MBMBaM 811: New At Yeast

Summary

My Brother, My Brother and Me #811: "New at Yeast"

Release Date: April 27, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode, the McElroy brothers—Justin, Travis, and Griffin—bring their signature chaotic advice and earnest sibling banter to a week chock-full of audience questions, off-topic spirals, and MaxFunDrive fundraising energy. Stories veer from haunted dolls and mysterious packages to wild advice on workplace friendships and embracing your inner "yeast expert," all seasoned with digressions about cultural branding, nostalgia for discontinued snacks, and surreal humor. The episode also features playful jabs at podcast support, with the brothers highlighting the importance of listener backing for small, indie shows like theirs.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. MaxFunDrive Energy & Branding

• MaxFunDrive Hype: The brothers kick off using infectious energy to promote Maximum Fun's annual fundraising drive. They mention exclusive bonus content, memorable collaborations (like with Janet Varney), and the changing media landscape that makes listener support crucial.
  • Quote [03:46]: “There is an apotheosis that's happened that is shining directly a beam of pure energy right down on Travis that is making anything possible for him.” – Griffin
• Running Gag: Multiple callbacks remind listeners to donate, cleverly using over-the-top metaphors (e.g., threatening to “stop recording podcasts” unless supported, [62:03]).
• Podcast Branding & Survival: They riff on how branding and adapting are key to survival amidst shifting algorithms and social media chaos.
  • Quote [29:38]: “Every opportunity to brand that you miss is a little bit of your life that you've let slip away. Because if you're not branding, what are you doing?” – Justin

2. Manifesting IP Revivals & Snack Nostalgia

• The Phantom Reboot: Travis credits his “manifestation powers” for the greenlighting of a new Phantom TV series, joking about leveraging fan support (the “Trav Nation”) to get himself cameoed ([05:32]).

  • Quote [05:58]: “I always get murdered.” – Travis (on his theoretical Phantom cameo)

• Choco Tacos and Media Nostalgia: Lament about the loss of Choco Tacos and theatrical snacks, weaving in musical theater and TV references for comedic effect.

3. Postal Worker Relationships

• Mail Carrier Question ([14:41]): Listener asks how to make amends after repeatedly leaving their mailbox open and keys dangling, resulting in gentle but persistent reminders from their mail carrier.
  • Justin urges compassion for oneself, suggesting mailpeople aren't likely to be “mad at you” for mistakes ([17:41]).
  • Griffin and Travis riff on leaving candy or playful items as tokens of apology, inventing the concept of “multi-scotcher” butterscotch tips and the “most improved mail accepting person” award ([16:46], [20:53]).
  • Quote [17:41]: “Just because you made a mistake doesn't mean someone's mad at you.” – Griffin

4. Making Adult Work Friends with the Same Name

• The Julie/JL Dilemma ([24:19]): A listener worries about befriending a like-minded coworker with the same name—how to avoid being reduced to the “same name friends.”
  • The brothers riff on “personal branding,” suggesting rebranding and even a staged rivalry or crossover event for office notoriety ([26:16], [27:00]).
  • Quote [26:38]: “It feels good, right? That's where you have to be willing to innovate. JL. What's JL About? It doesn't matter. It's different. It's new. It's today.” – Justin

5. Haunted Doll Unboxing

• Haunted Garfield Doll Segment ([36:21]): Justin unboxes a mysterious package containing a child doll in a Garfield suit, sent by a listener who claims it’s haunted.
  • The brothers dissect the build quality of the doll and wax poetic (and horrified) about its odd features, including “dead eyes” and an oversized mask, delivering ASMR-like sound effects and riffing on Halloween costume memories ([39:08], [41:15]).
  • Quote [39:48]: “But it also looks like while it was going through R and D, a focus group was like, can you make the eyes deader? Deader eyes... Deader.” – Griffin

6. Owning Your "Yeast Guy" Identity

• Becoming The Yeast Guy ([43:01]): A listener, "yeast guy," struggles with imposter syndrome after friends begin centering any and all yeast discourse around them.

  • Travis suggests leaning into it with surreal branding (inventing “Mr. Yeast”), while Justin distinguishes between imposter syndrome and basic anxiety around not being an expert ([45:33]).
  • Quote [45:35]: “If you have imposter syndrome about something because people think you know way more about it than you actually do, that's not imposter syndrome... That's a discrepancy of information.” – Justin

• Journeyman Status: The brothers champion “journeyman” as an underappreciated identity between “novice” and “expert,” validating those new to a craft ([46:54]).

7. Guilt and Returning to Old Hobbies

• Taekwondo & The Weight of Abandoned Hobbies ([49:22]): Justin shares anxiety about returning to taekwondo after a long absence, having paid in advance and forgotten much.
  • The brothers reassure that paying for unused lessons makes Justin a “favorite” customer; Travis notes the wider human tendency to abandon hobbies when interest fades, especially post-Covid ([52:12], [47:22]).
  • Quote [47:22]: “The fun's not in finishing them. The fun is in chasing the interest as long as it exists.” – Travis

8. Sprinkler Etiquette on Campus

• Sprinkler Question ([54:01]): Should a college student run through a massive sports field sprinkler to cool off during a heat wave?
  • The brothers offer silly and serious safety concerns, noting industrial sprinklers like the “Nelson Big Gun SR200” can be dangerous ([59:02]).
  • Suggest tactful approaches (standing on the sidelines for mist, feigning accidental involvement) and establish the “newspaper test”—if it’d make news with a crowd, maybe don’t do it ([56:12]).
  • Quote [59:16]: “You'll be ripped asunder. You'll be killed by this sprinkler.” – Griffin

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Branding:
  “You gotta have the scent ready to deploy. You need the cross media. Sort of like Burger King partnership. JL x Julie.” – Griffin ([27:30])

• On Podcast Survival:
  “We are a little bit behind pace while we're recording this, so maybe threat like a protection racket is the next logical step.” – Griffin ([61:18])

• Classic Absurdity:
  “And if every house gives them one butterscotch a day. That's a lot of butterscotch.” – Travis ([17:15])

• Surreal Haunted Doll Blogging:
  “Can you give us that just a couple times? Listen, because it sounds fucking—” – Griffin ([41:20])

• Philosophical Self-Soothing:
  “Just because you made a mistake doesn't mean someone's mad at you.” – Griffin ([17:41])

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Important Timestamps

• The Phantom Manifestation & Choco Taco Nostalgia: 04:01 – 07:25
• MaxFunDrive/Boco Content Pitch: 07:44 – 10:27
• Mail Carrier Relationship Question: 12:15 – 19:51
• Workplace Same-Name Friendship Dilemma: 24:19 – 29:38
• Haunted Garfield Doll Unboxing: 36:21 – 41:52
• Owning “Yeast Guy” Status: 43:01 – 47:22
• Discussion on Hobby Abandonment/Taekwondo Guilt: 47:22 – 52:12
• Sprinkler Etiquette/Safety: 54:01 – 60:15

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Episode Tone & Takeaways

Staying true to the MBMBaM tradition, this episode is rich in self-aware humor, tangential storytelling, and a balance of sincere advice and outlandish solutions. The hosts’ affection for their audience is clear—whether celebrating weird listener mail, challenging imposter syndrome, or poking fun at their own fundraising tactics, the brothers remind everyone that “journeyman” status is enough, mistakes are human, and that being a character in someone else’s life can be a joyful thing.

And as always: If you want haunted dolls sent to Justin, make sure they're "stone cold heaters."

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Listen if you enjoy: Sibling dynamics, surreal advice, meta-podcast commentary, nostalgia-laced riffing, and reminders that “it’s okay to be new at yeast.”

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?

[Montagne (musical guest)]

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 life, it's better it's better with you this is who you are it's better, it's better with two.

[Justin McElroy]

Hello, everybody. Welcome to My Brother, My Brother and Me, an advice show for the modern air. Get out of the town, brother. Get right out of the town with this. How is this possible? Do it. Show us.

[Travis McElroy]

Raise your mug. Give us your mug. We have ma.

[Griffin McElroy]

I don't want to show you my mug. I don't want to show you. I don't want to show you my mug. It's incriminating. It's incriminating. That has to. It represents a. It represents an older part of my brand that I don't necessarily embody anymore. But I like the coffee.

[Travis McElroy]

So many things.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, well, then maybe. Folks, go to maximumfun.org join. I'll reveal my shameful bug to everyone by the end of the episode. Mm, It's. It says 4 squad on it. I don't know. Someone sent to my po box a long time ago, and I was so humbled by the fact that they made a logo for my fake podcast. And it's a night. I like this sort of. What is this, like a 12 ouncer? I like a bigger pour. A 16 ounce. Or even better, I like a bigger pour.

[Travis McElroy]

Did we say how many?

[Griffin McElroy]

No, no. We sort of immediately got into Vore apologetics.

[Travis McElroy]

What's up, Trav Nation? It's me, your middle is brother Travis. Big dog.

[Griffin McElroy]

Wolf. Wolf.

[Travis McElroy]

Vroom, vroom. The heater. Big Dog.

[Griffin McElroy]

If you can't remember it.

[Travis McElroy]

No. If I pick up even for a second is gone.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'm your sweet baby brother. 30 under 30 media luminary. Sorry, I just turned 39 and so I'm running out of time to hit that 40 under 40 list. I'm worried that I don't have the kind of cashing that I did a decade ago, but I'm gonna figure out here's my ring.

[Travis McElroy]

At the blank page before you Open up the dirty window.

[Griffin McElroy]

Wow.

[Travis McElroy]

Let the sun illuminate the world.

[Griffin McElroy]

Natasha. Welcome, Natasha.

[Travis McElroy]

You're not right. Reaching for something in the distance so close you can almost taste it Release your inhibitions Feel the rain on your skin no one else can feel.

[Justin McElroy]

Fuck yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

What are we doing?

[Travis McElroy]

You can let it in. Hi everybody.

[Justin McElroy]

There were lyrics in there that I've never intelliged before. There's a part where like staring at the blank page before you. We all know it.

[Griffin McElroy]

We love it. Open up our apple. Why is your window so dirty? Natasha, that's crazy.

[Justin McElroy]

It's when you hit the. Let the sun illuminate. Everybody's kind of looking at their friends like, do you know this?

[Travis McElroy]

Illuminate the words that you cannot write. Reaching for something. All right, it's week two of max fund drive maximumfun.org join support the art and artists you love. And I'm living in my power. Sure, I'm living in my power.

[Griffin McElroy]

For I don't know what star is in proto grade in the cosmos that has lent you this power, but there is an apotheosis that's happened that is shining directly a beam of pure energy right down on Travis that is making anything possible for him.

[Travis McElroy]

Like Pitbull said, I don't know about you, but I feel good. Because within the last month I would say I called. I said, I called to the universe and said, I think it's time for a Phantom reboot.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yep.

[Travis McElroy]

And within a 28 day span.

[Griffin McElroy]

Crazy.

[Travis McElroy]

It was announced that there's a phantom TV series in production.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Who's doing it? Who?

[Travis McElroy]

That stuff doesn't matter.

[Griffin McElroy]

You know fucking Billy Zane's gonna roll up like into pirates.

[Justin McElroy]

I want to say, Trav, do you want to be in this TV show?

[Griffin McElroy]

Oh my God, please, no. Are we gonna burn it on this?

[Justin McElroy]

Now here's what I'm saying. We're in an increasingly fractured media environment. There's not going to be a lot of engagement on phantom based social media posts.

[Griffin McElroy]

Correct.

[Justin McElroy]

If on every phantom social media post degraded into. Without Travis McElroy, there is no Phantom.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Then I think we. I think maybe we're getting. We can maybe get Travis in this.

[Griffin McElroy]

You're saying we could flood the Zone in a cool way.

[Justin McElroy]

In a.

[Griffin McElroy]

In a good way.

[Travis McElroy]

Brought to you by Travis McElroy.

[Griffin McElroy]

Travis McElroy.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah. Unless.

[Justin McElroy]

Until they get. I mean, here's what. Here's what I'm thinking, Travis, like the shop owner that, you know what I mean, like they walk past his shop and he waves from inside the shop.

[Travis McElroy]

I'm perfectly happy if there's a shot where they talk about like, if there's a map even and you see a country called Trav Nation. Right. I'm fine with that being anything.

[Justin McElroy]

The idea would be, of course, Travis is trying to smuggle 20 to 30 kilos of premium, premium Colombian coca. And then the Phantom slams evil slams

[Griffin McElroy]

his ass, and Travis like gets beat

[Justin McElroy]

up by the fan.

[Travis McElroy]

I always get murdered.

[Griffin McElroy]

Murdered by the Phantom.

[Justin McElroy]

Travis, as you can see, already has the whole costume and the whole thing already lined out.

[Griffin McElroy]

Do you guys think it was weird that the Phantom was one of the most sort of fervent soldiers in Ronald Reagan's war on drugs? I thought that that was a crazy way for him to sort of expend his.

[Travis McElroy]

I kind of feel like he was already in a war on drugs. And then Ronald Reagan was like, that's a great idea.

[Griffin McElroy]

Let me get up on that.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah, yeah, I'm going to do that too. Nancy, Nancy, do some PSAs.

[Griffin McElroy]

Call the guy. Listen, I want to say first, I'm sorry, Travis, because sometimes you bring stuff to the intro and I'm like, this is. No one knows what the fuck you're talking about. The Phantom, that's an ancient old crusty ass IP that no one's going to touch with a. With a 100 foot pole. And then within 28 calendar days, 20, 20 business days rounded up, we had the announcement. Travis, that's crazy. You're more plugged in than I am. And I'm sorry for doubting you.

[Travis McElroy]

I just know a lot about trash tv. I know what people want.

[Griffin McElroy]

What's next? What's next? Is it time?

[Justin McElroy]

Look at the Pulse.

[Travis McElroy]

What's on the Pulse? Well, my next wish is that they bring back Choco Tacos. That's not really a media property.

[Griffin McElroy]

Can I just say that feels. That feels right. That feels like by the end of May we're gonna have a Choco Taco announcement. That feels right.

[Travis McElroy]

It feels like producing em in like the last five years.

[Griffin McElroy]

Oh, we're ready.

[Justin McElroy]

We're ready.

[Travis McElroy]

Bring back Choco Tacos.

[Justin McElroy]

In Jason Robert Brown's hit musical, they Stopped making Choco Tacos. It's about Jason Robert Brown's the Last Five Years is about the ICCM production of Choco Tacos.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's great.

[Travis McElroy]

That's.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, we've got jokes for every type of person out there.

[Justin McElroy]

The Max Fund Drive. Can we circle back to that real quick, please? A time we Come to you once a year. And we say, hey, do you like the stuff we make? Because we like you. We like making it for you. If you like the stuff we make, could you help us make it? Just. Just a little bit of help. Five bucks a month. If you could do that for us, we would really appreciate it. You go to maximumfund.org join you, say, Hey, I got five bucks. I'll help make these shows, make these shows possible. Now, what do they get in return, guys? That's the question for you.

[Griffin McElroy]

They get just a shit ton of boco, man. More boco than you can consume in your lifetime.

[Justin McElroy]

More bacon than the. More boco than the pan can handle.

[Griffin McElroy]

Absolutely. We're talking about every show on the network.

[Justin McElroy]

Hey, stop for a second. Two times this past week, I said boco to civilians, and they were like, you got to stop, my man. What do you mean? It was rough twice. These are friends. You know what I mean? Friends, Colleagues. And I said boco, and they had to pull over the van and say, what is boke now? What does this mean?

[Griffin McElroy]

Listen, if you can kick in five bucks a month to us and the Max fund network, you're gonna get access to hundreds of hours of bonus content for all the shows for the what, 15. This is our 15th max fund drive, I think from a bim bam. This year, we did a voice acting masterclass with Janet Varney to try and find out why we don't get casting stuff anymore. But we've done all kinds of stuff.

[Justin McElroy]

She will say, guys, surprisingly frank.

[Griffin McElroy]

Extraordinarily right over the place.

[Travis McElroy]

Janet Varney, she did not pull her punches. Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

Told us what we needed to hear. Not what we wanted to hear, necessarily.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah. And what she needed to say. Maybe Janet was lifting.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Get out of her soul.

[Griffin McElroy]

I didn't know she had been harboring that against us this whole time, but it was nice to sort of, I don't know, squash all that beef. We're talking Plato's rave. We're talking pranky doodle dandy. We're talking about the episode that we re recorded, the blue carpet premiere of the Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville musical with Matt Doyle and us reading each other's. It's very high concept. Hundreds of hours. Hundreds of hours of bonus content. There's other pledge levels that you can join at, and you'll get different rewards for doing that. We'll talk more about those later. But seriously, it's our 15th max fund drive, and the reason it's our 15th max fun drive is because we've been doing this for super long because you all continue to support it. So please, please help us out. Don't just assume that someone else will do it. Because the podcast market is a challenging one in the current space. We're fighting tooth and nail out here. So if you enjoy our show, help be responsible for its existence.

[Justin McElroy]

Truly.

[Griffin McElroy]

Full stop by going to maximumfund.org join

[Travis McElroy]

please when you're listening to this. If you're listening to this on Monday, on Tuesday's Clubhouse Stream, as part of Max Fund drive, I will be doing a book report on season two of Yellowstone.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yes,

[Travis McElroy]

it's an experience. It's a thing.

[Griffin McElroy]

I've heard rumor of a FBI investigation. Sort of only murders murder board.

[Travis McElroy]

A real flowchart. Within the next calendar year, there will be announced a live action remake of Don Bluth's Anastasia.

[Justin McElroy]

Oh, that's Trav.

[Griffin McElroy]

That feels.

[Justin McElroy]

That's so good that it feels like it might be. I'm like looking for the. Can I be so bold as to say I would really be into an all dogs go to heaven. That is indeed all dogs.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, real dogs this time. Real dogs. Real dogs really dying.

[Travis McElroy]

No, hold on.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's what Justin. Justin's gotta see real dogs dying and their ghosts go up to heaven. You gotta see it like in that,

[Travis McElroy]

you know, the Dog's life movie that they were like. Yeah, there was some animal rights issues with that one.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, yeah, they didn't like that one so much.

[Justin McElroy]

Hey, how about a question?

[Travis McElroy]

I think through Max Fund Drive, we should answer all six questions on the question list.

[Justin McElroy]

Oh my God.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's never been done before.

[Justin McElroy]

My partner and I recently moved. Our new place is better than our old one in every way except that we're in a different city and thus have a new primary postal person. We had a great relationship with our old male lady. Terrible. Why would you say that about her? We get a lot of it's ageist is what it is.

[Griffin McElroy]

Old male lady is like wild man.

[Justin McElroy]

So mean. So what you did you have. Did you have a great relationship our postal professional. Did you have a great relationship with Janet?

[Griffin McElroy]

Janet a person. Janet Varney, postal Janet Varney a much a mature postal worker.

[Justin McElroy]

We got. We got a lot of packages so she gave us her phone so she could meet her mid route to get packages that need signing when we weren't home that day or hold for when we would be you her phone.

[Travis McElroy]

I bet they meant phone number.

[Justin McElroy]

Number.

[Griffin McElroy]

Okay, that makes a lot more sense.

[Justin McElroy]

We get.

[Travis McElroy]

Take my phone and wait for the Message, then dead drop at the phone.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'll be back when I'm done with my route. This is an accountability thing. Sometimes I get tired. I am an old, old, old lady. But if I know my phone's here, I'll make my way back for sure.

[Travis McElroy]

Get my steps in for me. I'm not doing that enough. As opposed to feed my Pikachu, please.

[Justin McElroy]

Did you say this is person saying meet her mid route as though. It's like, hey, Dan, I got a hot one for you. Are you at home? Nah, nah, nah. Sorry.

[Travis McElroy]

Where you at?

[Justin McElroy]

Where you at?

[Travis McElroy]

It's like, I'm at the sheets. The sheets on 17th.

[Justin McElroy]

He's like, Let me roll up, let me roll up.

[Travis McElroy]

Let me roll up on there and

[Justin McElroy]

I'll get my package from you. Question asker. I know I'm trying to relate in a way that I can connect.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's just. This is a sort of rhetorical puzzle. I'm enjoying unwrapping it. But does she text you like, I'm on Main Ave. Moving west.

[Travis McElroy]

Oh, man.

[Justin McElroy]

Come get your pony.

[Travis McElroy]

I'm gonna drop a pin. I'm gonna drop a pin. Come get this vacuum.

[Justin McElroy]

Oh, why is this pin? I haul this vacuum all the way.

[Travis McElroy]

It's a typo. It's supposed to be drug dealer, not

[Griffin McElroy]

supposed to like a. I never, like. I don't get exciting mail as much anymore, so I don't get excited about opening it if I had to go find it. Hell yeah, dude. I'll get more excited about that fucking Land's End catalog or Chubby's catalog or just any sort of.

[Travis McElroy]

My problem is always when the postal worker delivers the mail, but then also wants to sit with me while I open it and ask if I have any snacks and watch Rick and Morty.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah. Or if I laugh at a letter I got, he'll be like, pass it. And I'm like, dude, that's a federal offense. You can't actually ask to read my mail. So let's.

[Travis McElroy]

What was.

[Justin McElroy]

So we're about to get to the question. Here it comes. You ready?

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

I started with our new mail guy on the wrong foot. I keep forgetting to close our mailbox and forget the keys hanging on the lock. This has happened four times, and every time he brings it over and records a little hey, be careful. Heads up message on our doorbell, then leaves it near our door. How can I salvage this relationship with my mailman and get on good terms enough that I can have back what I've lost? That's from forgetful and packageful in Seattle. I'll give you my hot take while you guys formulate something. Because I've been alive a lot longer, so I feel like I can solve these things faster. In my opinion, you maybe are worried that this male person is going to see you as you are. Because, my friend, you did leave the keys in the mailbox. You know, like, you did need a little bit of help, and it's okay that you were that person then, you know? And if the male person won't let you evolve, they won't let you grow over time. You got a lot on your plate. If you do a ranking of high stress situations that add your stress levels moving way up there, near death of a loved one. Okay, you got a lot going on. Let your mailperson buoy you appreciate this gift. Cause that could be a real foundation being needed and allowing someone to need you.

[Travis McElroy]

That's beautiful, Justin. I agree. My take was let yourself be a project for this mail carrier. Right?

[Griffin McElroy]

Yes.

[Travis McElroy]

Oh, I'm.

[Griffin McElroy]

People do love that.

[Travis McElroy]

While also giving them, like, treats. Because everyone likes.

[Justin McElroy]

Everyone loves a little treat from time to time. Never goes astray.

[Travis McElroy]

Not just one butterscotch, though. Josh. I'm not gonna just leave a butter. Maybe if I put a stamp on it and write in really little letters for you from me from time to time.

[Justin McElroy]

Clearly implies an ongoing sitch. Travis, this is not every day a single butterscotch. It's a trav. It's like not everything's a multi scotcher job. Some things is a one scotcher. Like if I ask my kids to go get my socks from the den, you know, that's a one scotcher.

[Travis McElroy]

If I ask my Sydney, if I

[Justin McElroy]

ask my wife Sydney to stay home from Harmony House today to darn my socks because the kids, you know, that's. That's a multi scotcher kind of deal. I'm going to have to give her four to five butterscotches to get that done. No problem.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, I see mail carriers. I assume the scotch I'm giving them is a tip. I assume that they are being paid handsomely in butterscotches by the United States government.

[Justin McElroy]

They can only accept butterscotch.

[Travis McElroy]

And if every. If every house gives them one butterscotch a day. That's a lot of butterscotch.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's too much butterscotch.

[Justin McElroy]

That's true.

[Griffin McElroy]

You gotta vary it up with all that fucking butterscotch.

[Travis McElroy]

And you don't want to do it every day.

[Justin McElroy]

I.

[Travis McElroy]

In retrospect, because then they'll come to expect it you want to do it at random intervals.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Travis McElroy]

And maybe one day throw a Red Hot in there. And they're like, oh, I didn't want cinnamon candy. And then the next day you're back to butterscotch. And it makes the butterscotch all the better.

[Griffin McElroy]

I think it's a good mantra for a lot of different people. And I'll go ahead and guess a lot of people who maybe listen to our program and share in some of our anxieties, our proclivities that just cause you made a mistake doesn't mean someone's mad at you. It doesn't mean that people are mad at you just because you made a little mistake.

[Travis McElroy]

Why would the male person.

[Griffin McElroy]

The male person, I don't think is materially sort of going to be affected if your male is taken by someone else. Obviously it's not great, but it's not like they're gonna be like, ugh, curse you. You made a mistake and they try to help you. They're not probably not mad. They can't have that kind of relationship going with their whole route where they're

[Travis McElroy]

just mad at Griffin. If I went in for an organ transplant and then as I was leaving the hospital, I let someone mug me and steal that organ out of my chest, the surgeon is going to be pissed.

[Griffin McElroy]

I guess there is a certain amount of like, I carried. I carried that Chubby's catalog on my back for 15 blocks. And it was a thick one. It was the fall special. You would think summertime is when Chubby's makes their bank with how short those shorts are.

[Travis McElroy]

No, man, they got to move product at the end of the summer.

[Griffin McElroy]

They got to move it at the end. That is a 3 pound Chubbies catalog that I carried 15 blocks for your ungrateful ass. No, I still don't think they're gonna be mad at you.

[Travis McElroy]

It's probably, I don't know that they're mad at you. But I think four times you've recently moved and in that time, four times left your key. They have formulated a separate opinion of you of being very forgetful. And you can play that up and be whimsical and maybe leave a sandwich in the letterbox and put your mail in the lunchbox. And then when they see it, you're like, oh, what was I thinking? And now you're like a comical. You're a character in their life.

[Griffin McElroy]

To salvage this thing. If you really are invested in salvaging it, you need to show yourself to your new mail carrier. Being forgetful in other disciplines in your life so that he knows it's not just him, that you're not just ignoring him, A lowly mail guy.

[Justin McElroy]

So wait, your solution is to submit the opinion of him?

[Griffin McElroy]

I'm saying next time your mail carrier comes around when you know they're coming around, maybe you slip an airtag on the bottom of their vehicle so you know when they're about to roll up. And then you go outside and you open up all your car doors, and then you go back inside, you leave the garage door open and your front door open, and just a lot of doors open. And then when they're like, hey, man, you left all your doors open, then they'll know it's not just me. They're not just ignoring me.

[Justin McElroy]

It's one shoe. You just do one shoe on, one shoe off.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'll get you.

[Travis McElroy]

This is also a good rule when starting a job. Don't give 100% at your job. Always give, like, 50% when you start a new job, and then one day start giving, like, 70%. And everyone's like, whoa, whoa. This guy's really stepping it up. Because if you always give 100%, you got nowhere to go from there. You gotta wait.

[Griffin McElroy]

You save 100% until you can show up with the big spiky blonde wig. And then the boss is like, guys, we're not meeting our annual quarterly goals. And you go like. And you do Super Saiyan, and then you go out and, you know, fire off those mailchimp mailers or whatever it is that you're thinking.

[Travis McElroy]

So you give 50% to your mail carrier and then start getting 75%. Your male carrier is like, wow, they've really improved their game. They must have been taking some ginkgo biloba or something, because they're remembering everything. They're so on it. And they're gonna be so impressed with you. They're gonna give you the most improved male accepting person award, and it's gonna be incredible.

[Justin McElroy]

Can I suggest one other plan? And if this. I don't want it to be, like, normal, where we'll do jokes about it. If it's a bad plan, you guys should tell me. What if you forget the keys one more time? Just once this time, and then when they bring them to you, you say, congratulations, you passed. I'm looking for somebody I can trust, and I think that somebody is you. And then you start closing the door, and you say, stay by the phone, dude.

[Griffin McElroy]

Stay by the phone is such a powerful conversation ender that you can deploy in so Many different situations.

[Justin McElroy]

I think that what do is you give him a stay by the phone.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

You don't see him again for several weeks and then the next time you see him you say we called. You were there. We called.

[Travis McElroy]

You stay by the phone because they.

[Justin McElroy]

Because if you see them, they're not by the phone. So at some point they've left the phone. Right. So you have to assume you're hanging

[Travis McElroy]

up your phone as they deliver the man. Like I just.

[Justin McElroy]

What's this going on?

[Griffin McElroy]

What I said about Guess someone doesn't want to join the Men in Black.

[Justin McElroy]

It's actually a good idea. It sounds like it probably work.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah. Minute black sounds like a lot of work. Is that what you mean? Because I wouldn't want to do it. It sounds like a high stress job.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

I recently started a new job and while I don't expect to make.

[Griffin McElroy]

We are not on pace for six questions, dudes. Not even close to on pace.

[Justin McElroy]

Well, that certainly helps, Griffin. That certainly helps.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's coaching. You got to coach.

[Travis McElroy]

Spend more time talking about how we don't have enough time.

[Griffin McElroy]

This is a timeout. This is a coaching. An open coaching job.

[Justin McElroy]

Hey, listen. Coaching job. Listen. I've already cut a planned segment where I was going to read the track list for the new Muppets Mayhem roller coaster ride. That segment's already being cut to try.

[Griffin McElroy]

Can you blaze through it? Because I am deeply. I do kind of want to. Is moving right along.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

I have a joke.

[Justin McElroy]

Was the problem with the segment. The reason it was cut is that I don't have a joke. I just wanted to talk to you about.

[Griffin McElroy]

Do you have a big box? Do you have a big box on your desk or something? Big white box. I'm seeing a big white box.

[Justin McElroy]

Yes, you're right, Griffin. I'll move faster. I will not moving right along. I'm not going to pull over the wheel and tell you the whole track.

[Griffin McElroy]

Listen, let's make a rainbow connection right now with each other.

[Justin McElroy]

No, what we're going to do, I'm going to intersperse them throughout the show. It's a Momentum Builder. Song 2.

[Griffin McElroy]

Cool.

[Justin McElroy]

By the Electric Mayhem.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's your first one. Holy shit, dude. By Blur. By the Electric Mayhem.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Actually, you know what? I could probably spot you one clip. I could probably spot you a clip.

[Griffin McElroy]

There's clips already.

[Justin McElroy]

Error. Song two. That's your first one. We don't have to include. I thought that would be the Muppets doing it, but it was in fact just a recording.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's just Blur dude.

[Justin McElroy]

By Blur. So we will get copyright stricken for that. You didn't hear it.

[Griffin McElroy]

MaximumFun.org join help us fend off Blur and their lawyers.

[Justin McElroy]

They got that. Blur's got that Gorillaz money again. They're gonna be tough to beat. I don't think that we can stand against them right now. But Song two, That's your first, first treat.

[Travis McElroy]

Okay.

[Justin McElroy]

I recently started a new job, and while I typically don't expect to make new friends with my coworkers outside of work, it turns out I got a lot in common with one of my team members. We both like D and D. We both like to make clothes. She even offered to sell me one of her used sewing machines. There's just one problem. We have the same first name. I'm interested in getting to know this person, but I'm worried that our other co workers will boil down our budding friendship to us just having the same name. Is there any way to get ahead of this? Or is there something I can do when they inevitably comment on it? I feel like I can only awkwardly laugh myself out of so many conversations in life. And that's from befriending in Florida.

[Griffin McElroy]

You gotta stop your screen share. You are showing us the most strung out member of the Muppets band and it's truly bumming me out. I don't know that one's name, but he looked really like he was having a really, really tough year first.

[Travis McElroy]

Just to get it out of the way. Don't let the fact that people might comment about having the same name stop you from making a new friend as an adult. The chances of finding a new friend.

[Justin McElroy]

Oh, yeah.

[Travis McElroy]

Don't blow it.

[Griffin McElroy]

Don't blow this for us.

[Travis McElroy]

We need this.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'm so curious. What does it feel like to make that connection as an adult? Don't blow it.

[Justin McElroy]

Don't blow it. You know, I do a little bit. I'm a little bit worried about the situation because I don't feel like the question asker is really understanding the. The issue. Right.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

There is someone at their new workplace that has the same name as them and many of the same interests.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

You need to start. You need to start thinking about your brand, you know, like right now, let's say Julie. Is that fair? Julie?

[Travis McElroy]

Yep.

[Justin McElroy]

If the Julie brand is like, it's already being pretty much monopolized and you're not doing anything to take the brand in a bold new direction, you always have to innovate.

[Griffin McElroy]

You have to be innovating always.

[Justin McElroy]

You may have to accept that you can't handle the brand. Maybe you need to rename. Maybe you need to drop the vowels from your name.

[Griffin McElroy]

Well, do you stop?

[Travis McElroy]

Julie. I think that's just JL Is left.

[Justin McElroy]

Oh, sorry, Trav. Say it again.

[Griffin McElroy]

JL Here comes JL oh, JL Feels fucking great, dude.

[Travis McElroy]

That does feel good.

[Justin McElroy]

It feels good, right? That's where you have to be willing to innovate. JL What's JL About? It doesn't matter. It's different. It's new. It's today.

[Travis McElroy]

It's hip. It's now. It's not labels now.

[Griffin McElroy]

Ooh.

[Travis McElroy]

If you can figure out a way to be complimentary but separate from the new Julie.

[Justin McElroy]

Right? Sorry, are you saying JL A Julie. JL A Julie joint and you're like a JL the other Julie?

[Travis McElroy]

JL X Julie.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Travis McElroy]

A crossover event. Right.

[Justin McElroy]

Your brand cannot handle a crossover with Julie right now.

[Travis McElroy]

Not right now. Not right now.

[Justin McElroy]

Oh.

[Griffin McElroy]

You gotta work your way up to it.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You want people to get excited when this drops.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, exactly.

[Travis McElroy]

You know what I mean?

[Justin McElroy]

Exactly. JL has to be about something else.

[Griffin McElroy]

You gotta have the scent ready to deploy. You gotta have the scent ready to deploy. You need the cross media. Sort of like Burger King partnership. JLX Julie.

[Travis McElroy]

Maybe you do a verse on a Julie track, right?

[Griffin McElroy]

Yes.

[Travis McElroy]

And people lose it. Featuring JL get the fuck out. You got JL on the track, right? It's gonna blow people's minds.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's gonna blow up.

[Travis McElroy]

And at that point, you've raised both of your standings in the community. And this may be a staged beef.

[Griffin McElroy]

Okay?

[Justin McElroy]

Julie likes dd, jl D or D. Okay.

[Travis McElroy]

Pathfinder.

[Justin McElroy]

You know what I mean?

[Travis McElroy]

Why are we.

[Justin McElroy]

Huh. Julie likes to make clothes. JL

[Griffin McElroy]

you didn't have one for that one.

[Travis McElroy]

I was hoping for maybe.

[Justin McElroy]

I was hoping for once that just for once we would just steal the.

[Travis McElroy]

You guys would do.

[Justin McElroy]

Would help.

[Travis McElroy]

You don't think it would help.

[Justin McElroy]

You yell at me. You yell at us. That's the show, guys. That's the show. Yeah. That's the show.

[Travis McElroy]

Griffin, that was a great limb reference.

[Griffin McElroy]

Thanks. Thank you. This is, I think, gonna be fine. I think that people become good friends. This is the subtext of our answers, is this will be fine, and it's not funny. But, like, if people say, oh, you both are named Julie, that's crazy. They're probably not gonna do it every time you two are in the same, here come the Julies. Although they did do that shit on West Wing. And that probably hurt those guys feelings.

[Travis McElroy]

All you gotta do is if somebody's like, oh, you're both named Julie, you just go, oh, yeah, great. Observation.

[Griffin McElroy]

Observation. Enjoy being alone. Enjoy not having any friends in this office. I'm the only fucking one who does. So go ahead and say your mean shit about our names.

[Justin McElroy]

Do you guys feel as you're saying this, like these are the words of a beloved office member? Like, do you think this is.

[Travis McElroy]

If someone's giving you a hard time about making an adult friendship?

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Travis McElroy]

It's because they're jealous.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Every opportunity to brand that you miss is a little bit of your life that you've let slip away. Because if you're not branding, what are you doing? Yeah, what do we leave behind if not a brand?

[Travis McElroy]

Griffin, thank you. That's. I think Hamilton said rich.

[Justin McElroy]

I think it was Lynn Menlo Miranda

[Travis McElroy]

that wrote what do we Leave behind is a Garden.

[Justin McElroy]

We talked about the Max Fund Drive briefly earlier on, but I wanted to say right now, real quick, the short version is if you go to maximumfun.org join right, then you're on easy street.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

That's where you can go and say, hey, I can pledge 5 or 10 or 20 bucks a month to the shows that I love on this podcasting network and the creators on the network

[Travis McElroy]

and in the Internet landscape. One of the things, you know, we've been doing this now for a decade and a half, and the way that we're able to get information out to people has drastically changed in that time. There's less.

[Griffin McElroy]

Thank you, Elon. Thank you, Elon, for making it so shitty and hard.

[Travis McElroy]

Elon. Thank you, Elon, for fucking it all up in so many ways. And so we're not gonna get a lot of chances to remind you. Like, this episode's gonna come out on Monday and then there's not gonna be

[Griffin McElroy]

another, we're forget about us until Monday again. That's fine.

[Justin McElroy]

If that's.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's the way you want this relationship to go, we're not gonna grouse about it.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah, we're fine with that. But we're not gonna get a chance to remind you before the Max Fund drive ends. Through my brother, my brother and me again. And so if you're considering it, if you're like, listen, I love my brother, my brother and me, I've been listening for years. I'm Ready to support go right now. Maximumfund.org join don't wait or it's gonna slip right out of your Brain. There's a lot of other stuff going on. You've got that test tomorrow. Don't forget about that.

[Griffin McElroy]

For five bucks a month, that's the price of one gallon of gasoline. For five bucks a month, you hundreds of hours of bonus content. This year we did the Janet Varney acting masterclass. We did another episode of Cousin Verse where five of our six kids planned a one shot RPG for us to go through, which is fully, fully wild on wonderful. We watched the Mummy, which was only Rachel's second Brendan Fraser movie she had seen before. Yeah, that's a wild quick spoiler.

[Justin McElroy]

What's the rating?

[Griffin McElroy]

A fun, hugely problematic romp. A fun whee. Cowboy romp.

[Travis McElroy]

Yay.

[Griffin McElroy]

In the desert. So such a rough ride in 2026.

[Justin McElroy]

Oh, good to know. Okay, yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

So strap in and be ready.

[Travis McElroy]

Teresa and I discussed Zombies 1, the Disney Channel original movie.

[Justin McElroy]

Holy.

[Travis McElroy]

Which was Teresa's first Disney Channel original movie.

[Griffin McElroy]

So many gaps in the cultural knowledge.

[Travis McElroy]

Oh God. I started with under wraps. Speaking of the Mummy. And so I've come at it with all of the context leading up to it. And along those same lines, Griffin, I would say an hour and a half of nuanced discussion of the implications of zombies.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, yeah. There's a lot of conversation topics that come out of anyone fucking brink with Eric Von Die. You gotta sit down, you gotta talk to your family after this. You gotta have those hard conversations.

[Travis McElroy]

The cloning movie starring the youngest Lauren's brother.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah. No one can remember.

[Justin McElroy]

I don't need to tell you that the media landscape is difficult and ever changing. And sometimes we have advertisers and sometimes we don't. You know, that's.

[Griffin McElroy]

Sometimes we have the same four advertisers for years and years and years. And those four advertisers, absolutely.

[Travis McElroy]

Ride or die.

[Justin McElroy]

We love them.

[Griffin McElroy]

Ride or die. We love them to pieces. And a lot of the other advertisers went to the famous show. But that being said, louded though we are for our advertising deliveries, it simply doesn't pay the bills. It really is not that much money. We really get the lion's share of our income from you all.

[Justin McElroy]

People fall off over time. Credit card numbers change. People decide that they think we suck people now and they cancel stuff. But if you've been listed for a while and are not a member, why

[Griffin McElroy]

am I paying for these old men?

[Justin McElroy]

I hate these idiots. If you've been listening for a while, you want to kick in, support the show, five, ten bucks a month. We'd really appreciate it. Go to maximumfun.org join genuinely, thank you so much.

[Travis McElroy]

And if you have enjoyed the YouTube stuff we've been doing, video clips, we post all of the stuff that we've added, all the streams, all that stuff, it's because of your support. We couldn't do that stuff without you.

[Griffin McElroy]

We've hired people to help us with that. We have a team gang, for real. We're small business owners.

[Justin McElroy]

We're small business owners, thanks to you.

[Griffin McElroy]

So I guess we don't just take

[Justin McElroy]

your small business owners in a sense.

[Griffin McElroy]

We don't just take your money and buy an Xbox with it.

[Travis McElroy]

No, we can buy Xbox. I didn't even know they sold those.

[Griffin McElroy]

I do that with my other earnings from my babysitting businesses that I run. Lawn mowing, the lawn mowing that I do. But for the rest of it, we like hire staff and buy new equipment and try to make the show look and sound good. So maxonefun.org join. You go there, you pick the shows, you listen to your money. Some of it goes to Max Fund to help with the administrative side of things that we don't know how to do and they've been doing for a long time and are extremely good at. And the rest of it just goes to the shows that you listen to. 5 bucks a month gets you all the bonus content. 10 bucks a month gets you a really nice enamel keychain customized for the show of your choosing.

[Justin McElroy]

There's other Born to Be Wild. Born to Be Wild. The Electric Mayhem versus Camilla the Chicken.

[Griffin McElroy]

I like that. Yeah, that's going to be funny too. Versus. Yeah, they're going to fight. So even if you can just do five bucks a month, truly that is where I think a bulk of our support comes in. And it is what helps us keep doing this thing. So maximumfund.org join is going to be one of our last chances to talk to you about it. So if you're thinking about doing it, please, please, please do it.

[Justin McElroy]

Okay, fine. You win. I'm going to share the brush that increases desire, or at least I'm going to tell it about you. If you are someone that is a listener of my brother, my brother and me, and you join up during the Maximum Fund drive, I'm going to be whispering your name into the brush. Whoa.

[Travis McElroy]

Holy shit.

[Justin McElroy]

During live streams this week, if there's ever been a better incentive to become a member of this beautiful network, I don't know what it is. Go to maximumfund.org join right now and I will whisper your name into the Brush that increases desire. Live before your very eyes. Haunted doll. Watch.

[Griffin McElroy]

We're just not getting through six questions. We've got an exciting delivery on the desk right now. Holy shit, dude. Holy shit. Yeah, Justin's got a box.

[Justin McElroy]

This is a large box that I received in our. My P.O. box.

[Travis McElroy]

P.O.

[Justin McElroy]

box.

[Griffin McElroy]

You're really cradle in it.

[Justin McElroy]

Huntington, West Virginia, 25704.

[Griffin McElroy]

You're snuggling it.

[Travis McElroy]

Is the box label accurate?

[Justin McElroy]

The box label says trick or treat with Garfield.

[Griffin McElroy]

Amazing.

[Justin McElroy]

This is the note that I received. Hi, boys. Longtime listener since 2015. First time mailer of definitely haunted dolls. When you see her, you'll understand. She's been traveling around with me new in box through at least four different moves. I've been meaning to ship her for ages. I finally found a box perfect for it. So here she is. So I guess maybe the Garfield box is a misleading thing.

[Travis McElroy]

I don't know.

[Griffin McElroy]

Have you opened this bad boy yet? Or is this. It's been sealed.

[Justin McElroy]

Sitting on a shelf. I've been waiting for an opportunity. And the Max Fun Drive is such an opportunity.

[Travis McElroy]

I finally found a box. If I could interrupt Justin real quick.

[Justin McElroy]

Oh, yeah. There's only two sentences left. Sure.

[Travis McElroy]

I notice above your right shoulder.

[Justin McElroy]

I believe I was clearly being ironic, Travis. Clearly, I didn't want to be interrupted.

[Travis McElroy]

Cradled by a crocheted count donut is the brush that increases desire.

[Griffin McElroy]

I see no brush.

[Travis McElroy]

Okay.

[Justin McElroy]

God. So she's in your hands now. Take care of her, Steph. D. Fork first into the void in PA I have no idea what's gonna be in here.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'm not 100% sure what Garfield's pronouns are, but it does sound like. Just based on sort of context clues. Maybe it's normal.

[Travis McElroy]

You know what Garfield's pronouns are?

[Justin McElroy]

I can't see him. Man. It's Garfield.

[Travis McElroy]

Do you think it's because Justin got the brush that increases desires? That's why they're making the Phantom reboot.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's possible that you guys fucking worked together on this.

[Justin McElroy]

Okay.

[Griffin McElroy]

And I had no part in it.

[Justin McElroy]

Here we go. So I'm opening the box. I'm gonna.

[Griffin McElroy]

Is there a ceremony?

[Justin McElroy]

That's a smell. It's like the smell. There's always transportative.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, the ghost comes out hot and fast. It fills in. It's pressurized.

[Justin McElroy]

We have some really nice wrapping paper I'm gonna try to remove.

[Griffin McElroy]

Man, I hope it's not like a trap. Be crazy to get that on camera.

[Justin McElroy]

Oh, gosh. Okay, you know what?

[Griffin McElroy]

Who's in there?

[Travis McElroy]

Okay, that's just paper.

[Griffin McElroy]

And let's trick or treat with Garfield.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah, for sure.

[Griffin McElroy]

Wait, but there's no. Hold on, wait. There is something going on with Garfield. There's something going on with that doll that I don't.

[Justin McElroy]

Oh, my gosh.

[Griffin McElroy]

That feels custom to me.

[Justin McElroy]

This is exciting. This is exciting. Wow. This is really exciting.

[Griffin McElroy]

We got a little trick or treat bag. That's cute.

[Justin McElroy]

A little trick or treat bag.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's really cute, actually.

[Justin McElroy]

Novelty stand.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's incredible. The doll seems aftermarket juice. I'll be honest.

[Justin McElroy]

No, dude, the doll's not. And it's.

[Travis McElroy]

Oh, my God.

[Griffin McElroy]

Down. Beauty blogging. I can't see the face. I need the face.

[Travis McElroy]

Does that have a hairnet on?

[Justin McElroy]

I think that's packaging material. Hold on.

[Griffin McElroy]

So what we're looking at right now, folks, listening at home is a child, a little doll child that is wearing a Garfield suit. So it's like sort of a Garfield.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah, yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

Oh, wow.

[Justin McElroy]

That's.

[Travis McElroy]

And the child is cheesing so hard. Like it's just been told as soon as they get a picture with a smile, you can take it off.

[Griffin McElroy]

But it also looks like while it was going through R and D, a focus group was like, can you make the eyes deader Deader eyes deader eyes deader eyes deader deader deadener.

[Justin McElroy]

Now if you guys are ready to have some Halloween fun.

[Griffin McElroy]

Dude.

[Travis McElroy]

Oh,

[Justin McElroy]

wow.

[Griffin McElroy]

Is it good like that? It's so much better like that. You put the Garfield eyes on it

[Travis McElroy]

and now it's not to scale at all.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's not to scale even a little bit. But that's okay. Okay. The child's having a great time. He's got. He's super dumpy. Which I imagine is maybe just all the fun sized candy bars he stuffed inside the suit with him, which is crazy.

[Travis McElroy]

A specific dumpiness, too.

[Griffin McElroy]

A huge sort of bottle shaped dumpiness. Is there a tail? I'm trying to figure out how to display? Yeah, I mean, this guy's a permanent fixture, I imagine, in the background.

[Travis McElroy]

Oh, yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

He's gonna get rid of it.

[Griffin McElroy]

You put him next to Frisch's big boy and the brush that increases desires. And don't be comfortable with the brat.

[Travis McElroy]

Why?

[Griffin McElroy]

Why does the Bratman get drunk like that?

[Travis McElroy]

I guess my question is why is the mask so big and chonky?

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, dude, listen, I don't think I can.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's hard to. You're trying to. Beauty.

[Justin McElroy]

It's like it's porcelain. It's like it's really hard and heavy.

[Travis McElroy]

They had the mask first and crafted the rest of the idea around it.

[Griffin McElroy]

The sound actually that the mask makes touching the child's doll face sounds really good. Can you give us that just a couple times? Listen, because it sounds fucking.

[Justin McElroy]

Get it right up. We'll get it clean.

[Travis McElroy]

Cause it's not molded to it.

[Griffin McElroy]

Travis, don't talk.

[Justin McElroy]

People are. Travis. It's too heavy for the elastic. Like this is naturally.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's sort of sagging like that. He'll be fine, honey.

[Travis McElroy]

Sagging, Sagging cars will watch out for him.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's awesome.

[Justin McElroy]

Can Zagnut. Zagnut, port?

[Travis McElroy]

Lasagna in bag.

[Griffin McElroy]

Lasagna in bag. That's awesome.

[Justin McElroy]

Wow, this is a beautiful piece. Thank you so much.

[Griffin McElroy]

Beautiful.

[Travis McElroy]

I'm saying this as a parent.

[Justin McElroy]

This is actually very Halloween realistic. Got like a black long sleeve thermal and some sweatpants.

[Travis McElroy]

That kid is gonna be sweating their fucking ass off in. I don't care what the weather is outside. They're wearing a bearskin rug like.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, yeah. No good.

[Justin McElroy]

No good. Thank you so much.

[Griffin McElroy]

But extremely good.

[Justin McElroy]

But also very good. I just gotta. I'll look at the instructions later. We'll have it properly mounted.

[Griffin McElroy]

I feel like I need to say, for your sake, do not let this kick off a wave of you saying, well, I've got a haunted doll for Justin. Unless it's a fucking stone cold heater like this. Really Take a look at that doll. Cause sometimes we get sent dolls.

[Justin McElroy]

I'll find a place for them. I'll find a place for him. No problem.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'll take care of it. No problem.

[Justin McElroy]

How about another question? Yeah, this is an advice show and I feel like sometimes we lose sight of that. I work with yeast, but most of my friends are not in the yeast community. Recently my friends have started referring to me as the yeast guy and telling me about any yeast related things they come across. I'm still pretty new at yeast work.

[Travis McElroy]

Sorry, hold on.

[Justin McElroy]

Wait. This is really good. I'm still pretty new at yeast work and so I have a bit of imposter syndrome at being given this title. How should I best accept and embrace my new identity as the yeast guy? And this is from the yeast guy.

[Travis McElroy]

That's a good start.

[Justin McElroy]

That's a good start.

[Griffin McElroy]

That is a good start. Owning it.

[Travis McElroy]

Maybe you could start talking about like the yeast games and yeastables and your boss, Mr. Yeast and just see, Mr. Yeast is how long you can keep that up before they're like, this sounds a lot like Mr. B. You're like, yeah, Mr. Yeast today said he would give away, like, a million dollars to the first hundred yeast that stayed alive.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Travis McElroy]

And then they're like, that sounds like something Mr. Beast would do. And you're like, different brand, different brand.

[Justin McElroy]

We're actually probably the best people at, like, making jokes about Mr. Beast that I know of.

[Griffin McElroy]

I don't think any.

[Justin McElroy]

But, yeah, I don't think, like, we do a lot of actually very.

[Travis McElroy]

Hear that? I heart radio. New category. New category.

[Justin McElroy]

I just think we make a lot of very good Mr. Beast jokes that I don't feel like our audience. I think our audience is uniquely positioned to not enjoy, like, the. Demographically.

[Griffin McElroy]

Speaking.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

You know what I mean? Like, I have. I do to. My life has been exposed to so much mrbeast that I feel like I could do a pretty good five to ten on Beast stuff. Travis was the one right there. Was like, so good. Thank you.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's really good. But we also. I mean, it's the same reason we are all, like, routinely pitching blippy gags to crickets. Just absolutely no one. Because it's tough. It's tough. What do you got there?

[Justin McElroy]

The bag is labeled accessory package. This is how they used to do things. Kids, People used to be professionals.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's awesome.

[Travis McElroy]

The nice thing is, one should not have imposter syndrome when they know any amount of stuff while the people talking to them know zero amount of about that stuff. Right. You are inherently an expert above them. Your friends who know nothing about yeast, who are telling you about yeast because they're excited they found out a single fact about yeast, aren't judging you, that you don't know more about yeast than they think you do.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, yeah. But.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, but on the other hand, Trav, this person is admittedly new to yeast work. We gotta start being careful about imposter syndrome, folks.

[Griffin McElroy]

Oh, wow.

[Travis McElroy]

Oh, wow.

[Justin McElroy]

Now, listen.

[Griffin McElroy]

Hold on. It's about to get said.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

No, no, no, no.

[Justin McElroy]

Listen. No, listen.

[Griffin McElroy]

Own it.

[Justin McElroy]

If you have imposter syndrome about something because people think you know way more about it than you actually do, that's not imposter syndrome. Yeah, that's fair. That is a discrepancy of information. Right?

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

You get imposter syndrome.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's their fault. It's not your fault. Their fault for thinking that much.

[Justin McElroy]

You get imposter syndrome that you are an expert in. Like, recently, I've been taking on some new challenges, and I've been thinking. I've been really doubting myself. And these are untested things, things I haven't tried before. Right. I've been really doubting myself, and I thought, man, I got imposter syndrome. And then later I rethought that, and I had to reframe it and say, you don't have imposter syndrome. You have regular wondering if you're going to fuck up or not. That's just a normal amount of wondering. That's. I think you have a very normal amount of worrying someone's gonna ask you a question about Y's, and you look like an asshole. And that's like. That's not imposter syndrome. That's just being alive. That's like a normal part of being alive.

[Griffin McElroy]

Fully, fully.

[Travis McElroy]

Compared as someone who takes on a lot of new hobbies constantly. I started reintroducing some, I would say, archaic terminology to give us a level betwixt novice and expert. Journeyman.

[Griffin McElroy]

Journeyman is great. I like journeyman a lot.

[Justin McElroy]

And it's fantastic, right?

[Travis McElroy]

I'm still learning.

[Justin McElroy]

I love that.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, I can't answer all your questions.

[Travis McElroy]

I know more than I did on my first day. I'm no longer a novice, but I'm not an expert. I'm a journeyman.

[Griffin McElroy]

Did you guys have any Covid hobbies that you kind of, like, got into with someone else and then, like, they kept going with it and you fell off? Or like, they were already an expert and you came to them like, hey, I want to get into your thing. And then you fell off immediately. Because that's just how we're built. And it was Covid and we were all trying a lot of stuff, and then I would check in with you, like, hey, how's it going with that? And you say, I did stop. It's boring.

[Justin McElroy]

I would say, absolutely. If I am always the other person. Yes. Okay, I know exactly what you're talking about. But like, yeah, flipping. Flip it.

[Travis McElroy]

It happens with my children. Well, they will inadvertently shame me by saying, like, hey, do you still do blank hobby that I haven't touched in six months? Cause I'm three hobbies further along now. Or they'll say, like, when are you gonna play Stardew Valley again? You're always playing that Beaver game, which is Timberborn, or like, what happened to the video store game? And I'm like, oh, I lost interest in that. And I can only play one video game at a time because of my brain disease.

[Griffin McElroy]

Sure, Daddy, make me some hard candy. I haven't done that shit.

[Travis McElroy]

I don't in, like, four years. Dot asked me the other day. Dot said, my six year old, why do you have so many unfinished projects.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, that's a great question, Dottie. Absolutely.

[Travis McElroy]

And I said, well, the fun's not in finishing them. The fun is in chasing the interest as long as it exists. And she said, yeah, there's just a lot of stuff around the house. They're serious. Yeah, man, you're right. You're right.

[Justin McElroy]

I think, Trav, the next time you gotta come back and.

[Travis McElroy]

I don't know, Dot.

[Justin McElroy]

It's. Cause some of my unfinished projects are real chatty.

[Griffin McElroy]

Wow. Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Some of my unfinished projects got a

[Travis McElroy]

lot of attitude about their attitude. Making you chocolate milk.

[Justin McElroy]

I'm trying to drink my chocolate milk, Dot.

[Travis McElroy]

No, I. Hey, no, I'm making her chocolate milk.

[Justin McElroy]

Sorry.

[Travis McElroy]

Chocolate milk isn't my escape.

[Justin McElroy]

You're slurping down a big refreshing chocolate milk while your daughter tries to get your. I get it. Okay.

[Travis McElroy]

Let daddy finish his medicine.

[Justin McElroy]

I will tell you guys, I have the legitimate hardest one of these to come back from. And I would love. I would still love your advice on this.

[Griffin McElroy]

Sure, sure.

[Justin McElroy]

I did Taekwondo for a year.

[Griffin McElroy]

A big one. We all knew that was a big one.

[Justin McElroy]

It was a big one that was

[Travis McElroy]

in zag on him.

[Justin McElroy]

So that would have been 20.

[Griffin McElroy]

Serpentine. 17.

[Justin McElroy]

2017. Okay. So I did Taekwondo for a year. Kind of lost interest. Picked it up a couple years later with Charlie, and we did it for a couple years, and I became a blue belt in Taekwondo, which is like, you know, about middle. Right. Where you're journeying to. And then I stopped going because, I don't know.

[Travis McElroy]

You didn't want to.

[Griffin McElroy]

Why does anyone stop doing anything?

[Justin McElroy]

I don't know.

[Travis McElroy]

Why does anyone stop doing anything?

[Justin McElroy]

It got cold or hot. Who knows it's cold or hot to go outside.

[Griffin McElroy]

So you stop there.

[Justin McElroy]

You stop going, right?

[Travis McElroy]

Something hurt.

[Justin McElroy]

Someone died. You know, stuff happens. So we stopped going for some amount of time. The amount of time now is such that I am left in this impossible scenario where I feel like it is something I should be doing, would enjoy returning to, would get a lot out of. But I, for the life of me, do not know how. I go back with my blue belt and say I've forgotten it all. Take this from me. Take me back to the. To the white belt, because that's the. They don't want to do that.

[Griffin McElroy]

They don't want you.

[Travis McElroy]

They don't get anything out of that.

[Justin McElroy]

Right. They don't want to go back and teach me. And honestly, if I had a tutor, an intensive two week tutor to Miyagi me through to catch me back Up. You know, maybe that. Maybe I'm a blue belt again. I don't know.

[Griffin McElroy]

Maybe.

[Justin McElroy]

But I don't know how to get back on board. And Master Kim, I paid a good amount of. This is the last. This is the other thing. This is the other problem.

[Griffin McElroy]

Okay.

[Justin McElroy]

I was really enthusiastic about Taekwondo, and I paid for a year in advance, and then we used about three months of that. And now if I go back, I cannot have a conversation with Master Kim

[Griffin McElroy]

where he's like, you owe me this many Taekwondo.

[Justin McElroy]

I. I mean, I don't know. It's gonna at least be a conversation. And of course, I will defer to

[Travis McElroy]

whatever he is the master. Right.

[Justin McElroy]

Like, I'm gonna. I would obviously defer to whatever he said, but there would be this question of I did.

[Griffin McElroy]

I mean, yeah, sure.

[Justin McElroy]

You can't really say that I was using those months, Master Kim. Like, I wasn't, you know?

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Travis McElroy]

Is it possible, Justin, that simply by paying for the months, even if you didn't go to the class, you were still benefiting from the Taekwondo, like, kind of just being there for you if you needed it?

[Griffin McElroy]

Interesting.

[Travis McElroy]

Just maybe when that nine months ran out, that's why you can't remember how to do any of it. Cause your time ran out.

[Justin McElroy]

No, but, Trav, I would say. I don't know that to be true, but upon further reflection, I would say that by paying for a year and then just not being present for nine months, I've gotta be in the top 10% of Master Kim's favorite students. That's got a pretty good deal, as sins go.

[Travis McElroy]

Certainly upsetting on some level. But can you imagine if you had a full roster of paying students, but none of them ever came? And you just got to sit there and, like, fucking play Halo all day?

[Griffin McElroy]

They're like.

[Justin McElroy]

And these suckers are at home feeling guilty.

[Travis McElroy]

They're doing the same thing I am, except the money's flowing this way that

[Griffin McElroy]

you might show up and be like, master, it's been so long.

[Justin McElroy]

Can you teach me?

[Griffin McElroy]

And he'll be like, man, I haven't it done. I also haven't done it in, like, nine months. No one shows up to these things.

[Justin McElroy]

That would explain why whenever I was early for class, he would always be like, oh, Christ, this fuck

[Travis McElroy]

wheeling the TV out of the room. One more question.

[Griffin McElroy]

Cool heroic effort.

[Justin McElroy]

Can't stop, won't stop. Just like the old days. I'm a college student suffering through a heat wave. Yesterday I saw a love Roller coaster by the Electric Mayhem featuring Jennifer Hudson

[Griffin McElroy]

and Questlove Ooh, dude, how long is this fucking roller coaster, dude? Is it like a Guardians of the Galaxy thing where you get a different track?

[Justin McElroy]

You never know what track you're gonna get.

[Griffin McElroy]

Hell, yes.

[Justin McElroy]

Yesterday I saw a very large lawn sprinkler spraying water over one of the turf fields on campus to cool it down for a sports game happening later in the day. It looked very refreshing. Do you think it'd be okay for me to. No.

[Griffin McElroy]

Do you think it'd be okay for

[Justin McElroy]

me to run through the giant sprinkler to cool off? That's from melting in Massachusetts.

[Travis McElroy]

Well, I'd say right now you're staring at the blank page before you.

[Griffin McElroy]

Okay, you can't see through that window.

[Travis McElroy]

Might I recommend. Open up the dirty window.

[Griffin McElroy]

Open it? Yeah. Don't clean it.

[Travis McElroy]

Illuminate the words that you cannot find.

[Griffin McElroy]

What if the words were. What if it was clean up that dirty window? And then you. All of a sudden, it's functional no matter which state.

[Travis McElroy]

Well, when you're reaching for something in the distance. It's Windex.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Travis McElroy]

So close you can almost taste it. But don't, because it's Windex.

[Griffin McElroy]

Is there advice in here?

[Travis McElroy]

Release your inhibitions. Feel the spring glues on your skin. No one else can feel it.

[Justin McElroy]

The reason the meter doesn't work is. Cause it's not rain, you know, it's sprinklers. We don't.

[Griffin McElroy]

What if someone put that there?

[Travis McElroy]

What if instead of frolicking, you're, like, looking at your phone, pretending to look at your phone, and you walk in and start getting sprayed and you go, oh. Oh, man. Oh, no. And you, like. Oh. Kind of befuddle your way through getting sprayed, but not like you enjoy it.

[Justin McElroy]

Okay, imagine the person that. That spent some of their day setting these sprinklers up. Okay, now imagine they are watching this field. And now imagine yourself striding across it at the beginning of their freshman. Do you think there was a reality which they look at you and extend the double thumbs up like, yes. This is what I wanted.

[Travis McElroy]

I'm glad. So much. Getting use out of it.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah. I was hoping this is good for the field that I'm in charge of. Thank you so much. This is good.

[Travis McElroy]

Roll around a bit. Maybe pull some grass up. That's what's wrestling.

[Justin McElroy]

It doesn't. I don't have a problem. You know, this is not about inhibitions. I don't. I don't care about that. I think that, you know, you could do whatever, you know, you feel like as long as you're not hurting other folks or yourself. But like people are going to assume you don't know that the sprinklers for

[Travis McElroy]

the grass for you.

[Justin McElroy]

Right? Yeah. People are going to assume that you think it is a fun activity for everyone to enjoy. Right.

[Travis McElroy]

Because it's a bouncy castle.

[Justin McElroy]

I don't get it. Yeah, right.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Travis McElroy]

I thought this was the church fate.

[Justin McElroy]

Here's a good standard. If you do something that if 30 other people did it at the same time, they'd write a story about it in the newspaper.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's a really good sort of catch all.

[Justin McElroy]

It's like a pretty good question.

[Travis McElroy]

You do it.

[Justin McElroy]

Yes. Two people, Mentos Commercial. And then it's like 30. It's like, get the press. Something's gone wrong. You know what I mean? Something's happened.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah. You need to be careful also, because if we're talking about one sprinkler that is servicing an entire sports lawn and it's covering that entire place, the pressure that that is putting out is going to absolutely flay. If you get too close to it, like a doggy trying to get a silly drink, it's going to absolutely rip you to shreds. It's gonna blast you apart. So don't be even close to this thing.

[Travis McElroy]

But the good news with that is no matter how precisely this thing's been set up, there's no way it stops. Like at the end zone or whatever. You're gonna stand with a headset on, a visor, a clipboard right on the edge of the field and you're gonna catch the spritz, you're gonna catch the mist, right?

[Griffin McElroy]

Gently, gently on the precipice of the thing.

[Travis McElroy]

And you're gonna sit there like you're planning plays for the later game while you get a light misting.

[Griffin McElroy]

Dude. Yes. Visor on, sports shirt, maybe a jersey. What do coaches wear? Not the jersey.

[Justin McElroy]

A polo.

[Griffin McElroy]

They wear like a polo. Yes. And you got your clipboard, you're drawing, doodling X's and O's.

[Justin McElroy]

I don't know if you could sell this as a performance, but what if you're like on your phone or. But it's like a fake phone. Cause you don't wanna get your real phone wet. So it's like a pretend phone.

[Griffin McElroy]

Okay.

[Justin McElroy]

And you're walking, you're like, wha.

[Montagne (musical guest)]

What?

[Justin McElroy]

Huh?

[Travis McElroy]

Wait, like you did you walk into it?

[Griffin McElroy]

Right?

[Justin McElroy]

Okay, I'm still doing it. I'm still doing it. Like, huh? Then you're like, yeah, some weather we're having and then you, like, pop your hood up and you're like, oh, well, when in Rome. And then you, like, really live it up, so it's like you accidentally did it. And then people see you, like, being fully not pissed off about it. Wait, you know, like not even sweating it. You know what I mean? Right?

[Travis McElroy]

But I pitched.

[Justin McElroy]

But, Justin, think about it.

[Travis McElroy]

I pitched.

[Justin McElroy]

No, no, no. Mine was shorter. Think about it.

[Griffin McElroy]

His was way shorter.

[Justin McElroy]

Think about it.

[Griffin McElroy]

Let me pitch this. What if you pitch this? Let me pitch this. Let me do this. What if you're close, but not too close, A little wet.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, but I.

[Travis McElroy]

But I said, but I.

[Griffin McElroy]

Not too wet.

[Justin McElroy]

A little sweaty. Like a misty little sweaty.

[Griffin McElroy]

But it looks cool. It's gonna feel good. And you gotta. Can't get too close because I'm looking at some stats guys. I'm looking at the Nelson Big Gun SR200. The PSI, it throws up to 310ft and flows up to 1200 gallons per minute. You'll be ripped asunder. You'll be killed by this sprinkler.

[Travis McElroy]

And I think a good rule is if you do something that if like 25 people did it, they'd write about it in the newspaper. You shouldn't do it.

[Griffin McElroy]

Uh huh.

[Justin McElroy]

Uh huh. Uh huh.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah. Holy shit. The Nelson Big Gun SR200. Absolutely fucking blast. I'm looking at a video of this bad boy. They're like covering crops.

[Justin McElroy]

What if you see the lawn guy? Like, no. Don't you think, like, oh, he's worried about his lawn. Just cuts you in half.

[Travis McElroy]

Not again.

[Justin McElroy]

No, I had to spray the field off again.

[Travis McElroy]

This is just like the bite of 87 everywhere when we used to use goats to mow the lawn. Look at this fucking thing, dude.

[Griffin McElroy]

Holy shit. That's covering an entire highway.

[Justin McElroy]

You would be.

[Travis McElroy]

Oh, my God.

[Justin McElroy]

You'd be killed dead by like,

[Travis McElroy]

Holy.

[Justin McElroy]

Dude, you would blast off.

[Griffin McElroy]

Forget about it.

[Justin McElroy]

Look at how hard that shit blasts you.

[Montagne (musical guest)]

Why do you think this is the one that they're using?

[Justin McElroy]

It's so powerful.

[Griffin McElroy]

Can you imagine trying to hold on to this thing and operating it? You would go, absolutely.

[Travis McElroy]

It says right there, Justin, large volume

[Justin McElroy]

sprinkler that looks like a hose that Bruce Willis would use. An Armageddon. That's not like a sprinkler.

[Griffin McElroy]

That shit's crazy. I didn't even know they made hoses that big.

[Travis McElroy]

I love that. When you're developing a sprinkler like that and you're trying to come up with a name for it, the only name

[Griffin McElroy]

that fits Is the big gun, the Nelson big gun? Fuck yeah, dude.

[Justin McElroy]

Folks, thank you so much for listening to our podcast. You know, we've been doing it for quite some time now, but we're only able to keep doing it because of your support. Like, if you go to maximumfund.org join and you say you'll give us $5 a month, we'll keep doing the podcast, no problem. Otherwise,

[Griffin McElroy]

that's crazy. We've never tried this tactic before.

[Justin McElroy]

A real nice podcast you got here. Be shameless.

[Griffin McElroy]

We are a little bit behind pace while we're recording this, so maybe threat like a protection racket, I guess, is the next logical step. Justin just threw.

[Justin McElroy]

Real nice place you got here. Nice podcast.

[Griffin McElroy]

This would be more threatening if we didn't end every episode with us throwing something. Really Real nice podcast.

[Travis McElroy]

This is also like if I owned a store and I told customers they had to pay me more money or I would destroy my own store. Yeah, yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Well, that's the way it works. Sometimes you like a nice store, but you don't pay it what it's due. Sometimes things get broken at the store.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's how it works.

[Justin McElroy]

Sometimes if you're not careful about shopping and giving your money to the store, it'll stop recording podcasts.

[Griffin McElroy]

Okay.

[Justin McElroy]

Be a shame if that happened here, wouldn't it?

[Griffin McElroy]

I guess.

[Justin McElroy]

Got a nice dice you got here. Nice dice.

[Griffin McElroy]

Dork. And you just threw that too.

[Travis McElroy]

MaximumFun.org I hit my elbow on this.

[Justin McElroy]

Now I'm gonna sue you. Now you got that on your podcast.

[Travis McElroy]

The old slip and fall.

[Justin McElroy]

Oh, hurt my elbow. My brother. My brother, me, Jesse, Thorne. I'm coming. My lawyers are coming. That's cool, man.

[Griffin McElroy]

You've really thought this strategy out too, which is my favorite part about it. We don't know how to make. We don't even know how to scam people out of money. Please, please help us. Please help.

[Travis McElroy]

We are legal ourselves, and if we can't pay ourselves, something terrible is gonna happen.

[Justin McElroy]

Our legal bills defending us from Justice McIntyre are piling up.

[Griffin McElroy]

Maximumfund.org join we have a lot of people who've been listening for a long time, have been members for a long time. Your support means the world to all of us. The fact that this is our jobs is wild. And that's only true because of you all. And I'm so grateful. I'm so, so, so grateful. And if you've been listening for a while and you've never joined, make this the year that it happens, because it is a challenging time in the podcast sort of business. And the way we are able to weather that and have weathered that in the past is because of the drive.

[Justin McElroy]

The sad thing about our award for Best ad Read is that we have to be the best or our kids will go hungry. That's how competitive it is out there. We have no choice but to be

[Griffin McElroy]

the best at just five bucks a month.

[Travis McElroy]

Conan, take that.

[Griffin McElroy]

Five bucks a month gets you all the bonus content, hundreds of hours, 10 bucks a month. You get the keychain and the boco and everything. There's other levels too. But just supporting us in such a material way and saying, hey, I like the stuff that you do. I like Max Fun. I think it's great you can be responsible for its creation and its existence. And I've been a Max Fund member for quite a long time and it does feel good knowing that this thing's.

[Justin McElroy]

I have been too. But I only read it for the articles.

[Griffin McElroy]

All right, sort of. You can be like that if you want to be like that. As long as you go to maximfun.org join and please help us out. Thank you so much.

[Travis McElroy]

We also have to thank Montaigne.

[Griffin McElroy]

Oh yeah, I gotta thank Montaigne for the use of our theme song My Life Is Better with youh. Montaigne did a really nice TikTok talking about doing that song for our show and it made me real happy. Cause they're so talented. We're doing streams every day this week. If you're listening to this on release day, I got a Fuser stream coming out. Maybe this is coming out after the Fuser stream, but those are always a treat. I dj, I mix up some nasty shit banana phone with fucking brain stew. Forget about it. You know that's in there.

[Justin McElroy]

Also, we're gonna be doing a live Monster Factory tomodachi Life that is gonna be Thursday at noon, live Monster Factory. It's gonna be a big week, a lot of exciting stuff. Updates are on the Instagram or our website and you can follow along on YouTube. Thank you so much.

[Griffin McElroy]

But we're doing stuff every day this week, so follow the Macro Family YouTube channel to stay abreast of all of our schedule and stuff.

[Travis McElroy]

We're also gonna be at the Huntington, West Virginia Ren Faire this weekend. And so I was thinking I could throw this magnus shoulder Pauldron that I made that I'm gonna wear. I could throw that Saturday 1 to 3.

[Griffin McElroy]

Or you wanna throw your shoulder Pauldron that you made your wardrobe. Wow, you're pretty confident in your craftsmanship.

[Travis McElroy]

I'M a journeyman. I'm a journeyman leatherworker.

[Griffin McElroy]

Okay, that's good. That's like 50 stat points. Where are you going to throw it? I bet he's not going to throw it hard, Juice because he's afraid he'll break it.

[Justin McElroy]

Did you guys know I got bit ly rinfair2026?

[Griffin McElroy]

No. That's a great hyperlink.

[Justin McElroy]

Isn't that good?

[Griffin McElroy]

All right, he's going to chuck it now.

[Justin McElroy]

Okay. With an E.

[Griffin McElroy]

Oh, he hit our YouTube award. Dude.

[Justin McElroy]

I was chunky.

[Griffin McElroy]

Dude, that was a chunky. That's a good award. It did not fall down.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, it was really good, dude. Hey, congratulations, Trav. Congratulations. Us. That's gonna do it for us. For this week on my brother.

[Travis McElroy]

My brother still intact.

[Justin McElroy]

Journeyman.

[Griffin McElroy]

Beautiful dude. Journeyman craftsmanship.

[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

[Montagne (musical guest)]

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 My life, It's better with you

[Justin McElroy]

Maximum fun.

[Griffin McElroy]

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