MBMBaM 823: Seasonably Effective

Summary

My Brother, My Brother and Me – Episode 823: Seasonably Effective

Date: July 20, 2026
Hosts: Justin McElroy, Travis McElroy, Griffin McElroy

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Episode Overview

This episode of "My Brother, My Brother and Me" (MBMBaM) centers around “seasonal effectiveness”—starting with a lively debate about the US government’s decision to make Daylight Saving Time permanent, and spiraling through classic McElroy tangents on coins, pajamas, unclaimed money, the metaphysics of fruit and flies, and a passionate “Munch Squad” segment covering the return of KFC’s popcorn chicken. The brothers’ signature blend of sibling goofs, socio-political riffing, improvised world-building, and food culture critique makes this a prime example of their “advice show for the Majin era.”

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Daylight Saving Time Goes Permanent (01:09–08:43)

• Main News: The U.S. House voted to make Daylight Saving Time permanent, by a 308-117 margin.
  • Justin: Shares specifics of the Congressional vote.
  • Griffin: “I'd love to meet those 117 goddamn vampires who love the moon’s embrace—night monsters.” (03:08)
  • Travis: “Government mandated. Listen. We politicians pride ourselves on listening to people that have been saying shit for the last 40-plus years about how we don't like daylight savings time...” (03:55)
• Satire on Political Priorities: The brothers mock how Congress finally took up this “softball” after ignoring it for decades.
  • Griffin: “You guys have done like four things in the last, like, 12 years. You need to fucking aim low and really kind of work up some momentum.” (05:17)
• Daylight Saving as Mood Fixer: Griffin jokes that the policy “cured” his seasonal affective disorder.
  • “The government healed me. That's the sad fucking pulsing out of my vents.” (08:29)
  • Travis: “Now he's seasonally effective with an E.” (08:40)
• American Time Hubris/Riff on British DST: American exceptionalism in timekeeping, and the myth of being “time kings.” (07:37-08:03)

2. Currency Goof: Making American Money More ‘Pirate’ (06:17–07:10)

• Brothers brainstorm about reviving dollar coins and making currency more interesting:
  • Griffin: “I want uneven currency, that each has bumps and lumps.” (06:39)
  • Justin: “Can I please lay some, like, doubloons on a counter and get a chocolate bar and a newspaper, please, please.” (06:30)

3. Pajamas and Social Norms: Advice Segment (11:47–16:14)

• A listener writes in about whether it’s weird to wear pajamas at 5:15PM while a maintenance person repairs their dishwasher.
  • Travis: Settles the etiquette: “If you then go and change into pants, you are admitting an impropriety... you’ve planted a seed.” (14:01)
  • Griffin: “You've engaged this thing in a quantum way. Where now you've locked it into being.” (14:06)
• Distinctions between pajama types, college-town norms, and hypothetical scenarios where your job is dressing as a dishwasher (prompts goof on a “Brave Little Toaster”/“Cars” universe overlap). (16:14)

4. Unclaimed Property: ‘Is This a Scam?’ (17:20–22:23)

• A listener working for the state’s unclaimed property office struggles to convince people they’re not running a scam.
  • Travis: “I'm also going to point out: you were offered an interview... You might be complicit in a scam.” (18:06)
  • Griffin: “I got a lot of messages from Texas when I left it. I did just file those away under ‘nice try’...” (20:16)
  • Justin: “You have to have this one crack in your heart where it's like, no. Every once in a while... maybe they just shouldn't give it back.” (21:06)
• Tangent: Matthew Lesko and the absurdity of “government gives you free money” infomercials.

5. The Eternal Peach Problem: Advice Re Fruit & Flies (47:24–52:38)

• Listener’s question: Should you harvest neighbors’ unpicked peaches to avoid a fly infestation?
  • Travis: “If it’s over your fence, it’s in your property. Those are your peaches.” (48:38)
  • Griffin: “If you build a little Hot Wheels track from the tree into your yard, and the peaches just happen to roll down… Blame Isaac Newton.” (48:58)
  • Discussion about the “circle of life” and ‘triangle of life’ economics (flies, frogs, peach pits).

6. Fruit Classifications and the ‘Circle of Life’ (49:17–52:51)

• Cherry discussion: Griffin argues for breaking up “Big Cherry” into more specific categories by fruit quality.
  • Griffin: “We need different names…Break up Big Cherry into several smaller categories.” (50:17)
• Reflection on how the “circle of life” is lopsided in favor of lions (“We, the lions, eat you, right?” Travis, 52:16).

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Highlight: Munch Squad — KFC Popcorn Chicken Returns (29:53–47:06)

• Justin hosts his “podcast within a podcast,” profiling the return of KFC’s beloved popcorn chicken.
  • KFC’s CMO Melissa Cash claims to have read every single online comment and petition for its return. The brothers lampoon the notion, noting the petition only had 98 signatures.
  • Griffin: “Do you know how wasteful it is financially and agriculturally, that these freaks have had to, you know, order a couple dozen famous bowls every time they go, just so they can pick through the bones to find the sweet popcorn chicken within?” (33:52)
• Popcorn Chicken Tasting: Justin orders the new version live:
  • Conclusion: “They're not as good. Not the same. Sorry.” (38:46)
  • Griffin: “Is it possible... that the popcorn chicken is the same, but your capacity to enjoy it, feel joy?...” (38:49)
• Social Media Tie-In: KFC launches popcorn chicken reaction GIFs on Giphy. The hosts brainstorm what situations might warrant replying with a Colonel Sanders ‘eating popcorn chicken’ GIF.
• Standout Line: “If you're gonna watch the drama unfold, you might as well be snacking on the main character. Fuck. What?” (46:11)
  • The brothers lose it over this odd phrasing in KFC’s press release.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Griffin (re: DST opponents): “I'd love to meet those 117 goddamn vampires who love the moon's embrace—night monsters.” (03:08)
• Travis (on Congress): “This has been sitting in a drawer... we're gonna pull this one out and just slam dunk it.” (05:36)
• Griffin (on government priorities): “You need to fucking aim low and really kind of work up some momentum.” (05:17)
• Justin (on seasonal affectiveness): “The government healed you.” (08:28)
• Justin (re: unclaimed money): “You have to have this one crack in your heart... maybe they just shouldn't give it back.” (21:06)
• Justin (trying KFC popcorn chicken): “They're not as good. Not the same. Sorry.” (38:46)
• Griffin (on corporate GIFs): “If I put in the one of Colonel Sanders eating popcorn chicken, it may look a lot like one of the other famous popcorn gifs. But my friends immediately are going to be like, what's with the chicken? Is that Colonel Sand? Why did you...” (43:45)
• KFC corporate (via Justin): “If you're gonna watch the drama unfold, you might as well be snacking on the main character. Fuck. What?” (46:11)
• Travis (on circle of life): “You gotta understand, here's what happens. We, the lions, eat you, right?...We shit you out, and then grass grows, and you eat the grass. And then we eat you again. It's all balance.” (52:12)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Daylight Saving Time conversation & riffs: 01:09–08:43
• Currency/coin tangent: 06:17–07:10
• Pajama etiquette/Quantum social awkwardness: 11:47–16:14
• Unclaimed Property/Scamming worries: 17:20–22:23
• KFC Munch Squad segment: 29:53–47:06
• Peach tree, flies, and fruit metaphysics: 47:24–52:51

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Episode Tone & Style

True to MBMBaM tradition, the vibe is high-energy, goof-forward, and affectionate with frequent segues into absurd hypotheticals, nostalgic references, and played-up sibling dynamics. The advice, while rarely earnest, underscores the brothers’ philosophy: laugh through the weirdness of daily life, and don’t be afraid to go off on a tangent for the sake of a good bit.

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Summary

“Seasonably Effective” explores changes in time, money, and fried chicken with all the improvisational warmth and pop culture specificity that makes MBMBaM a cult favorite. With highlights such as the permanent daylight saving riff, a deeply unexpected journey into pajama etiquette, a heartfelt takedown of nostalgia-based marketing, and the deranged corporate language behind KFC’s “popcorn chicken as the main character,” this episode both entertains and encapsulates the show’s enduring appeal.

Transcript

[Travis McElroy]

The McElroy brothers are not experts and

[Griffin McElroy]

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

[Travis McElroy]

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

[Theme Song Singer]

It's the start of something beautiful A

[Griffin McElroy]

small acquaintance has blossomed it's ripened into

[Theme Song Singer]

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

[Justin McElroy]

Hello everybody. Welcome to My Brother, My Brother, Me and Advice show for the Majin era. I'm your oldest brother, Justin McElroy.

[Travis McElroy]

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

[Bria Grant]

Wolf.

[Travis McElroy]

Wolf. Vroom, vroom. The heater award winning McElroy.

[Griffin McElroy]

What's up Trav Nation? It's me, your Sweet baby brother, 30 under 30, media luminary Griffin. Bill Ford, tough McIlroy. Which year is it? It's not the car one, is it? It's not the Car one anymore.

[Travis McElroy]

It's not this.

[Griffin McElroy]

Well, no. It's the baseball one.

[Travis McElroy]

You're still built for tough.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, yeah. No, I guess. Yeah. No, for sure. I can run over a bunch of loose boulders and splash through a creek and I won't get anything in my undercarriage.

[Travis McElroy]

No, that's one of the things I like most about your undercarriage.

[Griffin McElroy]

And my bed is fucking huge, dude. You could store 12 whole things of lumber or sheetrock or other sort of.

[Travis McElroy]

You could put two race car beds in his bed.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah. Yeah, I think that's true.

[Justin McElroy]

Hey guys. Good news, bad news, just news. Some news. Any news that isn't bad news is good news. How is that if it's not bad news?

[Griffin McElroy]

If it's not about my pal Mitch, I don't want to fucking hear about it.

[Travis McElroy]

Oh, great.

[Justin McElroy]

Sorry.

[Travis McElroy]

What bad news?

[Griffin McElroy]

If it ain't about my pal Mitch, I don't want to hear about it. I've been on tenter hooks.

[Justin McElroy]

Oh, yeah?

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Griff, I will say this. I don't know. I don't know what to tell you about Mitch. The jury. The jury is still out on that one. We haven't gotten any new leads there. But what I can tell you is that Daylight savings time has just been voted by the U.S. house of Representatives to be a permanent thing in a 308117 vote. 308 to 117.

[Travis McElroy]

Finally getting to the most important issues of the day.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'd love to meet those 117 goddamn vampires who love the moon's embrace night monsters.

[Justin McElroy]

This is. So.

[Theme Song Singer]

This is.

[Justin McElroy]

We get. We got a lot of responses across the political spectrum. Gus Billarakis from Florida says that Americans are ready affiliation.

[Theme Song Singer]

Gus

[Justin McElroy]

said Americans are ready to ditch the switch, saying that changing the clock twice a year creates unnecessary disruption. I agree with you, Gus.

[Griffin McElroy]

Good. Gus.

[Justin McElroy]

In my home state of Florida, where tourism is a cornerstone of our economy, having more predictable daylight hours is a practical improvement that benefits workers, businesses and visitors alike. So there we go. Extra magic hours.

[Travis McElroy]

Government mandated. Listen. We politicians pride ourselves on listening to people that have been saying shit for the last 40 plus years about how we don't like daylight savings time. And if it tells you anything about the backlog of stuff we have to get to, yeah, we went ahead and took care of that one.

[Griffin McElroy]

This is like a 1985 thing. This is. We've been. We've been cooking. I know the wheels turn slow, but we've been cooking on this one for 41 long years. We have to get it done.

[Justin McElroy]

This is the man now. Mary.

[Travis McElroy]

Mary.

[Justin McElroy]

Gay Scanlon's against it. She says millions of Americans will wake up during the winter months from Pennsylvania. I hear you. In complete darkness with the sun not rising until long after people get up and travel to school or work and have to go about their days.

[Theme Song Singer]

Thanks.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, that's right. Both of these times are bad.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

Wait a minute.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, wait a minute. Can we stop the diffs? What about this? How about we all stop working?

[Griffin McElroy]

That's a cool one. I like that.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Now Jim McGovern takes the Travis approach. He did support the bill, but didn't know why they were talking about.

[Griffin McElroy]

Awesome.

[Justin McElroy]

Jim said, you know, for folks getting crushed by rent, groceries, utility bills, and healthcare costs, is this really the best majority can do? Is this really the most pressing issue before the American people at this moment?

[Griffin McElroy]

Hey, listen. Hey, listen. You guys have done like four things in the last, like 12 years. You need to fucking aim low and really kind of work up some momentum. I think. You can't just hop back into it and fix all the shit in one go. Y' all need a softball. It's bad to change the clocks.

[Travis McElroy]

I guarantee you that. This has been sitting in a drawer that's like, hey, when we have had just what can only be described as a record book length of losses, we're gonna pull this one out and just slam dunk it.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Travis McElroy]

And then everyone will be like, oh, the government's good again. Just you watch.

[Justin McElroy]

They already got rid of the penny. They'll get rid of the nickel. Just anything.

[Travis McElroy]

Is this what you guys want?

[Griffin McElroy]

Do you guys.

[Brenda]

No.

[Travis McElroy]

Here's a list of things we want. No, listen, we heard you. Daylight savings time in the penny. Done. No, guys, don't you think it sucks?

[Justin McElroy]

If we want another easy win, let's get back to normalizing dollar coins. If we got rid of the penny, can I please get a pocket full of treasure, please? Can I please lay some gold?

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Can I please lay some, like, doubloons on a counter and get a chocolate bar and a newspaper, please, please.

[Griffin McElroy]

Make them big and uneven.

[Justin McElroy]

They're big and chunky.

[Griffin McElroy]

I want uneven currency that each has bumps and lumps.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah, it's like the pirate things where you get the gold coins, but it's not, like, an even thing. There's, like, chunks out of the side.

[Griffin McElroy]

Chunks.

[Travis McElroy]

That feels good.

[Griffin McElroy]

That feels cool. Our coins suck, dude.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah. We want pieces of eight.

[Travis McElroy]

Yes, we do.

[Justin McElroy]

That's what we want.

[Travis McElroy]

We deeply want that and more. Shopkeepers with parrots that acknowledge that we're using pieces of eight would be incredible. That's not gonna be mandatory in the law, but encouraged.

[Justin McElroy]

I'm glad for this. I think. I think it's the right step for the. I don't know.

[Griffin McElroy]

Summer's forever, Justin. They made summer forever.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, I guess what they're saying.

[Griffin McElroy]

Pretty good job. Summertime forever, they said, gang, we know it's fucking tough out there, and we know we're to blame for it, but we can't do anything about that. But now it's summertime forever, guys.

[Justin McElroy]

Summer. Endless summer.

[Travis McElroy]

It did.

[Justin McElroy]

Moondock, anybody?

[Travis McElroy]

My friend Paul, who is British, we were recently. It blew my mind. I only realized, like, within the last calendar year that daylight savings time is an American only thing. That, like, the time difference has always been five hours. And then suddenly the time difference between me and my British friend Paul was six hours. And I was so confused until I realized, like, oh, Americans are like. We have control over time.

[Griffin McElroy]

We are time kings, all of us. And now we've decided to fix it. And I'm just. I'm gonna open up the vents on my back, and I'm gonna blast the seasonal affective disorder out. This news is hot off the presses to me. I learned about it seconds before we started recording, and it's like, oh, there's a disorder. I don't have it. The government fixed one of my disorders. They can.

[Justin McElroy]

The government healed you.

[Griffin McElroy]

The government healed me. That's the sad fucking pulsing out of my vents.

[Justin McElroy]

You've made Griffin too powerful. Now you can't put him back in the bottle.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah, now he's seasonally effective with an

[Griffin McElroy]

E. Yeah, I'm ordered my effectiveness in two of the four. Half the seasons of the year are so ordered.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah, he's got SEO.

[Griffin McElroy]

Now I'm gonna take my light therapy lamp. I'm gonna put it. I'm gonna put it in the toilet.

[Justin McElroy]

Well, that's not gonna be safe.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah. How big is your toilet? Or how little is the lamp?

[Griffin McElroy]

Well, I got a special one. That extra big hole.

[Justin McElroy]

Didn't I get your toilet? How big is your toilet? How little is your lamp? How little is your lamp? Guys don't remember that from the 80s. How big is your toilet? How little is your lamp?

[Griffin McElroy]

I don't.

[Justin McElroy]

I don't remember that. That was a big dance hall thing

[Griffin McElroy]

when I was growing up.

[Travis McElroy]

Oh, I shouldn't. I didn't go to dance hall.

[Justin McElroy]

When the sound boy.

[Griffin McElroy]

When the sound boy

[Justin McElroy]

we would put that one on, the soundboard would say, turn it down. And I would say.

[Travis McElroy]

The soundboard would get mad at me because I would always be cranking it up.

[Griffin McElroy]

Who's a soundboy?

[Travis McElroy]

Why are you putting it on? Were you a DJ in the 80s?

[Justin McElroy]

I learned about the soundboy from Wyclef Jean, and it's who we get mad at in dancehall culture when it's too loud. The guy who's, like, running it, and you're like. He's like, I can't take it any higher. You know what I mean? Like, I can't run. I can't take the speakers any higher. You're gonna explode them with how hard you're party rocking. So that's like. If you're mad at the soundboards because you're going, this is the. What I understand from Wyclef, contextually, is that if you're mad at the soundboards because you are, you know, you murdered a sound. Like when on Pharaoh Plate when Whitney Houston sang Wyclef Murder the soundboard. The implication is that Wyclef goes so hard that the soundboy was killed.

[Griffin McElroy]

Is Paul. Ours Is Paul, our sound boy.

[Justin McElroy]

I would never.

[Theme Song Singer]

Hmm.

[Griffin McElroy]

I've never heard your indignation melt away to solemn consideration before. That was cool. I wish we had Video of this one. So I could have seen what that looked like, but it sounded great.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah. I guess the realization overtake.

[Griffin McElroy]

Wait a minute.

[Justin McElroy]

The closest parallel we have to this relationship is before live shows, we have a sound check. And that experience is always very interesting because it's us judging how much we want to hear ourselves and each other.

[Griffin McElroy]

Right.

[Justin McElroy]

And each other even less. And how much we think we'll be able to do that when there's a bunch of people in the audience and kind of imagining what that is like. And then we constantly enter into this thing. We're like, we could do like more monitor. Right. Like 10% or 20%.

[Travis McElroy]

Right.

[Justin McElroy]

And then you kind of wait because they don't say, yeah, I did it. So you just kind of always.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'm always thinking they're trying to trick

[Justin McElroy]

me and trying to check me saying, like, oh, sounds way better.

[Griffin McElroy]

Guys, they didn't fucking touch the board yet.

[Travis McElroy]

That's the sound boy.

[Justin McElroy]

So that's. I'm not gonna say that either, because.

[Travis McElroy]

No, they're professionals. They're sound men and women out there.

[Griffin McElroy]

Bring Wyclef in to the studio to help us identify some of these guys.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah. And as a mediary, if anyone's gonna murder him, let it be Wyclef.

[Justin McElroy]

This is an advice show. I teach summer school, which is a half day program through the district I'm with. As soon as I get home, I like to change out my work clothes and into something more comfortable, such as pajamas. I also have a broken dishwasher. The maintenance man in my apartment is actively replacing it, and it is only 5:15 local time. Is it weird that I'm already in pajamas? And would it be weirder if I went to the bedroom and changed into actual pants? That's from Perplexed in pajamas.

[Travis McElroy]

Hmm.

[Griffin McElroy]

Can I sit with this for a minute?

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah, yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

I'll say this. Regionally we don't draw a lot of these lines. You gotta understand, I live in a land where this barrier is very permeable to sweatpants, to sleep pants, to pajama pants. It's a real spectrum down here, and it's very blurry.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's a college town.

[Justin McElroy]

A college town, maybe.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah. The sleep pants especially. I think sleep pants are such a amorphous place in the, like, clothes area, where it's like. It's got pants right there in the name. Right. If I'm walking around in sleep pants, I'm clearly not nude. Right?

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Travis McElroy]

Now there is a kind of pajama.

[Griffin McElroy]

Sure.

[Travis McElroy]

Where you would see Them and be like, look at that. Look at that Ebenezer Scrooge looking ass wearing his, you know, long sleeves.

[Justin McElroy]

If you have, like a bunch of my little ponies on him and stuff. Right. Like, anytime, once there's a print, it's like a print judgment.

[Griffin McElroy]

Or if you can see it.

[Justin McElroy]

Okay, okay. This is. He's always on about.

[Travis McElroy]

Sorry.

[Justin McElroy]

He's always on about eye traps and shit. Let him clear. Let clear his.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'm just gonna say if I'm looking, if I'm in there to fix your washer and I can see it. I don't think so.

[Travis McElroy]

Okay.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

It's like we're just trying to keep it biblical, right?

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Travis McElroy]

Now I will say, I think that if you then go and change into pants, you are admitting an impropriety you're creating. Like, you're saying it was inappropriate because I had to change it. Right?

[Griffin McElroy]

Yes.

[Travis McElroy]

Now you have planted a seed in their mind of like, oh, now I think it's weird.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah. This is a quantum. You've engaged this thing in a quantum way.

[Travis McElroy]

Yes.

[Griffin McElroy]

Where now you've locked it into being. If you had just simply not acknowledged it, then it would be. It could pass by like a specter. But by acknowledging it, now it's real in your mind and their mind. And you. You've. You fucked that. Hopefully you haven't done that yet. They're probably waiting on further instructions from us, I would hope.

[Travis McElroy]

There's also an amount of presence, I think, that makes this work. Like, leave the room as quickly as possible. Let them work. You should be interacting with them 30 to 60 seconds in the beginning and 30 to 60 seconds at the end. During that time, in the grand scheme of the day, that's not gonna stick in their permanent memory. You're okay. But if you hang out in there, sipping your coffee in your bathrobe and pajamas, you know, 6:30pm yeah. It's gonna jump out at them.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah. One crucial detail that they might have left out of this is if the summer school program that they are teaching is dishwasher repair.

[Travis McElroy]

Oh, sure.

[Justin McElroy]

And if their work clothes reflect that, that might make for an uncomfortable environment. If they have sort of Principal Waverly,

[Griffin McElroy]

like, you can't have that happen when they show up to your place.

[Travis McElroy]

And I know what you have, like,

[Justin McElroy]

if you dress like the Maytag repairman, you know, day in, day out, hovering over him.

[Travis McElroy]

Oh, maybe that's your work clothes. Is you're the guy who plays the Maytag repairman in commercials. And then they're like, why Aren't you fixing it? And you're like, oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, I am.

[Justin McElroy]

But what they're not telling you is that they're. What they do at summer school is that they're a nude model in a life drawing class and they get home from work and it's like, should I put on pajama pants?

[Travis McElroy]

Or when I'm at school, I dress as a dishwasher. It's.

[Justin McElroy]

I'm doing an art installation.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah, it's a very abstract art school.

[Justin McElroy]

Wait, wait, are you saying that their outfit is an actual washer of harass or the machine?

[Griffin McElroy]

Okay. And they've done it up cars style.

[Nick Roy]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

And this is set in the broader cars universe, obviously. We have planes, fire and rescue. And I think if you zoom out a few more levels, maybe a dozen or so, you end up at appliances. And that's. I mean, now we're in. That's actually his brave little toaster in the cars verse. Something to chew on.

[Travis McElroy]

That might be the missing link that takes it. Cause people are always wondering how humans evolved into cars, which is the only explanation. And I think that brave little toaster that era is where we see the machines taking over.

[Griffin McElroy]

Well, I mean, Robocop sort of are our keystone there. I think, like you take any. Like Bridges of Madison county is a purely human movie, then you get robocop. Now we're kind of halfway there.

[Travis McElroy]

I think robocop is too early to be the bridge because that's still a human form robot. Oh, you know what I mean. These aren't cars. These aren't Transformers. Right. They're not cars as people, they're people as cars.

[Griffin McElroy]

You need a brain computer or something.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

Is there a movie brain computer in it? Transcendence.

[Justin McElroy]

I work at the State for the unclaimed Property office. This is a field that I didn't know existed until I was offered an interview. And I didn't really understand until about six months into the job.

[Travis McElroy]

Long story short, as a boss, you love to hear that.

[Justin McElroy]

Long story short, I get to return money to folks. The problem is whenever I tell people about it and money that they have, they think I'm trying to scam them. Brothers, I'm not an mlm. I'm trying to steal data. Simply trying to get folks their hard earned money back. How do I convince old friends, contacts and acquaintances when I offer them $5,000 in exchange for their Social Security number? I'm doing so with the purest of intentions. This email might.

[Griffin McElroy]

I know I had the same thought we may be complicit.

[Travis McElroy]

I will.

[Justin McElroy]

Also, if folks just go to this URL, they can find out everything.

[Travis McElroy]

Question asker. I'm also going to point out you were offered an interview, they reached out to you. You might be complicit in a scam.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, it doesn't seem right. I'm really helping a lot of people. I'm investing their money and somehow they're making more back. And I don't really understand how it all works, but part of it's all legit. How do I convince people I.

[Travis McElroy]

You know, in the 90s, there's a guy named Matthew Lesko who wore a suit covered in question. Or was it question mark? No, that's the Riddler covered in money signs. I think maybe, maybe it was question mark. Anyways, he was in a bunch of infomercials about how like there's government programs to give you money for stuff and.

[Griffin McElroy]

I know, I'm so sorry. Matthew Lesko did wear a suit covered in question marks. Okay, so he did kind of chomp the Riddlers. Yeah, the Riddler's flavor a little bit

[Travis McElroy]

Batman Forever was huge. You know, so he was just trying to get in on that train. But I think that there. That. I don't think people questioned whether that was legit or not because he was so enthusiastic and wore a suit covered in question marks, which in retrospect should have made it seem.

[Griffin McElroy]

Should have raised a flag.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah, for sure.

[Griffin McElroy]

Well, I say that, Travis. But if Lesko or really anyone wearing a suit, a shiny suit, gemstone colored, covered in question marks and starts screaming at me, screaming, screaming about the free money that the government wants to give me, that's actually pretty far from the usual pitches that I get from scammers and the like. I do think actually I'm gonna ride. I'm gonna ride hard with this guy.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah, you should pitch it to them as like, hey, you have a bunch of unclaimed money. Can I keep it?

[Griffin McElroy]

Okay.

[Travis McElroy]

And once you see now they're like, no, I want it.

[Justin McElroy]

No, I want it. It's mine.

[Travis McElroy]

Because you shouldn't be pushing the money on them. That seems like a scam. But trying to withhold it from them. Yeah, now they want it.

[Griffin McElroy]

You either take this or I'm gonna turn it into a jet ski. And I suck at jet skiing, man.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah, I'm gonna get.

[Griffin McElroy]

If you really want that on your conscience.

[Travis McElroy]

And it'll be a fault, you're fault.

[Justin McElroy]

And see if you have any unclaimed property once you.

[Travis McElroy]

I already did, baby. The second I made the question, listen,

[Justin McElroy]

yeah, I got things in there.

[Griffin McElroy]

I got a lot of messages from the state of Texas when I left it. And I did just file those away under nice try. It's gotta be fucking Teddy or like one of the set down there that I've shit talk quite a lot and are just trying to, you know, get me on the way out. Haven't heard from them lately. So I am actually now hesitant to Google this in any capacity, because if I find out that I lost a great sum of money, I don't actually need that energy in my life.

[Justin McElroy]

No, no, no, you didn't lose it. That's the amazing thing. You just have to say, it's me. Here's all my information. I'll wait for my money. It goes against every single impulse spent like decades kindnessly building up around you to protect you from the Internet. You have to have this one crack in your heart where it's like, no. Every once in a while. Maybe they just shouldn't give it back.

[Travis McElroy]

Hey, listeners, listeners. If you're finding out about this process through this episode of and you have unclaimed money that you learned about through this episode, you are legally required to become a Max Fund subscriber.

[Justin McElroy]

I love that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You can have your name read on a brush stream. You just have to kick in some of your winnings to us.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah, it's a finder's fee kind of deal that needs to go to us. That is. I'm sorry, it's not up to me. It was actually. It was part of the daylight savings time bill. It was just included in there. They squeezed it in at the last moment, so.

[Griffin McElroy]

I have so much Texas money.

[Justin McElroy]

I didn't know.

[Travis McElroy]

Texas is.

[Justin McElroy]

Damn. Texas.

[Griffin McElroy]

Listen, Texas, I may have something of an acrimonious relationship with you on sort of a holistic level, but, man, Texas. Texas has got my back on this one. I had no idea, guys. What an episode for me.

[Justin McElroy]

What a helpful episode. I vented, buddy.

[Griffin McElroy]

I've vented my disorder. I fucking made bank in a. In the state in which I used to. Can I get this?

[Justin McElroy]

How do I get this?

[Griffin McElroy]

You call them up and say. What's stopping anyone from calling them up?

[Travis McElroy]

What?

[Justin McElroy]

Well, that's the Social Security number part, isn't it?

[Griffin McElroy]

Oh, fuck.

[Justin McElroy]

It's the crime aspect. Yeah.

[Travis McElroy]

That's where it's illegal.

[Griffin McElroy]

All right.

[Justin McElroy]

It's the crime part.

[Griffin McElroy]

Well, I'm gonna. I mean, I'm in my own personal pan. Money zone right now.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah. Wow.

[Justin McElroy]

Congratulations, Griffin. I'm glad. What a big moment for you, personally.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah. I'm glad your Texas oil fields are finally paying off. You just left them all down there.

[Griffin McElroy]

You promised you wouldn't say, I'm sorry, Griffin.

[Travis McElroy]

You're right. It's olive oil. He's drilling for olive oil. And we gave him such a shit time for it. We're like, that's not how it works. And then he struck olive oil.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah. Because if you go deep enough from Texas, the shine from the Tuscan sun does shine down, too.

[Travis McElroy]

That's true. It's right on the other side there. Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

Gotta get through it.

[Justin McElroy]

Could we take a brief sojourn to the Money Zone? Would that be okay?

[Griffin McElroy]

I'd love that, Justin.

[Justin McElroy]

Okay, Griffin, step right this way. Here, hop on my back. I'll carry you.

[Travis McElroy]

Wait, what about me? Come back. I'll walk.

[Theme Song Singer]

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

[Travis McElroy]

What if I don't have a bunch of money squirreled away in unclaimed things? How am I gonna make money, like, online? The same way I would, by claiming I don't know anything.

[Griffin McElroy]

Damn. I lost my wallet at a Bill Miller's barbecue, like, seven years ago. That's on here.

[Travis McElroy]

Oh, okay.

[Griffin McElroy]

Fucking crazy, man.

[Travis McElroy]

But I'm saying, like, I have, like, services and goods and stuff that I could offer people, but I don't know how to do that and get paid, you know, like, on time and, like, all in one place and, like, with invoices and online payments and how to, like, streamline my workflow and do, like, appointment scheduling. I don't know any of this shit, so I guess I'm shit out of luck.

[Justin McElroy]

No, Travis, you're not. Because there is a service that has been helping people with your challenges to build incredible websites that look like they were created by people who really knew what they were doing instead of you. It's called Squarespace. I don't know if you've heard about it, but everything.

[Travis McElroy]

No, this is the first I'm hearing about it.

[Justin McElroy]

If you want to offer services and get paid, it's all in one place. With your Squarespace website, you can also get paid on time.

[Travis McElroy]

What? I mentioned that. That's wild.

[Justin McElroy]

Professional on brand invoices. This is Squarespace. I said that.

[Travis McElroy]

Travis.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, man. This is the one.

[Travis McElroy]

How come you guys have never told me about Squarespace before?

[Justin McElroy]

I'm so sorry, Trav. I keep meaning to mention it to you specifically, but it just hasn't come together.

[Travis McElroy]

They're terrible. Brothers and people.

[Theme Song Singer]

Wow.

[Justin McElroy]

That's.

[Travis McElroy]

You've been withholding Squarespace from me all this time. And our listeners.

[Griffin McElroy]

You weren't ready. You weren't ready for it. Our listeners have been ready. And now they should go to squarespace.com mybrother and they should do this because it helps you make a great website and they look beautiful.

[Justin McElroy]

If they head on over there right now, Griffin, you know, they'll get a free trial. And when they're ready to launch, they can use offer code mybrother to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.

[Travis McElroy]

Can I do that too?

[Griffin McElroy]

I guess so.

[Brenda]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

I mean, I think.

[Griffin McElroy]

I guess the money comes straight back to us. Is this a laundering scheme? No. Could be. Hey, speaking of laundering, I love some new clothes that I got from the Bonobos brand. The Bonobos brand I have looked at from afar, coveted lots of my stylish friends. When I see them looking so fly, I do say to them, like, what's the fit? And it's almost always Bonobos because they got all kinds of summertime duds that are linen, light, breathable. Feels good to have it on your body. But also the fit is so nice. I got a new, very, very lightweight button down that I wore to a wedding that I went to like a month ago. And I got some compliments on it. And I didn't sweat. I mean, I did sweat, like, a lot. Cause, you know, I got on the dance floor and I fucking destroyed for like five straight hours. But I was so comfortable the whole time. I got some, like, boardwalk pants, light linen pants that can go from day to night. And I wore them on a boardwalk very recently.

[Travis McElroy]

Holy shit.

[Griffin McElroy]

Felt like.

[Travis McElroy]

Are you the Great Gatsby?

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

I mean, this is the Rehoboth beach boardwalk.

[Justin McElroy]

I would not call it.

[Griffin McElroy]

I would not call it Great Gatsby.

[Justin McElroy]

Sort of.

[Travis McElroy]

It's not Newegg.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's not.

[Nick Roy]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

So they got everything, man. They got. They really do. They're able to sort of set you up with your entire wardrobe. They got polos, everyday shirts and shorts and everything in between. I really am excited. I got a few pieces of Bonobos clothing, and I've been wearing them hard, and I've gotten compliments. I look great in them. And if you do so yourself. Huh? No, I mean empirically. Like, I got a signed affidavit saying how good I looked in them. I took the shorts off and they tore up the affidavit. They said it was contingent on the pants that I was wearing.

[Travis McElroy]

Sorry, Griffin.

[Griffin McElroy]

So put on Bonobos, feel good and get on with your day. Right now, head to bonobos.commybrother and use code mybrother for 25% off your order. Once again, that's B O N O B O S.com mybrother for 25% off. And make sure you use our promo code mybrother so they know we sent you.

[Bria Grant]

Hi, my name is Bria Grant, and I host Reading Glasses and Reading Smut. And I'm here with Max Fund member of the month, Nick Roy.

[Nick Roy]

Thank you so much.

[Bria Grant]

What episode would you recommend to a new listener who's just jumping in for the first time?

[Nick Roy]

Definitely the one where it's like, let's talk about reading lessons. Because as someone who started listening, what, seven years in, I even. I was like, oh, that's why we say that.

[Bria Grant]

Oh, my God, Mallory's gonna love that you said that. Because she really was like, we gotta. We gotta tell people more about ourselves. I'm like, we just talk about ourselves every week. What would you say to other people who are considering supporting Maximum Fun shows?

[Nick Roy]

I would say if you want to keep listening to content that you enjoy and you want to support the creators. Oh, no, I just won't get a Starbucks once a week and I give you guys 10 bucks a month. Sounds good to me.

[Bria Grant]

I love that. And listen to Nick. Nick's a librarian. He knows what he's talking about.

[Griffin McElroy]

So support the shows you love, including this one. Check the show notes for a link or go to maximumfun.org join.

[Brenda]

Hi there. Sorry to interrupt your podcast listening time. I know you're doing the dishes, right? How. That's okay.

[Nick Roy]

I don't.

[Brenda]

Don't worry about it. You might not know me, but I'm Brenda, and I'm here to tell you about the podcast I host with my good friend Austin. It's called Secret Histories of Nerd Mysteries, and we cover all kinds of pop culture topics. Like, did you know that there was a real life replica of the Simpsons house in Las Vegas, Nevada? Or that Flint, Michigan was once home to an indoor amusement park themed around the automobile. If those things sound interesting, you should definitely check us out every Tuesday on Maximum Fun or wherever you get podcasts. Goodbye. You can get back to your dishes now.

[Theme Song Singer]

It's fine.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah. All right.

[Justin McElroy]

I wanna Munch Squad. I want to Munch Squad. Welcome Munch Squad. It is a podcast within a podcast, profiling the latest and greatest in branding. And I have really exciting news for you guys today because the rumors are true. Oh, the rumors are true. Popcorn Chicken is back at Kentucky Fried Chicken.

[Travis McElroy]

Holy shit. I gotta go.

[Justin McElroy]

KFC has brought back popcorn chicken. First introduced in the early 90s.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Popcorn chicken quickly earned cult status for being an endlessly craveable crispy bite. Before disappearing from menus in 2023.

[Travis McElroy]

Mysteriously, I had eaten them all. That's on me. I'm so sorry, everyone.

[Griffin McElroy]

Travis went beast mode. He went Mr. Beast mode. And he slammed all the popcorn chicken in America.

[Travis McElroy]

Mr.

[Justin McElroy]

Beast. I'm eating a million nuggets.

[Griffin McElroy]

Not nuggets, Justin. Popcorn chicken's for people who look at nuggets and they say, too much of a commitment.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah, I don't want to be too. I want to have eight of those at a time.

[Griffin McElroy]

I need to be done eating chicken at the most precise amount of chicken consumed. And nuggets leave far too much sort of room for variation.

[Justin McElroy]

For years, KFC has heard directly from fans clamoring for popcorn chicken's return.

[Travis McElroy]

So, Travis McRoy, stop calling.

[Griffin McElroy]

Stop it. Travis.

[Justin McElroy]

Travis. We read every comment, every dm, Sorry about those. Every online partition signature and the message was impossible to ignore. Said Melissa, I'll fucking kill you if

[Griffin McElroy]

you don't bring back popcorn chicken.

[Travis McElroy]

Do you know who I am?

[Griffin McElroy]

Do you know what I'm capable of?

[Justin McElroy]

Well, it's funny you should joke about that because I was thinking if Melissa Cash was going to read every single comment on every single petition about KFC Popcorn Chicken, then the least I could do is also do the same thing because I wanted to see what Melissa Cash had been through. Huh?

[Theme Song Singer]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

So, yeah. So, like, I want you all to come with me and imagine that your job as Melissa Cash is to chief marketing officer of the KFC brand, not

[Griffin McElroy]

feels below her station. I feel like there should be interns or someone working on that.

[Justin McElroy]

You're going to see like you want to get on the net, see, like, what are people saying about kfc? Because I would love to see what I could do to help. So let's first check in on the petition to bring this back. This ravenous petition was signed by 98 individual people.

[Griffin McElroy]

No, just saying. I thought for sure we were going to get it.

[Justin McElroy]

Biggest petition is 98 verified signatures and I will now read to you.

[Travis McElroy]

Get it to 100.

[Justin McElroy]

So, yeah, I will now read to you every comment on this petition. Popcorn chicken is a KFC staple for me. I've grown up eating KFC and popcorn chicken makes me so happy. I actually squealed seeing it. That's from Nico.

[Griffin McElroy]

I need it back, please. That's been a long three years for Nico.

[Justin McElroy]

It sounds Like Nico's had a rough time. I would eat KFC popcorn chicken at least two to three times a month. Much better than nuggets. Bring them back arcane two to three times a month.

[Griffin McElroy]

Isn't that big enough for them to justify it? You need to be bigger than that.

[Travis McElroy]

I think a lot of human beings on earth might accidentally eat KFC popcorn chicken two to three times a month

[Griffin McElroy]

without thinking about it in an indoor public space. The amount of popcorn chicken you're just breathing in. Yeah, it accumulates in the lungs.

[Justin McElroy]

Bring back popcorn chicken. Those nuggets are absolutely gross. They taste rubbery. Because literally the only reason I've ever eaten or liked KFC, besides their root beer floats. It's not just the same in the famous bowl. It was my favorite. Not so much now. Two more comments on this petition. Hashtag, no more discontinued. That's for muscle. And then the last from Elizabeth says, yup, popcorn chicken. Yup.

[Griffin McElroy]

Do you know how wasteful it is financially and agriculturally, that these freaks have had to, you know, order a couple dozen famous bowls every time they go just so they can pick through the bones to find the sweet popcorn chicken within? Now they are getting an option that is free of corn kernels and mashed potatoes and gravy and cheese and what have you. What all is in a famous bowl. Now they're just getting it raw dog, as God intended.

[Justin McElroy]

So then I went over to Reddit to see what people have been talking about in the intervening years, to see how because, like, you're still Melissa Cash, right? You're still trying to fix, fix your brand. Here's one comment about the. This is about the nugs. People are talking about the nugs. They. They don't work in the famous bowl. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.

[Travis McElroy]

Huh? I miss a popcorn reference there, top.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, just throw one in. I miss the popcorn chicken. They were so good with honey. But I also miss the green beans

[Griffin McElroy]

and the grilled chicken breast and one battle after another, huh?

[Justin McElroy]

Just never stop.

[Griffin McElroy]

They just never stop. We got fucking daylight savings time. We got popcorn chicken back and you're already. Give us a moment to reconnoiter, to regroup a bit.

[Justin McElroy]

It's been constant in Australia. It's still been there. So everybody in Australia is like, I can't believe you guys are getting so excited. Why don't you just move to Australia? And then several folks said, I'm not going to move to Australia for popcorn chicken. Which I grant them.

[Griffin McElroy]

Good point.

[Travis McElroy]

Not move, but visit.

[Justin McElroy]

How good was that how good? What made it so good? Well, here's one comment that said, I think the inconsistency was the best part of the popcorn chicken. Sometimes you got big meaty chunks and sometimes you got little crispy slivers of chicken that were just a vehicle for breading. I honestly love getting like five big meaty chunks, 10 medium ish chunks, just a little handful of the little ones to keep things all balanced. That's from life, the opus.

[Travis McElroy]

It's like life, really.

[Justin McElroy]

10 big meaty chunks, 10 medium ish chunks, and then just a little half, a little ones to keep things all balanced.

[Travis McElroy]

Am I asking for so much? Really?

[Justin McElroy]

This kind of fandom. As we continue. This is Melissa Cash. The next thing she says is as we continue our Kentucky Fried comeback journey.

[Griffin McElroy]

Awesome.

[Justin McElroy]

Which had to be inspired by reading these many, many, many, many, many comments from people who say everything about you is trash except for the one thing you don't have anymore. That's gotta be a tough road for Melissa Cash to walk. This menu item return shows our commitment to listening to our most passionate fans by giving them exactly what they're craving. We're nodding to nostalgia as we simultaneously modernize the brand and how it shows up throughout the world. Yeah, I got some popcorn chicken on my porch. I'll be right back.

[Griffin McElroy]

Do you? Okay.

[Travis McElroy]

I'm looking right now to order some. Think about it.

[Justin McElroy]

I'm back.

[Travis McElroy]

Hi.

[Justin McElroy]

Hi.

[Griffin McElroy]

Any sauce?

[Justin McElroy]

So I don't like sauce, but they do have a lot of Supergirl themed sauces.

[Griffin McElroy]

Cool.

[Justin McElroy]

So I requested all those, but I guess they're out because they didn't bring any. That's cheap. I guess I thought I was joking. No, no, no. Here it is. I got Ruthie's Sweet Chili Revenge.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's a cool name for a sauce. I haven't seen this.

[Justin McElroy]

It's in the flick.

[Griffin McElroy]

But that's a cool name for a sauce.

[Justin McElroy]

Ruthie. Well, they also got Lobos.

[Griffin McElroy]

What now?

[Justin McElroy]

Ruthie's Sweet, Sweet Chili Revenge.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's fucking cool.

[Justin McElroy]

That's coolest thing KFC's ever done.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'm gonna start a petition when these sauces are out of commission. Say bring back groovy.

[Justin McElroy]

Jason Momoa presents Lobo's Wild Ranch. Give me Lobos.

[Griffin McElroy]

I don't care that the movie came out seven years ago.

[Theme Song Singer]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

I want Lobo Ranch, Please send two more.

[Griffin McElroy]

Give me Jason Momoa's special Lobo Ranch, please.

[Justin McElroy]

Jason Momoa presents Lobo's Wild Ranch. Is what it says on here.

[Nick Roy]

Awesome.

[Griffin McElroy]

I want Jason Momoa to Present me with so many different sauces, it's like he produced it.

[Justin McElroy]

Boy, these are really damp cookies in the box. Why would they put the cookies in the box? They've been dampened by the chicken.

[Travis McElroy]

It's all part of it, Justin. That's the inconsistency.

[Justin McElroy]

I found the popcorn chicken. The good news for 90s kids is that I will remember with 100% accuracy what the nuggets tasted like and I will be able to tell you with 100% certainty whether or not they are the same.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, no, Justin is for sure about to ratatouille out on us, by which I mean have a sort of reverie into his past. Not have a right to control his actions.

[Travis McElroy]

No, no, no.

[Justin McElroy]

They're not as good.

[Griffin McElroy]

Okay.

[Justin McElroy]

Not the same. Sorry.

[Griffin McElroy]

Is it possible, and I hate to do this live on air, but is it possible that you are not the same and that the nugget, the chicken, the popcorn chicken is the same, but your capacity to enjoy it, feel joy? Yeah. Do you think that's never been glad to have the camera not be working?

[Justin McElroy]

I know, man. I definitely would not have planned this whole thing had I known that we would not be employing video today.

[Travis McElroy]

And I certainly would have ordered this

[Justin McElroy]

fucking Supergirl drink with Boba in it. You did that so clearly for the vine. That was just the vine.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'm so sorry.

[Justin McElroy]

Juice just for the vine. Oh, man, that's really disappointing. They're not as good. That doesn't surprise me. The original popcorn chicken nuggets were hand breaded and these are quite obviously

[Griffin McElroy]

uniform cubes.

[Justin McElroy]

They're uniform cubes. There's no big meaty chunks.

[Travis McElroy]

I mean, I gotta count.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'll just line em all out on the table and give us a line em out.

[Justin McElroy]

Okay, so my 6 ounces, I mean, they're just so clearly made in a

[Travis McElroy]

chicken popcorn chicken factory.

[Justin McElroy]

I mean, it's a heartbreaker, I can't tell you guys, I'm gonna line them all out here and I'm gonna tell you what we got.

[Travis McElroy]

Why did this auto select comeback sauce as what I would want with my popcorn chicken? Oh, are you ordering some too? Of course I am, Justin.

[Justin McElroy]

What a stupid idiot.

[Griffin McElroy]

He just told you. It sucks. I don't care, okay?

[Travis McElroy]

It's all I can think about now.

[Justin McElroy]

Guys, Comeback sauce is real. I saw it when I was ordering two and it is like the admission in a sauce format of. I've never seen a sauce apology. But that is really. I mean, it could only be that, right? Like, yeah, we've been on the ropes for a while.

[Griffin McElroy]

God, that drink is fucking vulgar. I don't know.

[Justin McElroy]

It's unpossible.

[Griffin McElroy]

Did you even get a boba in it?

[Justin McElroy]

There's no bobas in that. I avoided that boba bite, but I still.

[Griffin McElroy]

Well, maybe the boba sort of is a sort of catalyst for the flavor. The boba has to be present in order to activate it.

[Justin McElroy]

This kind of fandom, guys. This kind of fandom doesn't happen by accident. It's the same obsessive energy sports fans bring to nail biter games or reality TV lovers.

[Griffin McElroy]

Again, you are off your fucking nut, dude.

[Justin McElroy]

98 fucking signatures? Are you crazy?

[Travis McElroy]

Justin, if you cancel the football team, you'd get about 98 signatures to bring that football team back. Yeah, I bet.

[Justin McElroy]

I bet that's right.

[Griffin McElroy]

The desire for these tiny nuggets equals the fandom of all sports. Of all sports combined.

[Justin McElroy]

Popcorn chicken has one of the most obsessive fan bases KFC has ever seen. And the brand is meeting that obsession head on by inserting itself into the Internet's favorite reaction, the popcorn gif.

[Griffin McElroy]

What are you trying. What are you.

[Justin McElroy]

What are you talking about? Through a new partnership with giphy.

[Travis McElroy]

What?

[Justin McElroy]

KFC is rolling out a collection of exclusive popcorn. Popcorn chicken gifts starring the Colonel himself, giving fans a Kentucky fried way to react in the exact moments they're already reaching for a popcorn meme. The collection is now available unto giphy.

[Travis McElroy]

You know that moment we've all been there when you're reaching for a popcorn meme.

[Griffin McElroy]

Right.

[Travis McElroy]

And you're like, yeah, but I don't know what it's gonna be. Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

And then, I mean, you're trying to decide between the, like, MJ thriller one.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah. Or which popcorn meme. And then you're like, what about the

[Griffin McElroy]

one where it's like, what about the sponsored chicken?

[Justin McElroy]

Wouldn't it be fucking crazy, like, truly unhinged if I went with the sponsored KFC you guys give me.

[Griffin McElroy]

Let's. Let's brainstorm right now. Because I don't want this person to lose their job. Whoever came up with Melissa Cash, Melissa. I don't want anything to happen to Melissa. Because if Melissa's boss listens to this episode, I think that they will receive the context they need to understand that this is a total nothing burger. So if we could come up with, for Melissa, just a few kind of encounters online, social, digital encounters where a GIF of Colonel Sanders eating popcorn chicken would be an appropriate response. My mind immediately jumps to a million inappropriate ones. But is There any way to split the up race?

[Travis McElroy]

Maybe like one where you recreate the like, oh, I'm settling in. Cause something dramatic's about to happen and I've got a popcorn bucket. Except this popcorn chicken bucket. You could do that. I bet that would get some use.

[Griffin McElroy]

No. Cause if I do that, if like two of my friends are having a fight in the group thread. If two of my friends are having a fight and then I'm like, I know how to defuse this situation. I'll hop in there with the eating popcorn GIF or jif.

[Justin McElroy]

I go, depending on which way you want to do it.

[Griffin McElroy]

Depending on which way you want to do it.

[Justin McElroy]

There's actually no wrong way.

[Griffin McElroy]

If I put in the one of Colonel Sanders eating popcorn chicken, it may look a lot like one of the other famous popcorn gifs. But my friends immediately are going to be like, what's with the chicken? Is that Colonel Sand? Why did you.

[Travis McElroy]

That's Colonel Sandwich. A grave way to. I was right. Oh no, I was right. Justin sent me the exact GIF I was describing. I was right.

[Justin McElroy]

You were exactly right, Travis.

[Travis McElroy]

It's exactly right.

[Justin McElroy]

But don't worry, if you get onto the giphy Jiffy service. Giphy's into Jiffy. With giphy Jiffy, you can search up kfc, get their official account, and you can see all of these. They did. Let me count here. Too many.

[Travis McElroy]

Too many.

[Griffin McElroy]

I am gonna challenge myself to only communicate with these chips. This is my new sort of semaphore. Like you guys will know when I post like Colonel laughing and then eating a chicken, you will know, like, I enjoyed what you said. But this more sort of solemn faced one, this kind of Citizen Kane esque one. You know, I don't like what you said.

[Justin McElroy]

Each one is more upsetting than the one before it. Honestly, I think they did a great job with the.

[Travis McElroy]

They should make one of Brenda Fricker feeding the birds in Central park. But instead of scattering bird seed as popcorn chicken.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's cool.

[Travis McElroy]

And like throwing the popcorn chicken onto the wet bandits, the sticky bandits, at that point. Yeah, I need to finish. Then a bunch of people, 98 people attack them.

[Justin McElroy]

I forgot to. I forgot to do this whole fucking lead in this kind of fandom doesn't happen by accident. It's the same obsessive energy sports fans bring to nail biter games or reality TV lovers have for can't look away plot twists. Turns out the biggest moments in pop culture and biggest cravings have one thing in common. They both start with popcorn kfc. Is just bringing chicken to the party.

[Travis McElroy]

Huh? That is why.

[Justin McElroy]

That's the whole fucking long walk. Is that like popcorn is the whole thing. From sports finals taking place on the world stage to summer's juiciest reality TV moments. KFC is making a fucking thing. Dude.

[Griffin McElroy]

You can't see, like, whether it's the disappearance of Mitch McConnell, the whole thing with the reflecting pool, whether it's Pizza Rat, maybe it's Balloon boy, maybe it's Chewbacca.

[Justin McElroy]

Mom, Rhett's back in the West End, gets in kfc. KFC is making sure the popcorn chicken is back just in time. It's not for the summer moments that make you say, grab the popcorn. Because if you're gonna watch the drama unfold, you might as well be snacking on the main character. Fuck. What?

[Travis McElroy]

What? Wait. Hold on.

[Griffin McElroy]

Wait.

[Justin McElroy]

I gotta start reading these to the end. Jesus.

[Travis McElroy]

If. You might as well be snacking on the main character. Guys. Check your wording.

[Justin McElroy]

Guys. You gotta.

[Griffin McElroy]

Maybe this is a thing. Hold on. Snacking on the main character. No.

[Justin McElroy]

Snacking on the main. Big Dick Energy. Sliving.

[Griffin McElroy]

Smacking on this. Smacking on the six seven Fortnite Kid.

[Justin McElroy]

Those giphy Jiffys are out now for free.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah. Treat yourself.

[Justin McElroy]

Treat yourself. It is wild. The unforced error of like. It hasn't been an era. Like these were out three years ago. People remember what they taste like. This isn't that they don't taste like this.

[Travis McElroy]

They did a bad job.

[Justin McElroy]

They did a. People are gonna be really mad about it. I feel really sad for them. Damn. Here's a question for you all. Salient. Do the time of year. My boyfriend and I have neighbors with a peach tree. I really wanted some and I thought I'd wait until I saw them picking some to ask since we've never really spoken. But nobody ever picked them. Now a bunch of overripe peaches have fallen onto the grass between our houses, attracting flies. We noticed too late and a big old bunch of flies snuck into our house through the garage.

[Travis McElroy]

No.

[Justin McElroy]

Wow. This really broke bad for you, huh? This is really a journey from wanting some free peaches to having an infestation.

[Griffin McElroy]

You did the right thing and were punished for it. This almost feels like we would have told you not to touch the peaches. But now we know that that was a mistake also.

[Justin McElroy]

Thanks in advance. A not so peachy predicament in Alabama.

[Travis McElroy]

What do we do? What can we do next summer to prevent this as the rest? What can we do?

[Griffin McElroy]

Thank you. The question.

[Justin McElroy]

I will say that like the mayor, the Smurls have a peach tree in their backyard. And their main thing every year seems to be, how can we unload all these damn peaches?

[Brenda]

Sure.

[Justin McElroy]

I think your neighbors might be stoked if you're like, hey, we're peach fans. And whenever, like, you want a little harvest help, we're right here.

[Travis McElroy]

And I don't want to be that guy, but it's over your fence. It's in your property. Those are your peaches.

[Griffin McElroy]

I don't. Does it say. No, it says between our houses.

[Travis McElroy]

What if they fell into your yard?

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, I mean, that's like, if it's growing into. I mean, if you build a little

[Griffin McElroy]

Hot Wheels track going from the tree into your yard, and the peaches just happen to roll down it into your yard into your mouth, into your mouth that you've got at the bottom of the tracks. There's only so much you can do about that. Blame Isaac Newton on that for that one.

[Justin McElroy]

Can you guys imagine wanting to eat fruit?

[Griffin McElroy]

I like a fruit sometimes. Very rarely. Sometimes I want sweet, wet. And that's the combination that typically I get one way or the other. A lot of the times I want sweet and bread. Those two kind of like food ideas combined.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Travis McElroy]

There's a certain amount of psychological proud of my self fulfillment I get from eating a banana. Specifically a banana. Cause they're, like, good for, like, sore muscles and stuff. And I know, like, eating a banana is really investing in my future in a way that I'm like, I'm proud of you, future. Travis is proud of you.

[Griffin McElroy]

I tell you guys. I tell you, gang, I've been really into a cherry lately.

[Travis McElroy]

Too much work?

[Griffin McElroy]

Well, no, I like the work. It's like the crab legs of fruit because you're like, having to get the bones out. And I do like that. It's just a quality control gang. This fruit, we need different names. This needs to be. We need to break up Big Cherry into several smaller categories.

[Travis McElroy]

Your meaty chunks, your kind of middle chunks, and then the ones that are just breading.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, I don't think that's too much to ask. I want to know if they're going to be the tartest things I've ever tasted or the sweet, juicy things that I crave.

[Justin McElroy]

Any consistency there would be great.

[Griffin McElroy]

Any consistency would be great. Call them different things, please.

[Justin McElroy]

I don't think you want to complain about the flies because that's just part of the circle. You can't complain about the circle.

[Travis McElroy]

You know what I mean?

[Justin McElroy]

That's part of the circle, that's part of the.

[Griffin McElroy]

They're part of the circle.

[Justin McElroy]

Think about, are you letting bears in to eat the peaches? Because you are not letting. If you're not letting bears in to eat the peaches, then you broke the circle.

[Travis McElroy]

You're not bringing bears in.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah. And maybe these guys are frog ranchers. They need the flies.

[Travis McElroy]

Oh, shit. Or fly ranchers, you know, they harvest the flies and they sell the flies to fly collectors or to frogs. Maybe there's a whole frog economy going where they're selling them to frogs in exchange for peach seeds.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's cool. That's cool. That's more of a triangle of life.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah, I appreciate that. It's a pyramid scheme. I think that the frogs are set up. Cause they're bringing the flies in to eat the peaches.

[Griffin McElroy]

It wouldn't be as rhythmically kind of satisfying, I think. But a triangle of life, I do think to take some of the abstraction out of that would really help me with the concept a lot.

[Travis McElroy]

It does kind of seem. The circle seems like it was set up by the lions to explain why they're eating the zebras. That they ostensibly also rule. Yeah. You know, it's like, I'm your king, but I do need to eat you. It's part of the circle of life.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's very lopsided.

[Travis McElroy]

We don't eat you.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's a really lopsided circle where, like, most of the circle is the gazelles and zebras being eaten. And at the very tip, the very tip of the circle, one lion goes down and becomes, I guess, more grass.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah. You gotta understand, here's what happens. We, the lions eat you, right?

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Travis McElroy]

And then we shit you out. And then grass grows and you eat the grass. And then we eat you again. It's all balance. And the zebra's like, wait. We shit too. We shit out and the grass comes from our side.

[Griffin McElroy]

Ours is different. Ours is better because you're in it. It's not your fault. But you make better shit than we do, than anything.

[Justin McElroy]

I don't know anything else.

[Travis McElroy]

I don't have to tell you, man.

[Griffin McElroy]

Your nutrients are like, insane, dog. Really?

[Travis McElroy]

Cause all you eat is meat. And I see how hard you're straining.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah. It's harder to make good. Yeah. Thank you. You're right. It's harder to make good stuff.

[Travis McElroy]

You're welcome.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Travis McElroy]

You see how hard I'm working out here making a shit? I'd love to have some fiber. Are you kidding me?

[Griffin McElroy]

I hate turning you guys into shit. It sucks.

[Travis McElroy]

And I also eat a lot of cheese. That's not part of it. But it's just my picadillo. I love cheese.

[Justin McElroy]

I'm just saying, like, I didn't really clock it when I was ordering this, but this meal with the popcorn chicken.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Includes six ounces of popcorn chicken. And it's the. This is the. The popcorn chicken big box. The popcorn chicken big box has 6 ounces of popcorn chicken. I've just noticed in here, there's two chicken tenders. What has gone on in your day? What has gone on in your day? Halfway through eating your popcorn chicken, you're like, fuck, I gotta switch up the side.

[Nick Roy]

Yeah.

[Travis McElroy]

Now for the movie, I gotta change

[Justin McElroy]

up this form factor. What an admission of guilt that is, Right? If they're like, we have a second consolation chicken safety net, just in case you like these, right? They're underneath it.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Lift it up. They're in here.

[Travis McElroy]

Look. These are the structural ones.

[Justin McElroy]

These are load bearing. These are load bearing tenders.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's like how I'll order french fries at a pizza restaurant I've never ordered from before in case the kids hate the pizza. I know, my friend french fries is gonna be in there for them.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

And there's two choc chunk cookies. Is that a double chunk chocolate cookie? Damn.

[Griffin McElroy]

Damn, dude.

[Justin McElroy]

Damn.

[Travis McElroy]

Damn, damn, damn, damn.

[Justin McElroy]

I hate Boba. Thank you so much for listening to this podcast called My Brother, My Brother Me. I hope you've enjoyed yourself. Hope you learned. I hope you grew. I hope you don't get the KFC popcorn chicken, because it's not gonna hold up too late. Trav. Sorry, Trav. Yeah, let me know what you think,

[Travis McElroy]

though, when it arrives.

[Justin McElroy]

But no, no, I will.

[Travis McElroy]

No, I will. I said I will.

[Justin McElroy]

Okay, good.

[Griffin McElroy]

You know what else you can get right now? Not just bad popcorn chicken. You can get good book, which is the Adventure Zone story and song. It's out now, gang. Our final graphic novel adaptation of the Adventure Zone balance saga. You can get it right now at bookstores [e-mail] I'm so proud. I'm so proud of this book. It's so surreal. If you read it, send us message. Send us blue skies or Instagrams or something where we actually exist. Because it's been really lovely, kind of following people along as they read it. I'm so proud of this book. Please, please get yourself a copy.

[Travis McElroy]

If you also, it's a big book, so, like, pages for your buck. It's a good ratio. Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

You're getting a great ratio.

[Travis McElroy]

And thanks to everybody who came out to see us in Boston. That was great. And if you enjoy seeing us, we haven't done it. We haven't done it yet. But they don't know that.

[Justin McElroy]

I know, but like, it just really seems like tempting fate to say it went great. I mean, I don't know.

[Travis McElroy]

But the transition is. If you like seeing things live, you could also see the Besties live on Broadway October 9th at the Town hall in NYC. Tickets on sale now. Bit ly Besties on Broadway.

[Griffin McElroy]

Hey, we got some merch over in the McElroy merch [e-mail] if you're a super McCoy Brothers fan, like watching us goofballs play video games, why not get yourself a magnet frame of the design?

[Travis McElroy]

Why not? Coward.

[Griffin McElroy]

Why not? You've earned it.

[Travis McElroy]

Coward. Also, we did have to reschedule the graphic novel Clubhouse. So that's going to be this Tuesday instead. So make sure hop over to the McElroy family YouTube channel noon p.m. eastern on Tuesday and check it out.

[Griffin McElroy]

I mean, I have. There's no video. I have.

[Travis McElroy]

Guys, you just make a big loud clunk.

[Griffin McElroy]

I have huge. I have two big Faberge eggs.

[Justin McElroy]

Oh, dude, don't do it.

[Griffin McElroy]

No, I've got two big ones. They're covered in Swarovski crystals.

[Travis McElroy]

Well, so you can throw one and save the other one. Or are you going to throw them both? Or what are you thinking?

[Griffin McElroy]

Well, I've got the big unit here and I was thinking I could kind of pitch one up into the air and then the big unit could throw his egg into the other one midair and they would just collide sort of in mid air.

[Travis McElroy]

I think it's a great call. It is a shame he lost his voice right before today.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah. You doing okay? Big un. Duh. All right. I don't fucking know.

[Travis McElroy]

That sound like the mummy. Are you sure that's Randy Johnson?

[Griffin McElroy]

I don't remember which one the big unit is.

[Travis McElroy]

That might be the mummy. Okay, throw them.

[Griffin McElroy]

Here we go. Whoa. Holy shit.

[Brenda]

Whoa.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's still going.

[Justin McElroy]

Let's get down to my brother.

[Theme Song Singer]

My brother. Why is just.

[Travis McElroy]

I'm your middle is rather Travis now gray.

[Justin McElroy]

It's still going. Just remember, brother. My brother may kiss your dad. Scrug lips.

[Theme Song Singer]

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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