MBMBaM 824: Chaddy, Not Daddy

Summary

My Brother, My Brother and Me 824: Chaddy, Not Daddy

Release Date: July 27, 2026
Hosts: Justin, Travis, and Griffin McElroy

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Episode Overview

This episode bursts out the gates with an extended riff on Marvel movies, launching into one of the McElroy brothers’ signature deep-dive goof sessions. The trio humorously analyzes comic book franchise fatigue, the cyclical nature of pop culture, and then deftly pivots into listener questions about LARP leadership, hawk taming, and navigating kitchen gigs when underqualified. Classic MBMBaM advice is laced with personal anecdotes, pop culture tangents, and philosophical asides, all with their trademark absurdist humor.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

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1. Marvel Movie Trailer Riff & Superhero Culture

(01:30–11:55)

• Reactions to the new Avengers trailer:
  The hosts jokingly speculate about a trailer packed with every Marvel hero—even resurrecting dead ones—to finally defeat the perpetual antagonist, Dr. Doom.

  • “Even the dead ones are there. Because you know why? We gotta stomp Dr. Doom's ass.” — Griffin (01:42)
  • “Remember when Dr. Doom was at the end of Endgame and he was like, forgot to kill me, bitch?” — Justin (03:53)

• Mockery of comic tropes:
  Playful complaints about unresolved villain arcs, overuse of post-credit stingers, and superhero fatigue.

• Popcorn bucket innovations:
  Creative (and gross) suggestions for new Marvel movie popcorn buckets:

  • “Dr. Doom's mouth wide open. Yes. The thing's mouth wide open.” — Travis (09:17)
  • “Kevin Feige... the popcorn is like in the shirt. Like you're eating it out of his stretched out shirt.” — Griffin (09:29)

• Comic books are not (and never were) cool:
  The brothers recall convoluted storylines—Superman’s energy color split, for example—and assert the innate silliness of the medium:

  • “Maybe it's time for us bullies to rise again... this nerd stuff is for nerds.” — Justin (09:43)

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2. Advice: LARP Burnout & Alter Egos

(13:36–17:49)

• Listener question: How to find the fun in LARP again after rising to “important” leadership status.

• Advice and comparisons:

  • Travis dubs it the “warrior to king” problem, referencing Robert Baratheon’s story arc.
  • Justin introduces “Chatty” (his alter ego for escaping ‘Daddy’ duties) as a metaphor for inventing a mischievous side persona.
    • “Sometimes I'll hit on Sidney and the kids hate it.” — Justin (14:34)
  • The brothers suggest a “heel turn” (pro wrestling-style), or developing a masked trickster alter ego for in-game shenanigans.

• Pro wrestling parallels:

  • Griffin: “Professional wrestling is LARP fighting, basically.” (16:18)
  • They list classic wrestling tropes—magic-induced heel turns—and discuss the cathartic fun of becoming the villain for a while.

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3. Big Brother’s Time-Travel Plot (and Reality TV FOMO)

(21:08–28:04)

• Confusion over Big Brother’s new time-travel plot device:

  • Justin reads a Reddit post incredulously unpacking the latest “bbtonium” and time-travel elements.
  • Unintentional reality TV “backrooms” vibe—brothers can’t tell if it’s real or urban legend.

• Anxiety about missing pop culture:

  • “It’s my constant secret fear that dope shit is happening in these corners of pop culture and entertainment that I can’t possibly be watching.” — Griffin (23:06)

• Calls for a US Gogglebox-style show:

  • Travis wants regular people reacting to wild TV: "That's what I want." (23:51)

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4. Advice: Training the Untrainable Hawk

(34:46–42:50)

• Listener question:
  How can I convince my boss to let me train “Odin,” a grumpy, one-eyed hawk?

• Comedic navigation of bird-rearing ethics:

  • Speculation on hawk accessories: “I think that’d be cool. I think it’d be nice to give the hawk a little eye patch.” — Griffin (36:30)
  • Movie parallels (Free Willy, Pokémon):
    • “What worked for my man Ash Ketchum when Pikachu didn't want to play along is... Pikachu got jumped by a bunch of spearows... You need to save Odin’s life.” — Griffin (40:49)
  • The brothers joke about “adding” cybernetic eyes, or just giving Odin their own human eye for prophecy cred.

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5. Munch Squad: K-Pop Fried Chicken Collabs

(43:06–51:13)

• BBQ Chicken and Stray Kids’ Felix launch “Feel Crunch Chicken”:
  • Detailed, ridiculous press release dissection.
  • Felix’s supposed obsession with fried chicken, doubts about sincerity: “Swears he likes the chicken.” — Justin (49:29)
  • Hilarious breakdown of the brand/celebrity pipeline: “In 50 years, no one will remember stray kids. All they'll remember is chicken magnate Felix.” — Justin (50:49)

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6. Advice: Staging at a Fancy Restaurant When Underqualified

(51:55–57:16)

• Listener question:
  How to handle “staging” (trial shifts) with little experience?

• Discussion:

  • Acknowledges the “trial by fire” nature of this practice in restaurants.
  • Advice: Honesty, willingness to learn, attitude matter more than résumé.
  • “You can come in just a rough lump of clay… That’s perfect, shape me.” — Travis (53:40)
  • If you can bring ‘fun’ to the kitchen (e.g. sports bar energy), maybe that’s what’s missing.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

Marvel Trailer Goofs:

• “He de-aged 50 years. He looks like sexy ass Chris Evans again. He's ready to beat Dr. Doom's ass.” — Griffin (01:46)

On Comic Book Uncoolness:

• “Comic books are not cool… maybe it’s time for the bullies to rise again.” — Justin (09:43)

Advice Alter Ego:

• “When I can't handle the burden anymore… I'm Chatty, and Chatty doesn't care about the rules.” — Justin (14:33)

Bird Training Fantasy:

• “It’d be cool if I saw a hawk with one human eye… you got a prophecy or something?” — Griffin (42:35)

K-pop Brand Synergy:

• “Swears he likes the chicken.” — Justin (49:31)
• “In 50 years… all they’ll remember is chicken magnate Felix.” — Justin (50:49)

Staging Insecurity:

• “I don’t know what I’m doing. And that’s perfect, shape me. I’ll learn it however you want.” — Travis (53:40)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [01:30] – [11:55]: Marvel movie trailer riff, pop culture and comic book roast, popcorn bucket ideas
• [13:36] – [17:49]: LARP burnout advice, alter egos, pro wrestling heel turns
• [21:08] – [28:04]: Big Brother time travel plot & reality TV FOMO
• [34:46] – [42:50]: Training the one-eyed hawk (Odin), bird advice segment
• [43:06] – [51:13]: Munch Squad: BBQ Chicken x Felix (Stray Kids) collab
• [51:55] – [57:16]: Advice for novice “staging” in a kitchen

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Tone and Style

• Language: Irreverent, off-the-cuff, pop culture savvy, full of layered goofs and self-deprecation.
• Vibe: Joyful chaos with surprising moments of sincerity in advice segments.

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Final Notes

If you missed this episode, expect freewheeling tangents, pop-culture runarounds, comedic meta-commentary on nerd culture, and actual relatable advice on hobby burnout, career pivots, and even animal taming (sort of). The brothers’ blend of absurdity and genuine insight is on high display, with plenty of quotable moments for McElroy fans.

Transcript

[Griffin McElroy]

The McElroy brothers are not experts and their advice should never be followed. Travis insists he's a sexpert, but if there's a degree on his wall, I haven't seen it.

[Justin McElroy]

Also, this show isn't for kids, which

[Griffin McElroy]

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

[Guest or Musical Interlude]

It's the start of something beautiful. A small acquaintance has blossomed. It's ripened into a precious friends. I could have never seen what was coming for me. Hangs at the skate park. Hangs by the beach. My life, it feels like life is. Ah. It's better. It's better with you. My life is. It's better, it's better with you. This is who you are. It's better. It's better with two. It's better with you.

[Justin McElroy]

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

[Travis McElroy]

What's up Trav Nation? It's me, your minimalist brother, Travis. Big dog. Wolf, wolf. Vroom, vroom. The heater award winning McElroy.

[Griffin McElroy]

Hey, Trav Nation. It's me, your sweet baby brother, 30 under 30 media luminary Griffin McElroy.

[Justin McElroy]

The Avengers will return.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'm so next summer.

[Justin McElroy]

The Avengers are back. I watched this trailer. They're all there.

[Travis McElroy]

Everyone.

[Justin McElroy]

They're all there.

[Griffin McElroy]

Even the dead ones.

[Justin McElroy]

Even the dead ones are there.

[Griffin McElroy]

Because you know why? We gotta stomp Dr. Doom's ass. Dead ass. Captain America got too old and died from it. And even he is like coming out of his grave and he's doing just fine. He de aged 50 years. He looks like sexy ass Chris Evans again. He's ready to beat Dr. Doom's ass.

[Travis McElroy]

Cause it's gotta get beat. I'm just real PO'd, all right? Because they must have found my fan fiction. It's 1200 pages long in which they all get together. Everybody's back from the den. Yep, everybody's back. And if I go see this movie and Ben Grimm is kissing Dr. Doom and Captain America is kissing Mjolnir.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Travis McElroy]

And like then I'll know it's straight plagiarism.

[Justin McElroy]

If I walk folks through the opening scene is Captain America and Spider man and the Hulk and Iron man on four beach chairs. And they're sitting in four beach chairs. And then Spider man like wakes up from his dead sleep and he's like, guys, we didn't save the world. Dr. Doom's not dead. They're like, who's Dr. Doom. And then Iron Man's like, he's right. Job's not done. We gotta kill Dr. Doom.

[Griffin McElroy]

Because that's how the trailer starts, if you remember. I know it's been a while since it came out, but in Endgame, everybody's all in, like, we gotta stop Thanos. The Infinity Wish made half the world die. But do you guys remember in Endgame, almost the whole movie, Spider Man's going, but when are we going to get Dr. Doom's ass?

[Travis McElroy]

When are we going to get to Dr. Doom?

[Justin McElroy]

We have to kill Dr. Doom.

[Griffin McElroy]

I've heard about this guy from, like, Barafia or wherever, and I'm. I'm ready. I'm locked in. I'm ready to shoot. I just needed like a ride over there.

[Travis McElroy]

And Tony Stark was like, do you mean my secret twin brother? Yeah, he's evil as fuck.

[Justin McElroy]

Don't spoil it, okay?

[Travis McElroy]

And so then they call the Doctor and the Doctor shows up in his TARDIS and whips them away to Barovia. It's free.

[Griffin McElroy]

This is your fantasy adaption again? I don't know that they're gonna adapt it quite that literally.

[Justin McElroy]

Remember when Dr. Doom was at the end of Endgame and he had like, he took out a cigarette and he was like, forgot to kill me, bitch. And then he flipped this cigarette. Yeah, I remember that, man. I was like, I was kind of yelling. I remember all of us yelling like, kill Dr. Doom. Why did he kill Dr. Doom? Come on, this is gonna become a bigger problem and a huge problem. Job's not done. Killed Doom.

[Griffin McElroy]

We got Scarlet Witch. And we got all these little side projects where they're like, there's this other guy. Don't throw another guy on there when we haven't settled the Dr. Doom issue yet.

[Travis McElroy]

And at the end of every preceding movie was another post credit scene of Dr. Doom smoking a cigarette, flicking it and saying a different thing. Like, yeah, I'm thinking, I'm back.

[Griffin McElroy]

Flick, cigarette.

[Travis McElroy]

And then they do the next movie. And it would end with him being like, guess who? It's me. Here's Johnny. And he'd smash through the door. And they just kept doing that. The ones that kept doing that, even on TV shows, every TV episode had a post credit sequence with Dr. Doom.

[Justin McElroy]

Did you see the post credit on. The one that really bothered me the most.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Was at the end of Wonder Man, Ben Kingsley knocks on the door and he's like, hello, it's me, the Mandarin. I'm here to kill Dr. Doom. And he's got a Knife. And he's like, please answer. And he's like, oh, well, no luck. And he walks away. He's like, that's the worst try you guys have done yet. It feels like you're just checking a box at this point. Like, yes, someone attempted to kill Dr. Doom, but it wasn't.

[Griffin McElroy]

And I mean, we've been waiting for so long. At the after credits scene in Avengers had, you know, Loki goes down and then Thanos shows up and he's like, guess I'll do it myself. And then immediately after that, there's another end credit scene where it zooms even further out and you see Dr. Doom and he's smoking a cigarette and he's like, you're not even ready for this shit yet.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah, I'll let him do it himself and then I'll do it.

[Griffin McElroy]

And then I'll do it myself. I do. Like, in this trailer, they have to set the stakes. They're like, this is gonna take everything we got. This is be a miracle if we can face this, our mightiest foe yet. And it's like, that's a dude. That's a dude. And he's wearing armor. I'll grant you that there is some issues, I think, with his defensive capabilities you guys are gonna run into. But the other one was a huge alien. A huge alien who killed half of the universe.

[Travis McElroy]

Magic stone.

[Justin McElroy]

You're telling me that this guy's physician,

[Griffin McElroy]

this armored physician is going to be tougher than that?

[Justin McElroy]

I don't know. I can't believe.

[Travis McElroy]

Why didn't we kill him when they're like, this is going to be our toughest one. Just cut to the Fantastic Four being like, we beat him by ourselves all day, guys.

[Justin McElroy]

Kill him as many times as you need.

[Travis McElroy]

What do you do today? Kill tomorrow. Get a big Magnet. He's fucked.

[Griffin McElroy]

Get a big Magneto. Hello. Magneto is in the trailer. Magneto's in the trailer. Zip. He walks up, hey, what's up? He goes like this scup like a Dr. Evil.

[Travis McElroy]

Zip it.

[Griffin McElroy]

He does one of those and he just like a can.

[Justin McElroy]

The first. The first scene of the movie. The second scene of the movie because they do a flashback to Dr. Doomsday. Forgot to kill me, bitch. And then the first scene in the movie is Magneto and the Fantastic Four both get something in the mail. It's like, sweepstakes winner. You won all expenses paid trip to Hawaii. So they immediately go to Hawaii. First thing. They're not in it. Yeah, they're.

[Griffin McElroy]

They can't help.

[Justin McElroy]

But this is why this is why

[Travis McElroy]

I've been telling Cameo.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, they'll Cameo, they'll bring in for a hundred bucks a pop. Just one birthday message, you know, it sucks for a cameo. Listen, this is why I've been telling people, you gotta watch Daredevil Born Again. Because the first episode of Daredevil Born again, Kingpin kills Dr. Doom. And then if you watch all two seasons, and then at the end, Vincent d' Onofrio was like, and I'll tell you one other thing about my city. Zip. Unzip. It was a costume. He was Dr. Doom the whole time. And that's why I was. That's what I was like, okay, how did he kill.

[Griffin McElroy]

In the first episode?

[Justin McElroy]

Did you not kill him the first episode? And turns out he didn't. It was actually Kingpin was killed. And then Dr. Doom made a Kingpin costume and wore it for two seasons, made love to his wife.

[Travis McElroy]

Oh, wow.

[Justin McElroy]

As Kingpin as Vincent, you would think

[Griffin McElroy]

she would be so confused because, you know Vincent d', Onofrio, she would be in the act of making love with him, but she would hear the jingle jangle of his armor inside this. Inside the skin.

[Justin McElroy]

Oh.

[Travis McElroy]

P.S.

[Justin McElroy]

sorry about accidentally recounting the plot of Wonder Woman 84. I didn't mean to hard pivot into that, but I accidentally did just turn this into Wonder Woman 84. That is.

[Griffin McElroy]

Dr. Doom's so strong. Dr. Doom's so strong that even in the DC universe, we got Batman versus Superman. And there's the scene where Batman's like, well, at least I'm not fighting Dr. Doom.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah. And he and Superman, like, agree. They agree. I'd much rather fight you in armor way than Dr. Doom in armor. And they, like, that's what bonds them. And they're like, oh, we're both afraid of Dr. Doom. Maybe we're not so different, you and I. Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'm excited for the lines. I'm excited for all the lines. This trailer had a lot of lines.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'm excited for. I want to see Shang Chi up there saying, like, it looks like this is gonna take all ten of my rings. Like, cool. Shit. I think I'd be good at writing lines for the superheroes to say in the Avengers movies.

[Travis McElroy]

I think we should also throw our hat in the ring to design the popcorn buckets.

[Griffin McElroy]

Hell, yes.

[Travis McElroy]

So many ideas. Dr. Doom's mouth wide open. Yes. The thing's mouth wide open. Spider Man's mouth wide open. Mystique turning into White Widow with her mouth wide open. Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

Kevin Feig. Kevin Feig. And he's got his shirt stretched out like this. And the popcorn is like in the shirt. Like you're eating it out of his stretched out shirt.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah. Or you can just put money in there.

[Griffin McElroy]

You can put money in there if you want.

[Travis McElroy]

Straight to Kevin.

[Justin McElroy]

Straight to Kevin.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

I mean, a lot of people watch that trailer and they're like, I don't know, this doesn't seem very cool. That seemed like a good moment to remind everybody that, like, comic books are not cool. Like, they're not. This is a good time. Remember, everybody was like, I guess the nerds inherited the earth and everybody likes geek stuff. Maybe it's time for us bullies to rise again. You know what I mean? Like, maybe us. Maybe it's time to remind everybody that, like, hey, this nerd stuff is for nerds.

[Travis McElroy]

It was for nerds only. There was a period, I believe, in the late 90s, where I think Superman got hit by an energy blast that separated him into two separate energy based. One that was like all blue energy, all red energy. That went on for a really long time, you guys. So you need to know that comic books can sometimes be super dumb.

[Justin McElroy]

Nonsense.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, it's all kind of. We got spoiled by a generation of almost all like pretty competent action blockbuster superhero movies. It's not going to be that again. But there's going to be lots to like. The lines I didn't.

[Travis McElroy]

The buckets.

[Griffin McElroy]

The buckets. I didn't see Groot in this one. I know he was in the Mandalorian and Grogu. But I didn't see Groot in this one. Yeah, I'm hoping that Groot.

[Justin McElroy]

That was a tree. I tried to tell you.

[Travis McElroy]

No, every tree in movie. Cause I saw lots of trees in Wonder man and I was like, that's Groot. That's Groot. They're all connected. It's like that big baobab farm, I think that's down in Florida where it looks like thousands of trees, but it's one tree.

[Justin McElroy]

I bet if Groot.

[Griffin McElroy]

I bet if Groot went down to the mangroves, the swamplands of Florida, and plugged in, that would be like a non stop, just orgy for a big plant. Just one shared root system. Just going fucking Hogwarts, comes back with

[Justin McElroy]

an accent that's like vaguely appropriative. Like, I don't think so. Groot.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, okay.

[Justin McElroy]

You live down there for two weeks,

[Griffin McElroy]

calm down, be Groot. I hope they have a Groot in this one.

[Travis McElroy]

I hope Steven Groot's in this one.

[Griffin McElroy]

He could. They can anything.

[Justin McElroy]

He's my favorite actor in the world. He can do anything.

[Travis McElroy]

Comedy action. Dude.

[Griffin McElroy]

I will tell. I have not been deeply invested in the Marvel verse since. Since Endgame. I've watched some of this stuff since then. Some of it's been pretty cool.

[Travis McElroy]

But Wonder man are great.

[Griffin McElroy]

If. If the movie ends with Dr. Doom taking off his mask, it's not RDJ like we all expect because he came out on stage during Comic Con, was like, what's up? I'm Dr. Doom. And yet they're kind of dancing around that in the trailer, which is wild. Guys, we all saw the News. If instead, Dr. Doom pulled off the mask and it was Steven Root under there and it was a huge twist, a huge gotcha surprise.

[Justin McElroy]

I am Root. Yes.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Fucking great. Stephen Root from Widow's Bay.

[Travis McElroy]

Not too late. Don't come out till next year. You could do reshoots. Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

Finishers this year.

[Travis McElroy]

Get new springs.

[Justin McElroy]

Get reroutes. There's time for reroutes. Just get them in there.

[Griffin McElroy]

Awesome.

[Justin McElroy]

This is an advice show. We take your questions. We do our best to answer them. That's it. I've been LARPing for almost seven years now. Continuously. I've had a ropey LARP for almost seven years now. And my character has become well known and respected in the game, taking on several leadership positions and often called upon when help is needed. And while I feel very lucky and grateful to hold these positions, I now spend most of my games in meetings and negotiations. Can barely make it 10 steps in any direction before someone needs me. I truly love what my character does, but I also miss the shenanigans I could get into. My character wasn't important. Brothers, what are some simple ways I can bring more fun and mischief in my escapism hobby without jeopardizing my character fantasy 9 to 5. And it's from pretend politician in Southern California.

[Travis McElroy]

This is classic warrior to king kind of shit. You know what I mean? Robert Baratheon.

[Griffin McElroy]

You know the Barath.

[Travis McElroy]

The Barath. He just wanted to get out. I don't remember the show much.

[Griffin McElroy]

He just wanted to get out there and kill stags. Yeah, man. And yet he had to get pulled into all this castle mischief, all this palace intrigue. I feel bad for him.

[Travis McElroy]

It's weird that their symbol was a stag. And he loved killing those bastards.

[Griffin McElroy]

He loved it. He was.

[Justin McElroy]

This is why Chris Gaines exists. Oh, this is why Chris Gaines exists. Because Garth got too imprisoned by the country music industry and he needed somebody without all the expectations this is also why Chatty exists. Chatty is my alter ego. When the shackles of being daddy are too much, when I can't handle the burden anymore, I brush my hair down like this.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

And I'm. And I'm Chatty and Chatty.

[Griffin McElroy]

That is all Chris Gaines did.

[Justin McElroy]

That is all Chatty. And Chatty doesn't ha. Doesn't care about the rules. He doesn't enforce the rules. Chatty's really cool. The kids can do whatever they want when Chatty's around. And I don't have to give a shit. Cause I'm not Daddy. I'm Chatty. I'm a completely different guy. Sometimes I'll hit on Sidney and the kids hate it.

[Griffin McElroy]

Okay, which makes sense, right?

[Justin McElroy]

They know. They know. Right.

[Travis McElroy]

You've developed your own cool stepdad.

[Justin McElroy]

Yes, I'm my own cool stepdad. And anytime it's getting like. To be. The stress of parenting is too much. Yeah. I can leave.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

And Chad here.

[Griffin McElroy]

How does Sid feel about Chatty? This.

[Justin McElroy]

How does Sid, probably. Chatty's cool. Has never washed a dish. You know what I'm saying? Like, yeah, every girl thinks they want a Chatty, but at the end of the day, what you want is Daddy at the end of the day. But Chatty can be helpful when you just need a break from.

[Griffin McElroy]

From.

[Justin McElroy]

From the expectations. Right?

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

This could be. You're a little fucking shitbag rogue that every man hates. Even you, you hate most of all. This little shitbag rogue running around stealing people's socks, throwing them down a hill, you know?

[Griffin McElroy]

But it's you.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's what they do in larp.

[Travis McElroy]

You could even go like, vigilante, right? Where Bruce Wayne, he's helping through all the proper means, right? Donations and charities and stuff. And then you have a masked version of your character that no one knows is you that's out there, I don't know, putting people in stocks. I don't know. I don't know what the point is.

[Griffin McElroy]

Well, I mean, you're touching on something that I think could be extremely powerful. It might actually be a good idea. I've never larped, so I don't know how normal this is for a larp, but I have to imagine, I mean, professional wrestling is LARP fighting, basically.

[Guest or Musical Interlude]

Right.

[Griffin McElroy]

And that's not to denigrate it. I think it's a beautiful, beautiful fight.

[Travis McElroy]

I think LARP is medieval pro wrestling.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yes. Right. So it's time. It sounds like if everyone depends on you and holds you in such high esteem, the slingshot effect of the heel turn that you could bust out right now would be fucking incredible. Just like. Just like Tony Stark is bitten by a radioactive suit of armor Eastern European gentleman and then becomes Dr. Doom. You too must become the villain that these people then will band together to kick your ass because they are all hurt. Because they all needed you and depended on you so much.

[Justin McElroy]

I don't know what happens. I don't know what happens next in Dune, but I feel like something like that is gonna happen in Dune.

[Travis McElroy]

I don't know Dune, but I've only

[Justin McElroy]

watched the first two dunes. But if I look at a little bit of the third dune, I think something like that is gonna happen with Timmy Chimmy. I'm a little worried about it.

[Griffin McElroy]

Timmy Chimmy is an unproblematic fave in that movie. Dude, I do not know what you're talking about.

[Justin McElroy]

What an interesting. By the way, what an interesting timing on that to, like, have your character. He should have said, oh, man, his Tim is a villain. I love Timmy Chima too much.

[Griffin McElroy]

His timing was just a bit off, dude.

[Justin McElroy]

Just a bit off, man. Could have rode that Oscar wave and then just.

[Griffin McElroy]

And then started talking shit about the ballet, buddying up with. With more than one of the sharks from Shark Tank. Like, then we're all like, actually, wait a minute. Timmy Chimmy, we'd buy him as a bad guy.

[Travis McElroy]

Griffin, in pro wrestling, how often does a heel turn get blamed on, like, an evil curse or, like, magical possession or something?

[Griffin McElroy]

My dear, sweet summer child, Half the time.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah. That's why I asked. Cause I was gonna make it a statement that, like, in LARPing, too, at any moment, the curse can be broken. You can go back to your good self and blame everything on the curse, unlike pro wrestling. And then I thought, wait, I think I know just enough about pro wrestling to think magic is involved.

[Griffin McElroy]

There was a story arc where I think Bray Wyatt. Bray Wyatt famously can hypnotize. Like, if they want to do a match between two people who are best buds, they used to just be able to get Bray Wyatt out there and hold up his lantern. And now all of a sudden, you know, Alexa Bliss is. Is. Is bad now. Like, they used to be.

[Travis McElroy]

Hold up his lantern.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, he had a magic lantern. Bray Wyatt was the fucking best man. No one's ever done it. Like, Bray.

[Travis McElroy]

God.

[Justin McElroy]

Wrestling rules.

[Griffin McElroy]

Wrestling is very, very good. I'm pretty sure that when John Cena freaked out and went ham on Cody Rhodes, that was also a magic. There was a supernatural element to that. I think it was the smoke monster got him and made him do all that bad stuff. And then he. Then he retired to have an incredibly lucrative television and film career. And he wasn't exercised or anything. He just kind of was just like. All right, guys, thanks. It's been fun. I've been John Cena. This has all been play pretend. I wasn't actually hypnotized or cursed by Bray Wyatt's magic lantern, but I'm off.

[Travis McElroy]

John Cena hasn't been in a Marvel movie, has he?

[Griffin McElroy]

John Cena has been in a Marvel movie.

[Justin McElroy]

Which one?

[Griffin McElroy]

I don't know, but it seems crazy to say he hasn't. Marvel movie.

[Guest or Musical Interlude]

Well.

[Travis McElroy]

Cause he was in Peacemaker. That's dc.

[Griffin McElroy]

Oh, wow. No, he has never been in the. He's never been in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There's gotta be. He must have done something, because everybody's been in it. Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

They keep asking Adam Driver. He's saying no.

[Griffin McElroy]

I love that. I saw that quote from an interview where people. Adam Driver's like, yeah, they keep asking me, and it's like a standing invitation, and I just keep turning it down. And it's like. I think it was actually Kevin Fees were talking about Adam Driver. And, like, that's cool. Can I say that, too?

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

They keep trying to get me, guys. They keep trying to bring me in. They want.

[Travis McElroy]

I never agreed to be in a Marvel Cinematic.

[Griffin McElroy]

I have never, ever greenlit. Put the. Put the rubber stamp on that.

[Travis McElroy]

Never once have I been asked and

[Griffin McElroy]

said yes, because I need practical. I only work practical. And if they're gonna put my. If they're gonna put my head on a big, strong CGI body without my permission, I don't play like that.

[Travis McElroy]

I also only shoot on 35 mil. You know what I mean?

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Travis McElroy]

Like, I don't do digital, I think. So if you wanna put me in a Marvel movie, it's all gonna have to be on celluloid. Screened at indie theaters.

[Griffin McElroy]

Did you guys know that when Mark Ruffalo showed up, first day of shooting for Avengers, he painted his body fully green? And they were like, you don't need to do that. We'll make you. We have a computer Hulk that we can do.

[Justin McElroy]

It'd be very big. We haven't talked about. We can't just randomly go back and start talking about Avengers and Griffin. We've already talked about Avengers once a day.

[Griffin McElroy]

You're right.

[Justin McElroy]

We can't.

[Griffin McElroy]

No, you're right.

[Justin McElroy]

Have you guys been watching Big Brother?

[Travis McElroy]

No.

[Griffin McElroy]

Never once.

[Justin McElroy]

Me neither. Me neither. But I saw a Commercial for Big Brother this season. And I asked my friends John Risti about it. Cause they watch Big Brother. And I said, guys, I saw a commercial in Big Brother where there's portals. Is this accurate? And they're like, yeah, yeah, yeah. This season it's about time travel. And I was like, what are you talking about? And then I got distracted. So I went searching on Reddit and I found a post about this season of Big Brother. Right.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

And I just wanted to. I'm hoping people can fill this in for me because I wanted to share it with you guys because without context, I don't know what I've been missing. This show is unwatchable. This is from the Big Brother Reddit. Big Brother has had some wild themes in the past. It's no coincidence that the next most crazy one was the time laser. But they have taken it to an absurd degree.

[Guest or Musical Interlude]

And.

[Justin McElroy]

And there are some issues here that I feel are too big to ignore. Firstly, let me say this is not an indictment of the dining table, time machine or timetable. I don't question. I don't question that bbtonium exists. I don't question that bbtonium exist.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

That it can be used for time travel or even that Enzo is the one who was able to develop it.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

These things are all unbelievable. The last, most of all, of course. But they can be accepted as truth. We will even hand wave them. Being able to get camera footage across time and space. The problem is in the framing of the reality icons that they recruited with the timetable. Why would you need to go back in time to invite a teenage Angela to a future season of a show that doesn't yet exist? Especially knowing that she will already have been on the show. That's especially knowing that she will already have been on the show prior to this season without any meddling. Couldn't they just ask her a month ago if she wanted to come back? You don't need a time machine, guys.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's my constant secret fear.

[Justin McElroy]

Don't need a time issue for that.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's my constant secret fear that dope shit is happening in these corners of pop culture and entertainment that I can't. I can't possibly. I can't possibly be watching.

[Justin McElroy]

I can't watch.

[Griffin McElroy]

I watch every episode of American Ninja Warrior. I can't also watch every episode of Big Brother and I hate that there's secret great stuff. Stuff happening.

[Travis McElroy]

This is why we need fucking Gogglebox here in America, okay?

[Justin McElroy]

They watch Soup. Bring it back, for God's sake. Or the Internet or TikTok something.

[Travis McElroy]

You know, I just need to see normal people like me reacting to wild shit sitting on their couch.

[Griffin McElroy]

Not like.

[Travis McElroy]

And don't get me wrong, I love YouTubers who do videos reacting to wild shit.

[Griffin McElroy]

Love YouTubers.

[Travis McElroy]

But I want just sitting on a couch and seeing someone go, what the fuck is that? Sure, that's what I want.

[Justin McElroy]

Sure. I'm sure that's Also on. On YouTube for you if you like it. I'm sure there's lots of different. There's like a cozy reaction.

[Griffin McElroy]

But even that's too much like I need a. I need a TV something.

[Justin McElroy]

The only way this makes sense is if the meddling truly is necessary. I. E. The letter not only includes instructions to come to this season, but also information about how to ensure she is cast on her original season after the show does come into existence.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's cool.

[Justin McElroy]

Maybe it's true that time travel is the only reasonable explanation for Angela being cast. Actually, we should go back to that icon question. Does this imply that Angela was intentionally acting unhinged in her first appearance to make her worthy of her spot in the future?

[Griffin McElroy]

This was guidance. This is all from her future self.

[Travis McElroy]

I do find it unlikely this plan

[Justin McElroy]

would work though, based on how she destroyed the letter without even reading it clearly. This is meant to be a second reference to Back to the Future, along with Enzo hitting his head and unlocking the secrets of time travel. However, it makes much less sense for Angela as there was the exact opposite of a grand adventure camaraderie between her and the players before her departure.

[Griffin McElroy]

God damn it.

[Travis McElroy]

What is this show about?

[Justin McElroy]

It's about time travel, obviously. Terrifying thing that requires in depth analysis would be that if she goes time traveling and immediately dies and the show doesn't end, the players don't panic, they just gleefully go on. What's worse than Julie?

[Griffin McElroy]

I've never seen. I've watched a lot of reality shows. I've never seen someone suddenly die on one.

[Justin McElroy]

What's worse is that Julie doesn't even consider going back to save her. Julie the host. I think they're talking about the host of the show. Julie doesn't go back to save her. She just goes on to find a replacement. The lawsuits would be incredible to say the least. How can I take it seriously if the story isn't taking itself seriously?

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah, Justin, are there comments reacting to this like in a shared way? Or is this one of those, like creepypasta? I remember a scary TV show from when I was a kid that doesn't exist.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's a back room.

[Travis McElroy]

No. Is this a backroom?

[Justin McElroy]

No, this is not a backroom. This is just a regular Reddit post. If I could just. I'm almost done with this one. By far the most egregious error, in spite of all this, is how Julie can even use the timetable right now. It's shown to travel with the players, and they haven't come back yet. So there should be no table for her to use. No producers or cameramen are shown sitting at the table. So we can't say that someone else took it back ahead of the players. I guess they have a second identical timetable.

[Griffin McElroy]

This fucking rules, man. I gotta become a part of this community.

[Justin McElroy]

Timetable that production wheeled in and put in the exact same spot as the original for Julie to use. The existence of multiple time machines raises so many questions by itself, one that

[Griffin McElroy]

I can't possibly get into one Big Brother time machine. Okay, this is easily explained, okay?

[Travis McElroy]

If you go back right, then the table just sits there until it's in the present. It's the same with the DeLorean. Read a fucking book, okay?

[Griffin McElroy]

If you don't move it, then it eventually will make its way back home. That's interesting.

[Travis McElroy]

It's the same table. It's just now, I don't know, 20 years older.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Travis McElroy]

Or you made two of them. Because if you're gonna have a time machine, why wouldn't you make fucking two of them? They always need a second one.

[Griffin McElroy]

I would definitely always have a second time machine. Because how many people, how many times does it happen that someone's been like, oh, now we're stuck in time.

[Travis McElroy]

Right.

[Griffin McElroy]

Have a second time machine, you dummy. I'd like one.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah. I'd leave a note with you guys to be like, hey, hey, I'm stuck in the past again. Come pick me up.

[Griffin McElroy]

You need a spotter.

[Justin McElroy]

I'm not going to watch it. I'm not. I'm not. But, like, thank you for the update.

[Travis McElroy]

I'll read the novelization.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah. When they adapted into, like, McDonald's toys. I'll check those out.

[Griffin McElroy]

Sure.

[Justin McElroy]

Let's take a quick break. Let's head to the Money Zone and do it right.

[Griffin McElroy]

We'll do more.

[Guest or Musical Interlude]

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

[Justin McElroy]

You know, you walk around your home, your place of living, every day and take a look and really ask yourself, does this feel like you. Does this really feel like your space is a space where you've really put your stamp on it? Do you love the things in there and do they make you happy?

[Travis McElroy]

Every day is this stimulation.

[Justin McElroy]

Things can't make you happy, but some things can.

[Travis McElroy]

You know what I mean?

[Justin McElroy]

That's an interesting way of thinking about it.

[Griffin McElroy]

Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy some.

[Travis McElroy]

It can buy things that make you happy, for sure.

[Justin McElroy]

I wanted to spend more time outside this summer, so I used Wayfair to find a lovely outdoor table for my family to use when we eat dinner outdoors. And so that's facilitated a lot of happiness in my life because I said, hey, I want this space to reflect me. I want this to feel like my family. And Wayfair made it really easy. They have seating, they have grills, appliances, storage, lighting, rugs, decor. Whatever you need, it's there. You can get it at Wayfair. And if putting it together sounds like a pain, they got delivery. They can handle installation, even assembly. So I think it's going to make a really pleasant experience for you. I was very pleased. It arrived quickly. I think it's a really good quality table and I'm a big fan of it, honestly. It's been out there for now. It's been a year, actually, since I got that table from Wayfair and it is just as lovely as the day I got it.

[Travis McElroy]

It is a great table.

[Justin McElroy]

It's a great table. Are you ready to upgrade your home for way less? Head to Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home and get your space ready for less. That's W A Y F A I R.com

[Griffin McElroy]

I have a confession, and I don't know if Warby Parker wants me to start out with this energy. This is an ad for Warby Parker. But I've been wearing Warby Parker frames pretty exclusively now for a very long time, for years and years. And I needed some new glasses. And I had the thought, should I get out there and see what else is happening in the world that is not this trusted brand that I rock with like so hard. So I went out and I looked at some other. I went to some glasses businesses and I looked around and I tried some stuff on. I couldn't find a lot of stuff I liked. And then stuff that I thought looked all right was like 1,000 goddamn dollars for one pair of glasses. Everywhere I went, they were like, let me think. A thousand. Pretty much all of them. Just outrageous prices and not a lot of great selection. Especially for a gentleman with a. Who has a carriage of head that is larger than. Yeah, medically appropriate. And you know what I did? I went to a Warby Parker brick and mortar Which I had never done before. I'd done all, like, the shopping online and doing the home try on program, which is great. But I went into one and I tried on some frames, and I was like, how much are they? And they were like, not just a normal price, but a better than normal price. And it really. I realized, like, I don't need anything else. I just need Warby Parker.

[Travis McElroy]

Is that your full confession, Griffin?

[Griffin McElroy]

That's my full confession is that I was tempted. I was tempt. Shit. I was tempted by the fruit of another.

[Travis McElroy]

I did him.

[Griffin McElroy]

I was tempted by the fruit of another. But then I found out that there actually wasn't any good fruit. And the fruit that was there, the wrinkled, pruny, shitty fruit, cost $1,000.

[Travis McElroy]

What's that? There's traffic.

[Griffin McElroy]

Just tell me to wait until the end of the episode, because I need to get this. Actually, I'm doing besties right after this. If you could have them circle back around around 12:30, that would be great for you.

[Travis McElroy]

Want, like, a coffee or anything, Griffin?

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, that'd be great. I'm rocking the Santiago extra wide. I really like this frame. This is $95. These glasses.

[Travis McElroy]

Wow.

[Griffin McElroy]

Can you believe that? And it's like a dual color. It's like tortoiseshell up top, but then, like, blue, like, baby blue to compliment the old the peepers. I got another pair coming, more Buddy Holly style. Very excited for those to come in. I got sunglasses from Warby Parker. Genuinely, like, really great designs that look really good, and the price is just fucking unbeatable, gang. It's so, so good, and you should be using it, too. Also, every time they sell a pair of glasses, they give a pair to someone in need. That's like, they don't say, hey, someone in need. Do you got a thousand dollars? They just give them the pair, like, no questions asked. They've distributed over 20 million pairs of glasses through the Buy a pair, give a pair program.

[Justin McElroy]

Dang Warby Parker.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's all I need right now. Buy one pair of glasses and get 20% off any additional [e-mail] mybrother that's 20% off any additional pairs when you purchase one [e-mail] MyBrother In 2026, our

[Justin McElroy]

comedy podcast Saw Bones is one of the most reputable sources for medical information. Does that make me feel great? No. No, me neither. But I do like to think we're doing our part in making sure that we're fighting the pseudoscientific misinformation that has pervaded modern society.

[Guest or Musical Interlude]

Yeah, but we're.

[Justin McElroy]

We're doing our part over here on Sawbones. Every week, a marital tour of misguided medicine. It's not all serious stuff. We're still getting into all the wild, weird ways we used to try to heal people over the years. But we're also trying to keep tabs on the evolving situation. Yeah, we can talk about drinking raw milk and eating mummies. It's Sawbones. That's right, it's Sawbones. It's every Tuesday, and it's on maximumfun.org or wherever you get a podcast these days.

[Guest or Musical Interlude]

All right.

[Griffin McElroy]

On Judge John Hodgman, the courtroom is

[Justin McElroy]

fake, but the disputes are real. Brian would say I'm the Gumby of this family.

[Travis McElroy]

He's just not claiming to be.

[Griffin McElroy]

Gumby is an un Gumby like claim.

[Justin McElroy]

No, it's just Gumby and I being our authentic selves. So what's your complaint? Too many sauces.

[Griffin McElroy]

There are no foods on which to put the sauces.

[Justin McElroy]

Have we named all the sauces on the top shelf yet?

[Guest or Musical Interlude]

Not.

[Griffin McElroy]

Not even close.

[Justin McElroy]

You economize when it comes to pants.

[Griffin McElroy]

Truly, it's not about the cleanliness of the pants.

[Justin McElroy]

Well, why isn't it? This is what I want to know. Judge John Hodgman, Fake court, weird cases, real justice. On MaximumFun.org, youTube, and everywhere you get podcasts. I recently began working as an educator at a wildlife rehabilitation center museum in the Bay Area. Eventually I will. That's an interesting combination because I think that if the rehab doesn't work out, you can just stuff them and be like, dang. Remember hawks? Yeah, sure.

[Griffin McElroy]

The museum part of it. A zoo museum. There's a pipeline there that no one's talking about.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, it's a very like that uses like all the parts, you know, Nothing goes to waste with that.

[Griffin McElroy]

No. Yeah, it's a batter.

[Travis McElroy]

It's unconnected. And it's like we have all these beautiful paintings and these fucking hawks tear them to shreds. What were we thinking?

[Justin McElroy]

Eventually, I will have the opportunity to train with one of the raptors. Birds of prey. And I'm really hoping to be paired with a one eyed hawk named Odin. When I told this to my boss, she immediately said, oh, nobody trains with Odin.

[Travis McElroy]

He.

[Justin McElroy]

He's too grumpy and unruly. Brothers. How do I convince my boss to let me live out my childhood dreams of developing a free Willy esque relationship with his grouchy yet lovable hawk? That's from bird brain in the bay.

[Travis McElroy]

It's been a while since I've seen Free Willy, but I don't remember it being, oh, Free Willy. He's grumpy and angry.

[Griffin McElroy]

I don't know.

[Guest or Musical Interlude]

Yeah, yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

No one fucks with Free Willy.

[Travis McElroy]

That guy.

[Griffin McElroy]

I am glad there was a part of this question where the question asker said, I'm really hoping to be paired with a one eyed hawk named Odin. I am very glad that they had a one eyed hawk named Odin at the rehabilitation center museum at which you work. Otherwise you would be about to come to your boss with a completely unreasonable request. We need a hawk.

[Justin McElroy]

We train a one eyed hawk named Odin. Well, we don't have that. We don't have that.

[Travis McElroy]

Well, I'm willing to put in the work.

[Griffin McElroy]

Find a hawk, get nasty. The next part's gonna be rename a klutzy one. I mean, I don't know what to tell you, man.

[Travis McElroy]

Hope for the best. Hey, start wearing an eyepatch in a show. Solidarity.

[Justin McElroy]

You think they gave the hawk an eyepatch?

[Griffin McElroy]

I think that'd be cool. I think it'd be nice to give the hawk a little eye patch.

[Travis McElroy]

Well, when they're doing the falconry, they put a little winder on it to start off with, right? And then removing. Ha. Go. So this would just be half as much.

[Griffin McElroy]

Now I will say if that would affect a hawk in the same way that it affects humans. I do think you need a certain amount of depth perception when diving downward at the ground at 75 miles an hour to scoop up a little field mouse or something.

[Travis McElroy]

You'll be his eyes like in how to train your dragon.

[Griffin McElroy]

Stop, stop, stop, stop.

[Travis McElroy]

Odin.

[Justin McElroy]

Stop, stop, stop, stop.

[Travis McElroy]

To go down.

[Griffin McElroy]

Slow down.

[Justin McElroy]

The mouse is down.

[Travis McElroy]

Go down.

[Justin McElroy]

The mouse is down.

[Griffin McElroy]

Down, down, down, down, down. Not that down. Oh, fuck. Fuck.

[Justin McElroy]

We'll train a no eyed hawk named Odin.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'd like to train a one eyed, no boned deboned hawk.

[Justin McElroy]

Oh, can take the talons out too. Fuck, that hurts.

[Griffin McElroy]

Shit.

[Justin McElroy]

Shit. Take his little fucking nails out. God damn Odin.

[Guest or Musical Interlude]

Shit.

[Travis McElroy]

I'd like to train a penguin. I want to train a really nice

[Justin McElroy]

salamander that can fly.

[Griffin McElroy]

Do you know what this is? I don't want to be a pessimist. I try not to embody that energy in my life. But this reminds me of every time I pass by the sword and the stone at Magic Kingdom and there's a part of me that's like. They don't give it to guys like me. I Understand?

[Travis McElroy]

No, no, no, no.

[Griffin McElroy]

And I'm not gonna build a whole platform around that. I don't have a type 5 I'm gonna do about how they don't give it out to guys like me. But I do still have the thought of, like, what if I am?

[Justin McElroy]

Y', all, we gotta be careful when we're wearing black T shirts because like, anything can and will be used clipped against.

[Griffin McElroy]

Sure.

[Justin McElroy]

You gotta be careful.

[Griffin McElroy]

Okay, well, I'll get low so you can't see. Let me raise my desk up. I see the sword in the stone and I think, what if I'm the special chosen boy for today? And I never have. I've only done it like once or twice before I realized, like, nah, I'm just embarrassing myself. I think if this works out for you, life altering life defining achievement.

[Justin McElroy]

Wow.

[Griffin McElroy]

I tamed the skies. I tamed the one eyed hawk named Odin. He was too surly and unruly for anyone else to fuck around with, but now he is my familiar partner. He's my partner.

[Travis McElroy]

I think that's important. Tame. I would take tame out of it.

[Griffin McElroy]

Take tame out of it entirely. Odin's not gonna like it. If Odin hears you say that, the margin of error here is non existent. If you fuck up once in front of Odin, it's done. He is not going to forgive you for that.

[Travis McElroy]

You're gonna need to treat Odin as an equal, which is a problem when it comes to ordering lunch and you take turns and like one day you get tacos and then the next day you're eating moles. That's gonna be a problem. But that's the kind of commitment, that's the commitment required.

[Justin McElroy]

I think you're missing the step where you have to get the boss on board first. Because if you just open up the cage and Odin flies away and you're like, well, shit, now you're gonna get in trouble. You gotta have your boss's permission. I think first you gotta win Odin over with just little treats when no one's looking. And then you go to the boss and you say, boss, good news. Watch how much Odin likes me. And they'll say, good job, Dustin, I'm proud of you. But we have had complaints from the other staff that Odin has become thick and swollen with Vienna sausages.

[Griffin McElroy]

Leaden, they've called him.

[Justin McElroy]

He's become Leaden. He no longer takes disguise because he's become so swollen with the Vienna sausages. And I was like, I don't know anything about that. And they say, have you seen the

[Travis McElroy]

cans in Your car.

[Griffin McElroy]

He smokes cloves constantly.

[Justin McElroy]

Every day. I give him 15 cigarettes. I've gotten the hawk addicted to clove cigarettes. I started out hot boxing him. Yeah, Some bitch won't smoke him himself. I'm trying to work it into the show. Honestly, boss, you could have. Forget the. Forget the museum, forget the conservatory. This is the all singing, all dancing, all smoking Odin show. He blows this one flies through him.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah, you're gonna love it.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's awesome. He can talk. He can only say cigarettes.

[Justin McElroy]

He doesn't fly. He says two things. He doesn't fly.

[Griffin McElroy]

He doesn't fly. He doesn't hunt.

[Travis McElroy]

He goes squam.

[Griffin McElroy]

And he also goes cigarettes.

[Travis McElroy]

And he goes. The kids are gonna love it.

[Justin McElroy]

The kids will love it. I'll tell you.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'll tell you. What worked for my man Ash Ketchum when Pikachu didn't want to play along with him and become his familiar, is that. Then Pikachu got fucking jumped by a bunch of spearows, maybe even a fearow, and got fucked up. And then my man Ash had to steal Misty's bike to get this little guy to a Pokemon center before he actually died. And from that moment on, Pikachu was like, that's my duty. Save my life. I would do anything for him. I'm ride or die. You need to save Odin's life. And I don't see a way to organically have that happen without you also causing the thing that happens that ends up.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah, you're gonna have to hire some birds to attack. And might I suggest maybe cut out a little bit of the middle man. Just step in and kick the other birds asses. Don't wait for them to kick Odin's ass and then save him when he's surrounded. You step in, the two of you go back to back.

[Justin McElroy]

Cool.

[Travis McElroy]

And you kick all these birds asses.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

I don't suppose it would be ethical to promise him a cybernetic Hawkeye, would it? Like, if you like, I could if you cooperate with me. I know some of the greatest scientists in Austria, and they've been working at the forefront of like, hawk technology. Maybe we can help you out.

[Travis McElroy]

I worry it's a bit short sighted.

[Griffin McElroy]

You're not gonna get anything from me for that.

[Justin McElroy]

Okay.

[Travis McElroy]

Because then eventually Odin will expect you to deliver on that. He's gonna ask you about it a lot.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah. You can only sort of dangle that over him for so long before he's gonna start asking.

[Justin McElroy]

It feels mean. It feels mean. Now that I've.

[Griffin McElroy]

It Feels mean.

[Travis McElroy]

Give him your eye.

[Griffin McElroy]

Oh, that's cool.

[Justin McElroy]

That's cool.

[Griffin McElroy]

It's not gonna be the right size.

[Travis McElroy]

Four is good.

[Griffin McElroy]

That'd be cool if I saw a hawk with one human eye. That's a I'm ready for. If he rolls up to my spot, I'm gonna say, what's the prophecy, dude? Like, you've got a prophecy if you got one big bulging human eye. You got a prophecy or something?

[Guest or Musical Interlude]

You.

[Justin McElroy]

You want to be the president of my hoa? What's your deal, man?

[Travis McElroy]

I'm in. Whatever you're doing, I'm in.

[Justin McElroy]

I'm in.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yes.

[Justin McElroy]

I want to Munch Squad. I want to Munch Squad. Welcome to Munch Squad's podcast Within Podcast Profiling, the latest and greatest in brand eating. And this week, we're gonna be talking stray kids.

[Griffin McElroy]

Stray kids?

[Justin McElroy]

Yep.

[Griffin McElroy]

What did they do?

[Justin McElroy]

We're gonna be talking about Pump Up Kicks. We're gonna be talking about stray kids because BBQ Chicken is launching a new Feel Crunch Chicken in partnership with K

[Griffin McElroy]

Pop star Felix Feel Crunch. Okay, so.

[Justin McElroy]

So it is called Feel Crunch Chicken is the name of the new menu item, which is.

[Griffin McElroy]

Effie.

[Justin McElroy]

Let me check.

[Griffin McElroy]

Good.

[Justin McElroy]

I like it.

[Travis McElroy]

It's good.

[Justin McElroy]

Feel Crunch Chicken is good. I like to say it. And I would order.

[Travis McElroy]

Play on words, Felix. But it's Feel Crunch.

[Justin McElroy]

I have no idea. It's launching a new menu item. And this is lowercase B, lowercase B, period, lowercase q. That's the name of the place. When I say bbq, I'm talking about a chain. Okay.

[Griffin McElroy]

Right.

[Justin McElroy]

They're launching a new item, Feel Crunch Chicken, in celebration of its new partnership with Felix, a member of the K Pop, the global K pop group, Stray Kids.

[Travis McElroy]

Can I say I love the wording of that? As though the partnership and the chicken sandwich are separate thing. We've partnered with him, and in celebration of that partnership, we're putting out a sandwich.

[Justin McElroy]

This isn't like. Yeah, that's exactly right, Travis. Whatever we're gonna do in this partnership, this is more of a smashing the champagne bottle on the ship.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

On the partnership.

[Travis McElroy]

He actually has purchased a couple franchises that he's going to run, and we're really excited about it. So we put out a sandwich.

[Justin McElroy]

Now let's. Do you guys want to learn about. This is kind of like interactive. Do you want to learn about the chicken or Felix? Which do you want to learn about first? You're going to learn about both. What do you want?

[Griffin McElroy]

I feel like learning about Felix first would be much more.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

Give me some important I know about chicken. I know chicken.

[Justin McElroy]

You know chicken. So Felix is a member of Stray Kids and has been with the group since its inception, I believe so. Felix appeared on the MNET survival show Stray Kids, a show which ultimately allowed him to debut as a Stray Kids member. He's a member of the main dance line of the group, which is a subunit currently referred to by the group and its fandom as the Dance Rachael, which is a play on the name of stray kids production subunit 3 Racha. Now, I will say that he is a really well known influencer in the world of fashion. He has cultivated an experimental image, according to Wikipedia, embracing color and accessories including bags, jewelry, glasses and platform sneakers. He has partnered with Louis Vuitton and a lot of other big name fashion. Even made his debut during Paris fashion week in 2024 as a Runway model

[Travis McElroy]

eating a big old sandwich.

[Griffin McElroy]

Big sloppy.

[Justin McElroy]

Now I'm gonna tell you about this chicken, guys. This new flavor is made with a sweet and savory caramelized onion sauce and then topped with golden crunchy flakes, creating a unique combination of flavor and texture.

[Travis McElroy]

Flakes of what?

[Griffin McElroy]

Flakes of. Yeah, you can't just say a texture of flakes.

[Travis McElroy]

A color, a texture and flakes.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, guys, tell me what the flakes are from.

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, guys, I know.

[Travis McElroy]

Is it gold?

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, guys, I don't know. It's out there though. You can get it. They began a soft launch of Feel Crunch Chicken at the select company operated locations across the US on July 7th. And then the new menu item is officially launched on July 16th.

[Griffin McElroy]

Okay, it's there.

[Justin McElroy]

A longtime fan of Korea's finest fried chicken, Felix has often raved about BBQ Chicken's menu items, including the crispy Crunch Butter Chicken and the sweet and savory Jamaica Soteok Mana Chicken. Now he's excited to help bring beloved Korean flavors like Feel Crunch Chicken to the US for fans to experience for the very first time. As global interest in Korean culture continues to grow beyond streaming screens and onto fast casual menus across the country, BBQ Chicken wanted us to find an opportunity to celebrate its authentic space in both, said BBQ Chicken. US Spokesperson. Felix has a genuine obsession with BBQ Chicken, which makes him the perfect fit for this brand ambassador role.

[Griffin McElroy]

Have we heard from Felix yet? Because so far it sounds like just a lot of people talking about how stoked Felix.

[Justin McElroy]

They swear. They swear. It says, quote, Feel Crunch Chicken was actually handpicked by Felix himself and it highlights different elements of his favorite BBQ chicken. Flavors. We're excited for his fans and other BBQ chicken fans to taste it for themselves.

[Griffin McElroy]

Does it say in there Felix would say all this shit himself, but his mouth is just perpetually full of our great crunchy chicken. He can't talk right. He can't come to the phone right now because he's slamming a chicken sandwich.

[Justin McElroy]

It was available at my US location, but it wasn't on the physical menu. I had to show them the ad on the website and ask if they had it. They had a picture of Felix on the wall. It certainly was crunchy.

[Griffin McElroy]

What are you reading right now?

[Travis McElroy]

Just the reviews.

[Justin McElroy]

Just the reviews? Just the reviews of the product. I just had this today. It was so delicious. My family loves spicy food and had an amazing kick. Very crunchy. Say the reviews.

[Griffin McElroy]

Crunchy.

[Justin McElroy]

Extremely crunchy.

[Travis McElroy]

I put a link here in the chat to an image that might be the most clear example of photoshopping. Like these two separate entities of Felix and the plate of chicken. For you see, they have placed it in such a way that makes it seem as though his hand has been swallowed by the plate of chicken.

[Griffin McElroy]

Like his hand or his hand is turned into it, like he's the teeth, like he's the Terminator, the silver terminator who can shapeshift his body. He's turned his hand into a big plate of the crunchiest, no joke, the crunchiest chicken I've ever seen.

[Justin McElroy]

I have a picture of Felix with the chicken. This is the promotional image that was shared with this story. So this is Felix swears he likes the chicken.

[Griffin McElroy]

He swears he likes the chicken.

[Justin McElroy]

Swears he likes the chicken.

[Travis McElroy]

The wink makes it seem like I'm not really eating this.

[Griffin McElroy]

I don't really like chicken here.

[Travis McElroy]

It also seems like they're all trying to get a clip, like a noise

[Griffin McElroy]

of the crunch of the crunch. Yeah, the one of a kind crunch, feel, crunch.

[Justin McElroy]

I gotta stop talking about fried chicken this close to lunch. I feel like I've started to get in this groove where it's like I make myself so hungry and it's like 11 o' clock and I've still gotta

[Travis McElroy]

do, you know, if you wanna do a follow up. I ate the popcorn chicken. I ordered it and ate it right after the thing. Oh, yes, okay. But Justin is correct. It wasn't the popcorn chicken of our youth.

[Griffin McElroy]

Was that kfc?

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

Who?

[Justin McElroy]

Kfc.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Travis McElroy]

It lacked any kind of variety. It lacked the like, this has been fried in such a way that it's terrible for you kind of feeling that I crave.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Travis McElroy]

And I got some hot wings in there too, which I used to love. No flavor. All chemical heat.

[Griffin McElroy]

Nothing's good.

[Travis McElroy]

Nothing's good anymore.

[Justin McElroy]

The brand partnership with Felix will continue beyond the launch as he will serve of the face of the brand.

[Griffin McElroy]

He will serve as the face of the brand.

[Justin McElroy]

He's the face of the. He's the face of it. If you go to BBQ chicken, there's a big picture of Felix and then it says, this is my chicken.

[Griffin McElroy]

I made it.

[Justin McElroy]

This is how these things start. By the way. In 50 years, no one will remember stray kids. No one will remember their music. All they'll remember is chicken magnate Felix. It'll be Felix's bbq. And people are like, did you know this guy used to be in K pop before he became the world's biggest chicken guy? It's true. It's how it happens. Look at Kenny Rogers. You know he used to sing.

[Griffin McElroy]

That's crazy. Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Before he started roasting chicken.

[Travis McElroy]

Look at the colonel. He used to be in the army, I think.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Look at Randy Moss into juice. Did you know he used to play football before he started running a juice place?

[Griffin McElroy]

Those are the only two things he's known for.

[Justin McElroy]

Look at Coach Bobby Pruitt's Steakhouse in Huntington, West Virginia. Did you know he was also the coach of the Marshall University football team? And not just the runner of Coach Bobby Pruitt Steakhouse.

[Travis McElroy]

Did you know that Papa Shaq used to be a basketball player, not just a pizza man?

[Griffin McElroy]

Well, he was an actor first and then he was a. And then he was a basketball player.

[Travis McElroy]

Oh, yes. I always forget about his turn on the stage, trotting the boards.

[Griffin McElroy]

How about another question?

[Justin McElroy]

Yeah, absolutely. One of my close friends works at a fancy restaurant as a server. I recently hung out with her and her co worker, the dang sous chef, who mentioned they needed a line cook and offer on site training. Naturally, I asked if I could drop off a resume for the position. But before I could even print out my resume, I was told I'd be staging. Staging, Stodging. Stodging in the kitchen.

[Travis McElroy]

I learned about it from the bear.

[Justin McElroy]

I believe it's the bar.

[Travis McElroy]

The bar.

[Justin McElroy]

I've only had one cook job at a failing sports bar before this. How do I show up and keep their expectations proportional to the amount of experience I have while also expressing genuine interest and willingness to learn? I really need the money. I got laid off my last job and this 2025 Civic won't pay for itself. That's from Lily Location Hunter in Las Vegas. I love this vacation hunter.

[Travis McElroy]

You. Often people will be like, how do I impress them? And what you've done is said, how do I keep their expectations proportional to the amount of skill that I have while also showing that I'm dedicated to getting better.

[Justin McElroy]

And I.

[Travis McElroy]

We can handle that.

[Justin McElroy]

It's interesting. I hope you get this job. But you do have to understand that this particular technique was developed to catch people like you. Like, this is the thing you like. The reason they do it. Like this is to keep.

[Griffin McElroy]

You were wise to ride us. You identified the catch.

[Justin McElroy]

Because I don't know them. I only know you. But this is why it's like this. Right. So you have to do it because they want to try to. I think what they're trying to get is somebody who can't do it and who knows how to do it. Maybe.

[Travis McElroy]

But you run the risk of getting a really experienced person who's stuck in the ways of. Like, this is how I learned it in my old job. It doesn't fit in. You can come in just a rough lump of clay. Right. And you're like, I don't know what I'm doing. And that's perfect shape me. I'll learn it however you want me to. Cause I know nothing except like potato skins and like onion rings. And if you want those.

[Justin McElroy]

Nothing to unlearn.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah, I could do that. But no bad habits.

[Justin McElroy]

No habits.

[Travis McElroy]

No habits at all.

[Griffin McElroy]

Isn't. Do you get paid for staging? I thought that was just sort of like an on the job training.

[Justin McElroy]

It's a volunteer position.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah. So I mean the learning that is going to happen there will be your only compensation. So if you think about it that way.

[Justin McElroy]

So everybody in the kitchen gets paid except for the stage.

[Travis McElroy]

But yeah, you don't Stodge.

[Griffin McElroy]

I think some places pay stodgy, but from what I understand, it's like a. It's like the lowest, lowest sort of position because you're just kind of learning. You're learning the ropes. You're not.

[Travis McElroy]

And if the bear is correct, it's like a week. It's not like he learned.

[Griffin McElroy]

And you learn everything you need to know.

[Justin McElroy]

God, they got to find a lot of people Stagos. Then it's like 52 stodges a week, a year. I mean, there's a lot of stuff.

[Travis McElroy]

Well, you're staging to then hire them full time, if I understand correctly.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah.

[Travis McElroy]

Or they're just on the job training because another restaurant has sent them to Stodge.

[Griffin McElroy]

Can you show up the first day of Staging. You've got bandages all over both your hands. You say I'm using it. I was playing Mario party with the

[Travis McElroy]

boys with my one eyed friend Odin. He got real pissed.

[Griffin McElroy]

I did the thing with the analog stick too hard and now I have terrible blisters all over my hands. That way when you do, if you do a bad job cooking, you can say like, if it weren't for these Mario Party blisters, you could say like, just wait till. Wait till I get my cast off. And then all. And now then I'm gonna really rock ass. You might be let go by that point, but at least you have sort of plausible deniability.

[Travis McElroy]

And you know, the fact that they just straight up were like, don't even need a resume. Come stash. They think you're cool. Right. Like a big part of getting any job is seeming like someone that people would wanna work with. Right. They wouldn't have invited you to come sage if they weren't interested in hiring you.

[Justin McElroy]

Now that desire may be somewhat diminished when they observe that you cannot do the job you're being hired to do. Sure, it's a good start. There's worse foundations to build from.

[Griffin McElroy]

Maybe you've got skills from your job working at a failing sports bar. They've gotten too fucking highfalutin. They keep reaching for that Michelin star. They're not getting it because there's something missing in the kitchen. And do you know what's missing in the kitchen? Is heart and a love of. And a love of the fun of. A love of the fun of food. You show up, you're like, what about buffalo? You guys forgot about buffalo wings. You forgot about mozzarella sticks and dipping sticks. Yeah, yeah. And then they're like, let's. What if we incorporated our high concept, high touch, high cuisine technique. But we did it with some mozzarella sticks and buffalo wings.

[Travis McElroy]

And we put out a bowl of like old nuts that people can eat while we're making their food. And without being asked, I went ahead and cut up all of these celery and carrot sticks.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yes.

[Travis McElroy]

So you can just put that in ramekins with ranch.

[Justin McElroy]

I got little pre proportioned baggies. So I just throw them at people as they go through the chicken line.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

I'm renaming the place by the way, to chicken line. Hope you like it.

[Guest or Musical Interlude]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

Cool.

[Travis McElroy]

I own this bar now. This is the weirdest bar rescue. It's not a bar. Okay?

[Griffin McElroy]

Not a bar. It's not.

[Justin McElroy]

It's been undercover boss this whole time. I've been your boss.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah.

[Justin McElroy]

Did you know? No. That's not how Undercover Boss works. Sadly, I think it is. I think Undercover Boss.

[Griffin McElroy]

I'm pretty sure I do. I've never seen it, but I do think that's how it works.

[Travis McElroy]

I've been your boss the whole time now.

[Justin McElroy]

Thank you so much for listening to our podcast. We hope you've enjoyed yourself, hope you learned something, hope you grew a little bit as a person. Thank you so much for sticking with us. Hey, listen, if you like video games or Me and Griffin, the Besties are video game podcasts that I used to be on. Griffin continues to craft the Besties Live on Broadway is happening October 9th at the town hall in New York City. You can get your tickets now at Bit Ly Besties on Broadway.

[Griffin McElroy]

Come see us. We're going to talk about games.

[Travis McElroy]

Also, I'm going to be at Gen Con this weekend. Yeah. As you're listening to this, I'm doing Dungeon Crawler Carl actual play role playing game Friday night with a lot of really cool people, including Matt Deniman who writes it, and Jeff Hayes who does the voice work for the audiobooks. And so I'm gonna be in that Sunday morning. I'm gonna guest as an NPC in 20 sided tavern. I'm doing a bunch of other stuff. We'll post the schedule and everything, but come see me. Come hang out at gencon. What are you reading there?

[Griffin McElroy]

Oh, you've caught me reading the Adventure Zone Story and Song graphic novel, the last entry in our adaptation of the Adventure Zone Balance saga that is out now and you can get at bookstores where fine books are sold or at theadventurezonecomic.com this book is the biggest book ever written and has more pictures in it than any book ever illustrated.

[Travis McElroy]

That's true.

[Griffin McElroy]

Carrie Peach, who is at the height of her power and I'm so proud of it and I kick so much ass. If you like Taz, if you like Taz Balance, you gotta read it. You simply must. It's the best thing we've ever done. So proud of it. Hey, we're gonna be doing Clubhouse next week also when you're hearing this. So join us on Tuesday and Every Tuesday on YouTube at the McRoy family, we do Clubhouse and we also do a bunch of game stuff with the Super McElroy Brothers product and we all do a bunch of different individual streams. Justin's doing a retrospective of Tim Curry. Travis, are you still playing Timberborn?

[Travis McElroy]

Trav? Well, after this I'm gonna stream some Stardew Valley. I got a chill game sesh going.

[Griffin McElroy]

Kick ass. I'm keeping a catalog of every video game I've ever played called Every Game Ever on Fridays. So we stream a lot. Follow the McRoy family on YouTube or McElroy Entertainment System on Instagram. You can find out when all that stuff is coming. We also got merch [e-mail] Travis is a beautiful little butterfly.

[Travis McElroy]

I have a 3D printed butterfly that I can throw. It's very fragile.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah, it's cute. I don't think it'll make a great. Do you have something cool you can throw it at that it'll make like a more resonant sort of sound. Yeah. So put the iHeartRadio award right next to the microphone.

[Travis McElroy]

Yeah.

[Griffin McElroy]

Like as close to the mic as you can get it.

[Justin McElroy]

And then dink it off the.

[Griffin McElroy]

And dink it off that. Yeah, yeah, but can you lower your microphone so it's like right next to the trophy?

[Travis McElroy]

But I still need room to throw it. Okay, that's good.

[Griffin McElroy]

Yeah. No, it's a small window, but you got it. Here we go. Yeah, you fucking completely missed. Do it again. I need that dink.

[Travis McElroy]

It turned in the air.

[Griffin McElroy]

I need the dink, Travis.

[Travis McElroy]

Where did it go?

[Griffin McElroy]

There it is. God, this is a problem.

[Travis McElroy]

I'll do it from under the desk.

[Griffin McElroy]

Okay, but throw it hard though. I need to hear that. I need the dink, Griffin.

[Travis McElroy]

Y' all think I know?

[Guest or Musical Interlude]

Do you?

[Griffin McElroy]

There we go. There's that dank. That was more of a dank. That was cool.

[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 mother, me. Kiss your dad square on the lips.

[Guest or Musical Interlude]

My life, 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 you My life, It's better with you.

[Justin McElroy]

Maximum Fun.

[Griffin McElroy]

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