjoy.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's good. I think there is a haiku in there somewhere.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, It's Tender bender. Tuesday on November 18, which was also our mom's birthday. I think she would have really appreciated that. For sure.

[Griffin McElroy]

Man.

[Justin McElroy]

Hardee's is cranking up the excitement for Tinder Bender Tuesday with the first ever Tinder Bender Lock in an exclusive event starting at 7pm on November 18th featuring American YouTuber Twitch streamer and social media personality Duke Dennis and Alex Ziegler, Kyle kj, Jackson, Dalton, Moblen and Dakota Tron, Sandy Amber, Gabby Samberson, Sambi Sandy Amber, Gabby Sanderson, a few of America's favorite banana ball players. During the Lock in, the stars will face off in friendly competitions, share behind the scenes moments and celebrate all things hand breaded chicken.

[Griffin McElroy]

Amazing.

[Travis McElroy]

Now replace hand breaded chicken with the.

[Justin McElroy]

Love of Jesus Christ and this is Celebrate the Lord. Celebrate the love of our Savior Jesus and His blessed Redeemer.

[Griffin McElroy]

Slam infinite Tinders with these very funny baseball players. And also you're gonna watch Heaven is for Real and it's gonna be you're not gonna get a great night's sleep.

[Travis McElroy]

Hey, have you guys read A Case for Christmas?

[Justin McElroy]

It makes a lot of sense here.

[Griffin McElroy]

Gather round and answers a lot of questions.

[Justin McElroy]

The Tinder Bender Lock in promises viral worthy challenges, online fan engagement and the ultimate after hours chicken feast. Fans can follow along in real time on Hardy's social channels and enter to win exclusive prizes such as autograph memorabilia.

[Travis McElroy]

I hope it's signed chicken tenders.

[Justin McElroy]

That would be cool. For details on how to participate and tune in, you can go to YouTube.com @hardee's, we're bringing together flavor, fun and fandom in a way that only Hardee's can, said Sarah Braemeyer, Hardee's Brand Vice President with our new Tender Bender Tuesdays. In this one of a kind lock in event, we're inviting everyone to be part of the goodness and the juicy hand breaded chicken that Hardee's is famous for.

[Travis McElroy]

But like you keep saying tender bender, Justin and I feel that they got excited that those two words rhymed and didn't think about the implications. That that's like somebody being like I haven't seen Todd in three days and be like yeah man, he went on a real Tinder bender.

[Justin McElroy]

He was on a tinder bender and he actually died. He died. His kids are girlfriends now because his wife actually went on a Tinder bender a few months ago. It's all very sad.

[Griffin McElroy]

We're three graphs into this press release and I really need within the next like one paragraph for some rules vis a vis the lock in to be established. Am I allowed to go?

[Justin McElroy]

Duke Dennis has you with his quote. Duke Dennis added, I'm looking forward to having a good time and watching the Tender bender competition go down. This will be good vibes and good food.

[Griffin McElroy]

Awesome. But if I get a call from my kids school, am I allowed to leave the lock in? Like I need to know if I can leave or if I'm stuck here because I'm honestly getting a little bit panicked right now. Just.

[Travis McElroy]

We have no. They haven't even said how long the lock in is going to be, have they? It starts at seven winds it end.

[Justin McElroy]

So the tender bender celebrates going all in on hand breaded chicken tenders.

[Travis McElroy]

Oh, no way.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, especially with this unbeatable bogo deal. It captures the spirit of indulging craveable food and rewarding loyal guests. Okay, so they captured both of those spirits in one promotion. Guys, I think you're getting too hung up on the details.

[Griffin McElroy]

But have they captured me? Am I allowed to leave the Hardee's? Is it locked?

[Justin McElroy]

I think the only people who are being locked in are the banana ball players.

[Travis McElroy]

And then I think we're watching them in captivity from a live stream with.

[Justin McElroy]

The chicken tenders and they don't get.

[Travis McElroy]

To leave until they've eaten all the tenders.

[Justin McElroy]

I think they actually explain, guys. What? Okay, here. This is what you were looking for. Each premium all white meat chicken strip is hand dipped in buttermilk and then lightly bread.

[Travis McElroy]

No, I know that, but I know Josh said I know what a chicken tender.

[Griffin McElroy]

Let him finish the paragraph.

[Justin McElroy]

No, he's. It's fair. Let me scan ahead. Okay. The tender crispy juiciness is enjoyed with a choice of dipping sauce which pairs well with other capable menu items such as natural cucumber.

[Travis McElroy]

Are they locked in a Hardee's.

[Griffin McElroy]

Am I being detained?

[Justin McElroy]

Like an apple turnover.

[Griffin McElroy]

Am I being detained?

[Justin McElroy]

Guys, I'm almost there. I'm just. Exclusive to Hardee's, my rewards members. This booger deal can be redeemed on Tuesdays participating locations via the Fighters website. Early the storm. Enter the member QR code.

[Travis McElroy]

What happens if a baseball game occurs during this time?

[Justin McElroy]

I think they're prisoners.

[Griffin McElroy]

I am someone's emergency contact. I can't be held prisoner by Hardee, the Hardee's corporation until I eat enough chicken tenders to find the key.

[Travis McElroy]

If I'm watching it, can I call in a wellness check?

[Griffin McElroy]

I think. Yeah. Wait, hold on.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

Is there a sort of utopia thing happening where people are watching me? Have to.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, they're sharing during the lock in the stairs. The stars will face off in stairs in friendly competition, share behind the scenes moments and celebrate all things hand breaded chicken so they're going to, I mean it's going to be like. I mean it promises viral worthy challenges, online fan engagement and the ultimate after hours chicken feast. So like they're trapped in a chicken sort of tontine and then we watch to see who makes it out alive. I think is the gag.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah. And that's what makes it the ultimate.

[Travis McElroy]

Chicken eating because we'll never have another one.

[Justin McElroy]

Okay, so this. Yeah. What they'll do is after this Hardee's. After this event is done, the lock in is done. They're going to brick over the doors like in Casco and Montelado. They're going to lock dude, Dennis and all that's probably for the best players in size. And then they just have to make NBA 2K gameplay videos. The rest of their lives just trapped in this eating chicken tenders.

[Griffin McElroy]

The sight will be irradiated with a kind of spirit energy that will not be. You don't want to build anything on top of that. You can't raise that Hardee's to the ground because so much shit will have happened there in the, in the tinder box.

[Justin McElroy]

So you can get, you can like get a deal while they're trapped. So this is the thing that I think is like while they're imprisoned, you can scan a QR code and maybe they're like holding the QR code up like not Penny's boat. Just like.

[Griffin McElroy]

Please, please sacrifice.

[Justin McElroy]

They don't free us. If you this, only 400,000 more tenders.

[Travis McElroy]

And we can leave.

[Justin McElroy]

That's it.

[Griffin McElroy]

When you use the code, you get some of their tenders. You are sharing the burden of tenders of the tender benders with them. That's beautiful.

[Justin McElroy]

That's beautiful.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's actually beautiful.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah. So you're helping to carry the load like for everyone you eat.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

That's one less that they have to. You get a little bit of freedom.

[Griffin McElroy]

You gotta stop announcing shit gang, without explaining how it's gonna work. It drives me absolutely batty when these companies announce some wild shit and don't even think to put in some of the brass tax sort of rules and regulations.

[Travis McElroy]

I don't even know if other people will be there or not.

[Griffin McElroy]

I don't know if any.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

Is it just gonna be the baseball players in the streamer? Is that it?

[Travis McElroy]

Do they know each other beforehand? Because they're banana ball players.

[Griffin McElroy]

Banana ball. I apologize. Banana ball players.

[Travis McElroy]

We've trapped an entire banana baseball team with one streamer and 100 million chicken tenders. Watch as they eat Them for an unspecified amount of time, for an unspecified reason, and for an unspecified goal. And at the end, I'll buy whatever's in the circle.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Travis McElroy]

That's kind of the only part I know.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

About that part is always a prominent.

[Travis McElroy]

Fixture that people put stuff in a circle in a certain amount of time, and however much they go out of circle, he'll buy it. And people are trapped in a place.

[Griffin McElroy]

And they make him a little pissing hole.

[Justin McElroy]

I know.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's always part of it.

[Travis McElroy]

Do they have to buy the piss if the piss is in the circle?

[Griffin McElroy]

No, the piss is under the circle because it's in a hole.

[Travis McElroy]

Anything below the circle is your problem.

[Justin McElroy]

Oh, hey, talk about kinds of creators. Gives people lots of money. Would have been. Oh, that would have been really good. Where do you get, like, a million dollars? And I give that million dollars to some other somebody else? And everybody's like, pretty.

[Travis McElroy]

Basically, you just have to be a financial conduit.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, I just want to be the.

[Griffin McElroy]

Like, the historically conduit.

[Justin McElroy]

God, conduit was just, like, such the right word, man. You nailed it.

[Travis McElroy]

And you keep a little.

[Griffin McElroy]

You dip your bacon, you dip your.

[Travis McElroy]

Snoot in, you know, be sweat. You get your Beast wet, be sweat.

[Justin McElroy]

As long as you're loading TVs in a circle. I know one Beast man that would love a extra.

[Griffin McElroy]

They could usually cut that out of the video, I bet. Hey, you got 10 Xbox ones in there, huh? That's crazy.

[Travis McElroy]

I'm giving away nine Xbox Ones.

[Justin McElroy]

We're doing.

[Griffin McElroy]

Guys, 99. Lasik blasts this today. It's gonna be fucking great.

[Justin McElroy]

We're gonna blast 99, okay? Mr.

[Travis McElroy]

Beast doesn't have any money.

[Justin McElroy]

He just lives off the stuff he stole from his videos. If you go over to his house, he's like, don't go upstairs.

[Travis McElroy]

It's all elvit.

[Justin McElroy]

Toothpaste exploded. Don't go upstairs. I used to have one real Lamborghini. Now I have a hundred tiny Lamborghinis because I traded them in a stupid video. God, I wish I got paid.

[Travis McElroy]

I'm trapped in a loop of my own making.

[Griffin McElroy]

We're giving away a cybertruck and you're allowed to drive it Sunday through Friday. Come on, stay in the circle.

[Justin McElroy]

You gotta come get me, though.

[Griffin McElroy]

You gotta come get me on Saturday, brother.

[Justin McElroy]

I need a ride.

[Travis McElroy]

I gotta donate blood to keep paying for all this stuff. You're paying me for my platelets.

[Justin McElroy]

I can't even afford Lasik. That's what sucks. I need Lasik. I. Mr. Beast desperately need Lasik.

[Griffin McElroy]

He shows up in a little stick on goatee.

[Justin McElroy]

Hello. Hello. My name is Darrel Beast.

[Guest or Musical Interlude]

Fuck.

[Griffin McElroy]

Damn it.

[Travis McElroy]

Fuck.

[Justin McElroy]

I messed up. Thank you so much for listening to our podcast. It's called My Brother, My Brother Me. We're gonna be doing this live December 6th at 7pm and that includes a virtual stream ticket. That's right, you don't have to physically come to Candle Nights. You can watch it from the comfort of your own home. Both are extremely acceptable and very appreciated because all the benefits from that show are going to be donated to Harmony House, which, as you might know, seeks to end homelessness in the Huntington area through permanent housing and supportive service programs. If you want to come to Candle Nights or you want to watch Candle Nights, either way, the links is the same bit ly candlenights2025 make sure to.

[Travis McElroy]

Check out mcelroymerch.com we've got some new merch over there. We got a final Pam poster designed by Willow Quillen and a final Pam beanie we just added to the store. A this is not an apple shirt based on Griffin's beautiful upside down apple drawing featuring the apple anus. Make sure you check it out. It's only going to be available until November 28th, so don't miss out. It's two weeks only. Go to macroemerge.com and check it out. And 10% of all merch proceeds this month will be donated to Native American Aid.

[Griffin McElroy]

Speaking of Pam, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the final Pam Fallout 4 Monster Factory series, we did dig up an old external hard drive with that save on it and have revisited that world in a new miniseries on Monster Factory. We're gonna be. We beat the game but spoilers. But yeah, we are gonna be airing those every week for the next four weeks. It's a four part series, so check it out.

[Travis McElroy]

Champions growth packages are on sale now. It's a weekend long gaming event at Ravenwood Castle in Hocking Hills, Ohio that I co founded with my friend Alice and we're well over halfway sold out. But if you want to come, make sure to get your package while they last. Go to www.championsgrove.com for all the information. Don't wait. They're going to be gone soon and we want you to grab one. So get it.

[Griffin McElroy]

Tell Death. Do a spark next week on American Thanksgiving.

[Travis McElroy]

Oh boy.

[Griffin McElroy]

Set your watch. Set your calendar. I got to watch it for real. Let's have a fear.

[Travis McElroy]

Let's do it.

[Justin McElroy]

Final Fear. Yeah. Allow me, please. This year I want to be faster than my fear of my recurring night terror, which is that several big carpets are rolled up in the corner of my room.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yep. Yeah, for sure.

[Justin McElroy]

I'm trying.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, yeah, I fucking get it. Yes.

[Justin McElroy]

My name is Justin McElroy.

[Travis McElroy]

I'm Travis McElroy.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'm Griffin McRoy.

[Justin McElroy]

This has been my brother. My brother, me. Kiss your dad square on the lips.

[Guest or Musical Interlude]

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

[Justin McElroy]

It'S better my life.

[Guest or Musical Interlude]

It'S better it's better with you Is it true? It's better it's better with you, my life. Better with you.

[Griffin McElroy]

Maximum Fun A worker owned network of artist owned shows supported directly by you.