"You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes" — Milk Carton Kids (Kenneth Pattengale & Joey Ryan)

Date: November 27, 2024
Episode Theme:
An unfiltered, rollicking conversation with Milk Carton Kids duo Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan, mixing irreverent banter, deep thoughts, personal stories, and the mechanics behind musical and comedic collaboration. The episode also touches on their new Christmas album, "Christmas in a Minor Key," their career highlights, existential musings, and a generous dose of Milk Carton Kids–style back-and-forths.

Episode Overview

Pete Holmes hosts Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan together for the first time on "You Made It Weird," delivering a signature episode of disarming humor, friendship dynamics, and surprising philosophical depth. The episode covers topics from the oddities of human experience (including bathroom humor), music and collaboration, the influence of the Coen Brothers, existential questions, spiritual inquiry, and the existential weight of Fig Newtons. Expect delightfully weird stories and inside jokes—and a thoughtful riff on spirituality, meaning, and what it means to "be here now."

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Milk Carton Kids: Banter, Bit Crafting, and the Art of Duo Comedy

• Opening Roasts and Dynamics:

  • Pete and Kenneth roast Joey (who arrives late) with comical metaphors:
    • "He looks like what God would start with and then make it into a person." – Pete (04:29)
    • Longstanding joke comparing Joey to a Fig Newton—a cookie that's "an acquired taste" and important for the digestive career.
  • The banter about pooping and Fig Newtons morphs into a surprisingly deep consideration of the longevity of basic human acts (06:05+).

• Duo Rules for On-stage Banter:

  • Joey explains: "You can't run the bit by Kenneth in advance. It ruins the freshness." (15:20)
  • Kenneth adds: "It ruins our ability to actually perform." (15:28)
  • Both discuss the necessity for spontaneity in their stage bits, drawing a comparison to Jackie Gleason's approach on "The Honeymooners"—some performers are better without rehearsal (15:40-16:10).

• Crafting Live Interplay:

  • The value of keeping comedy feeling "in the air" and not scripted.
  • Pete relates: "If I run a bit by somebody in the green room, it's dead. You should have run it out there. That's why you're there." (16:30)

2. Comedy, Collaboration, and Influence

• About Performing Bits and Giving Notes:

  • Joey’s penchant for doing entire bits by other comedians—often in their voices—much to Kenneth’s mix of annoyance and admiration (20:08).
  • Pete, Kenneth, and Joey share inside stories about being asked to "give notes"—leading to cross-wired showbiz misunderstandings (50:04 onward; 55:29).

• Coen Brothers Connections:

  • The Milk Carton Kids' involvement in the Coen Brothers/T-Bone Burnett event, "Another Day, Another Time," propelled their career—serving as an example of effortless, authentic interaction leading to big breaks (27:21-28:53).
  • Friendship with Joel and Ethan Coen explained—how writers (in film and music) work and joke about being in the top director lists (29:16-30:14).
  • The pair’s comedy bit in the Showtime documentary: "We’ve never heard of Simon and Garfunkel ... we’ve heard of Simon and Garfield"—highlighting both their comedic and self-effacing side (33:41).

3. Existential Riffs: Religion, Spirituality, and "Be Here Now"

• Philosophy of Not Knowing:

  • Extended exploration of how and why existential questions often lead to an experience of "so what," a surrender to the present, and the limits of seeking (118:17+).

• Enlightenment & Spiritual Humor:

  • Pete: "You can settle down and let the sediment of your mind relax ... the mind doesn't get to ever say, 'I am enlightened.' It doesn't ever get that satisfaction." (120:18)
  • Joey: "All of this ... has totally led me to a place of just ... a be here now kind of ... Chop wood, carry water." (122:19)
  • Paradox of seeking ecstasy or enlightenment—it's not a "good feeling that just never goes away." (123:14)

4. Peak Stories & Sky-High Weirdness

• Ghosts, UFOs, and the Boundaries of Experience:
  • Kenneth’s striking story of encountering a glowing orb in the snowy woods near Yosemite (110:59–112:04).
    • "This nondescript white orb just emanating energy ... hovering above the snow." (111:29)
  • Lively exchange on whether phenomena are ghosts or UFOs—offering their competing pet theories and calling out human folly in "drawing the distinction" on mysteries we can’t explain (113:06–115:00).

5. Health, Addiction, Change & Mortality

• Kenneth’s Cancer and Addictions:

  • Kenneth opens up about having thyroid cancer, giving up cigarettes and drinking, and how the surgery flipped a switch in his brain—"In a moment, it was turned off" (82:48).
  • Discussion of how trauma or intense experience (even surgery) can "rewire the brain"—and Pete’s parallel to old-school Tony Robbins smoking cessation methods (83:24-84:18).

• Career Lessons:

  • The Milk Carton Kids discuss their relationship with musical instruments—Kenneth’s collection, Roy Huskey Jr.'s legendary bass compulsion, and the mythic status certain life choices can have (64:16+).
  • Songwriting camp stories: "If we were bad people, we could start a cult." (87:48)

6. The Importance of Not Taking Things Too Seriously

• Faith, Atheism, and Indifference:

  • Joey and Kenneth’s differing spiritual backgrounds—Joey raised Jewish, Kenneth less concerned: "Actually my religion is just that I don't care." (131:30)
  • Pete: "If there is something called God ... its greatest creation would be someone who's like, 'There might be something like that. I don't care.'" (131:53)

• Making Music Beyond Meaning:

  • Singing religious lyrics—or even nonsense Simlish language for The Sims video game—is just about making beauty, regardless of 'meaning'. "To me [singing Jesus-y Christmas lyrics] was a lot like singing the Simlish lyrics." (133:41)

Notable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• On how being unfiltered helps creativity:
  "When I realized my parents would never listen to this podcast, then I was like, I can be free." — Pete (10:19)

• On creative rules:
  "You can't run the bit by Kenneth in advance ... Kenneth is way better if he doesn't know the bit on the ride down." — Joey (15:05)

• On Coen Brothers dialogue:
  "I don't see a lot of money here ... To me, it's so much meaner ... he's taking him as his entire..." — Joey (26:31)

• On what draws people to enlightenment or transformation:
  "You can't see white snow through orange-tinted glasses." — Pete (123:57)

• On transcendence and not-knowing:
  "All of this ... has totally led me to a place of just ... be here now ... Chop wood, carry water." — Joey (122:24)

• On ghosts and weirdness:
  "Somewhere in our mountain cabin there's a stack of like 20 different versions, first person accounts of this orb that we saw." — Kenneth (111:54)

• On being content:
  "I'm not wanting for anything anymore. Which is ... I think what everybody's after." — Kenneth (68:17)

• On their approach to meaning and music:
  "My experience of singing the ... very churchy, Jesus-y Christmas songs ... was a lot like singing the Simlish lyrics." — Joey (133:41)

Memorable Bits & In-Jokes

• Running Gags:

  • Pete, Kenneth, and Joey's endless riffing on Seinfeld, impressions, and comedy theory ("Rear-view mirror—All mirrors are rear-view!")
  • Banter on Fig Newtons and the health/fiber virtues of childhood snacks (04:29–06:04)
  • Joking about Joey’s lateness and "face types"—early face, late face, gatekeeper to the city of beautiful women (02:53–09:11)
  • The phrase "calling in your chips" and dozens of malapropisms, manufacturing inside jokes in real time (56:58, 58:16, 140:13)

• Meta-moments:

  • "I think podcasting is the lowest form of art." — Kenneth (106:53)
  • Discussion of stand-up, podcasting, and the value of art & editing (107:04–108:08)

• Songwriting Oddities:

  • The story of recording their track in Simlish for The Sims, with Pete riffing about how it sounds "racist" (129:34)
  • Closing questions about reincarnation—Kenneth’s wish "to come back as a song," Pete as a "big wave," Joey expressing preference for "something completely different" next time (139:22–140:55)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Riffing on Joey, lateness, and friendship — 02:32–09:11
• Rules of Milk Carton Kids Comedy/Banter — 14:21–16:45
• Coen Brothers' influence, Inside Llewyn Davis — 21:44–28:48
• Joey’s story about giving notes for Pete's show — 55:29–57:10
• Kenneth's story: giving feedback on a Coen cut — 50:04–53:09
• Ghost sighting—Yosemite glowing orb — 110:59–112:04
• Philosophy, contentment, and addiction — 68:02–76:21
• Existential wrap-up, enlightenment, spiritual surrender — 118:16–123:44
• Simlish/Michigan in The Sims; Christmas music & belief — 127:38–134:48

Final Thoughts

This episode delivers all the promises of "You Made It Weird": catching the elusive weirdness in all things—fame, family, poop, philosophy, nostalgia, and the physics-defying craft of writing, performing, and living as a team. Pete, Joey, and Kenneth spiral through bits, insights, and existential digressions with effortless warmth, showing—perhaps most essentially—that meaning is forged not just in big moments, but in all the weird, winding tangents we take together.

Listen if you like:

• Musical comedy and behind-the-scenes stories;
• Irreverent but earnest exploration of meaning and mindfulness;
• Inside music industry tales;
• Roasts that turn into genuine life advice;
• The Milk Carton Kids' songwriting, humor, and brotherly dynamic;
• Pete Holmes’ blend of silliness and sincerity.