My Brother, My Brother and Me Ep. 790: Face 2 Face: Frogspotting

Recorded live in San Antonio, Texas

Episode Overview

This episode finds the McElroy brothers—Justin, Travis, and Griffin—back on stage, blending trademark chaotic energy with audience participation and local flavor. The focus: freewheeling advice, surreal hypotheticals, and live games, with segments ranging from food debates to supernatural eBay finds and the main event—audience Q&A. The show features real questions, wild tangents, a few haunted dolls, and an existential struggle to spot frogs in the wild.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. San Antonio Adventures and Local Color (03:40–07:34)

• Justin recounts his morning explorations: from scooter rides (“like everywhere you’re going, it’s a little parade just for you” [04:10]) to a pilgrimage to the Japanese Tea Garden and the surreal Wonderland of the Americas (“a haunted house but for being sad” [06:03]).
• Travel mishaps: Justin’s Vespa journey nearly derailed by a chance encounter with a fan, Joe—who “held [him] accountable for [his] impact on the environment” (08:29).

2. Chili’s vs. Fancy Dining – Defending Chain Restaurants (09:38–13:00)

• A question about convincing a foodie in-law to enjoy Chili’s leads to:
  • A defense of adult chicken tenders, sampler platters, and the “good hang” (11:09).
  • Griffin: “You don’t have to just go to a restaurant for the food—sometimes you can go there just for the hangs.” (11:09)
  • Chain restaurant diplomacy: “Maybe try a pitch like, ‘You know what would be so wild and silly tonight? If we went to Chili’s.’” (13:08)
• Chopped-Style Chili’s Challenge: A hypothetical undercover cook-off with Ziploc bags of butters and spices under the table (14:10–15:53).

3. Magic (the Gathering) vs. Actual Magic (16:49–21:54)

• Embarrassing Barista Encounter: “I said I was going to qualify for regionals. They asked in what. I said, ‘Magic.’ ...They proceeded to get a lot more interested.” (16:49)
• How to deflect and embrace your nerdiness, or pivot and claim magic powers: “I think, if you say it with a solid enough chilling look, they’ll never talk to you again.” – Travis (19:04)
• Card trick advice and jokes about the mystique of Magic: the Gathering and sleight of hand (20:13–22:47).

4. Haunted Doll Watch (23:19–32:28)

• Live slideshow introducing “Holly the Pixie,” “Marguerite the fiercely protective mother spirit,” and “Bouchard, the best dude ever.”
• The brothers riff on the uncanny eBay world of “haunted vessel dolls,” including ideas for new horror films and mockery of the “keeper” title for owners.
• Griffin (about Bouchard): “If only I hadn’t been killed by that stray bullet...I love frogs, but I can never spot them in the wild.” (33:11).

5. Frogspotting – The Existential Quest (33:11–36:24)

• Listener asks: How to get better at spotting frogs?
• Brothers discuss the pride and heartbreak of amphibian encounters: “Every time I spot a frog, it feels like such an accomplishment… But the crushing defeat of someone else spotting a frog before I do.” – Griffin (33:49)
• Practice advice: “Bring a frog with you for practice.” – Griffin (34:06).
• Turtle-spotting digression; the animal kingdom as existential challenge.

6. Travest: Trav Nation Venture Capital (37:40–46:12)

• Travis introduces a “Shark Tank”-style segment for fake products like “beef travioli,” “the traff can” (a talking trash can), and “The Trav Wife online course.”
• Griffin: “If the next one is just this [the Traff Can] on a toilet, I’m walking off the stage.” (44:46)

Audience Q&A Highlights

1. How to Avoid Mascots (54:46–59:08)

• Celia fears sports mascots: “For example, at a Spurs game, the coyote might approach me.” (55:32)
• Advice: Stay out of their limited peripheral vision—“They have like a 15-degree wide cone. You move to the left or the right, they don’t fucking know.” – Travis (58:45)
• Memorable moment: Discussion of scary mascot videos and local characters like “The Ballapeño.”

2. Knuckle Tattoos and Restaurant Orders (59:32–62:30)

• Sandy asks how to handle Taco Time tattoos in non-taco situations: “How do I explain to servers at Mexican restaurants that I might order something besides tacos?”
• Brothers joke about semaphore systems of indicating orders by tattoo, and the existential commitment a knuckle tattoo demands: “Maybe just buckle in and get some tacos. Sandy, you made a commitment.” – Travis (61:43).

3. The ‘Delicious’ Gas Customer (62:32–67:23)

• Amelia regales with a tale: “Can I have 25 delicious dollars on pump one?” (63:09)
• The brothers theorize: alien, ghost, or simply a man playing the long game of weirdness.
• Justin: “The ‘no’ would have been out of my mouth before I even thought about it.” (63:42)

4. Middle Name Mysteries (67:34–71:16)

• Bennett can’t spell his brother’s middle name; the rambling of three-letter family names leads to musings on gaslighting, gravestone inscriptions, and the dangers of oversharing your surname on-mic (69:22).
• Griffin: “Getting someone to write their middle name down sounds like how you trick Rumpelstiltskin into killing himself.” (70:00)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “A haunted house, but for being sad.” – Justin, describing the Wonderlands mall (06:03)
• “Adult chicken tenders—Chili’s has the guts.” – Justin (10:23)
• “Every card tells a story...Why is there mustard on the back of my Charizardos or whatever?” – Justin (20:55)
• “Every time I spot a frog, it feels like such an accomplishment. Like, ha, ha, got you.” – Griffin (33:49)
• “They have like a 15-degree wide cone. Stay out the cone.” – Travis, on mascots’ vision (58:45)
• “Maybe get a tiny tattoo that’s a question mark after ‘time’ for the Taco Time knuckle tattoo.” – Justin (62:00)
• “Can I have 25 delicious dollars on pump one?” – The mysterious customer, via Amelia (63:09)
• “Getting someone to write their middle name...sounds like how you trick Rumpelstiltskin into killing himself.” – Griffin (70:00)

Timestamped Highlights

• 03:40 Justin’s Vespa adventure in San Antonio
• 06:03 The “haunted house but for being sad” mall
• 09:38 Chili’s saga begins
• 14:10 Under-table Chili’s chopped challenge
• 16:49 Magic vs. magician story
• 23:19 Haunted Doll Watch segment
• 33:11 Frogspotting question
• 37:40 Travest (Trav Nation’s fake startup pitch session)
• 54:46 Audience Q&A: Avoiding mascots
• 59:32 Taco Time knuckle tattoos
• 62:32 “Delicious dollars” gas station story
• 67:34 Bennett’s three-letter names & middle name dilemma

Tone and Style

The episode is classic MBMBaM: fast-talking, hyper-referential, and self-deprecating. The brothers riff freely, swerve from advice into improv, and treat every question as both existential query and comic opportunity. The strong audience presence—especially live reactions and follow-ups—adds energy and a communal feeling throughout.

For First-Time Listeners

Expect:

• Loose, absurd humor and honest-to-God attempts at advice.
• Recurring bits: eBay haunted doll “watch,” chain restaurant advocacy, surreal product pitches, and sibling in-fighting.
• Audience questions: real, personal, sometimes beautifully weird.
• Local flavor: shout-outs, personal stories, and on-the-ground travel anecdotes.

Skip the ads, but don’t miss the live energy, unscripted tangents, or the inexplicable commitment they all have to turning daily inconveniences into bits.

Closing

The show wraps with gratitude to the city, logistical notes about merch and upcoming shows, and a characteristically silly final “fear to be faster than”:
“This year, I vow to be faster than my fear that Dennis Rodman will show up unannounced and throw money at me again.” – Griffin (72:51)

Final message:
The McElroys: rambunctious, chaotic, and reliably invested—if not in the fate of your soul, very much in the value of your day-to-day weirdness.