Ear Biscuits with Rhett & Link - 111: Embracing Immaturity | Ear Biscuits Ep. 111

Episode Date: September 11, 2017

Rhett & Link sit down with Ten Feet Tall's Mike & Alex to talk growing old but not up, what moments changed their perceptions of self the most, and the Ten Feet Tall creative process on this episode of Ear Biscuits.  SUBSCRIBE to This Is Mythical: https://goo.gl/UMXvuW Listen to Ear Biscuits at:  Apple Podcasts: http://apple.co/29PTWTM Spotify: http://spoti.fi/2oIaAwp Art19: https://art19.com/shows/ear-biscuits SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/earbiscuits Follow This Is Mythical: Facebook: http://facebook.com/ThisIsMythical Instagram: http://instagram.com/ThisIsMythical Twitter: http://twitter.com/ThisIsMythical Other Mythical Channels: Good Mythical Morning: https://www.youtube.com/user/rhettandlink2 Good Mythical MORE: https://youtube.com/user/rhettandlink3 Rhett & Link: https://youtube.com/rhettandlink To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This, this, this, this is Mythical. Welcome to Ear Biscuits, I'm Rhett. And I'm Link. This week at the round table of dim lighting, we are discussing embracing immaturity. And we wanted to bring on some people to talk with us. It's like, hmm, who can hang out with us on an Ear Biscuit discussing embracing immaturity.

Who's the most immature in the office? So we've got Mike and Alex. Is that a compliment? You should be honored, man. Yeah. That is the thesis that by the end of this conversation, I think we will thoroughly unpack the fact that absolutely it's a compliment. Welcome to the fold, boys. Wow. the end of this conversation, I think we will thoroughly unpack the fact that absolutely,

it's a compliment. Welcome to the fold, boys. Wow. We're never gonna grow up. Excited to be here. Really? Yeah. In the realm of never growing up.

Yeah, not me. Sorry we made you wait. No, no. Sorry Link made you wait. No, it's good. We're here now. I had to eat a salad, then I had to get salad out my teeth. I had to sit there and listen to him eat a salad,

which is always an experience. Okay, so we are gonna talk about Embracing Immaturity, which is a chapter in the Book of Mythicality. We'll talk all about that. We're gonna talk about your guys' show, 10 Feet Tall. I'm wearing the t-shirt. I see it, looks great. Look at that.

Right on the pocket. You have a derivative 10 feet tall t-shirt on. You got the OG shirt on. We'll talk about that a little bit too. Because your guys' show kind of embodies that. But before we do that, you just passed another threshold. I did, yeah. As in you had a birthday. I did.

How old did you turn? Well we were gonna celebrate your birthday. Well yeah. And then all of a sudden, that's right. You weren't there for it. I mean it was. I missed my own birthday celebration here at the office. Because you left sick.

Yeah. Did you? Was I planning on that? How old did you turn? I didn't mean to, what was Rhett's question? Oh man, this is kind of hard to say, but 28. Oh God. Yikes.

Why is 28 hard to say? For me that's scary, that's a spooky number. Okay, yikes. It's a good number. You turned 28. Oh, God. Yikes. Why is 28 hard sex worth it? For me, that's scary. That's a spooky number. Okay, yikes. It's a good number. You turned 28. Mike, how old are you? 24. Dang.

Soon to be 25. Yeah, you turned 25 soon. One month. Oh, man. We're all crossing thresholds here. Yeah, everybody has birthdays. I think you genuinely forgot, though. What? Because you told people to give you any thresholds here. Yeah, everybody has birthdays. I think you genuinely forgot, though. What?

Because you told people to get you cheesecake, and then you just left and didn't tell them. No, no. Is that what happened? Were you sick? No, I didn't forget. Because they told me you were sick. I was sick, yeah.

I mean, I still ate the cheesecake. It didn't matter that you weren't here. I was happy for everyone who enjoyed my cheesecake. What happened? I missed out. I mean, I came into work that morning, and then it was like, well, I don't know, you were there. It was like 9.30 and I was looking at him like,

and I go, there's no way. Like we were supposed to shoot that day and I was just like, I feel like I could throw up at any second. You looked rotten. I looked, see. Green, like green. That's the best I could describe you.

You looked like a sewer boy. A sewer boy. I felt kind of like a sewer boy. I just felt horrible, like I like i was i'm gonna have to look that up on urban dictionary it should be added if it's not there i was just sweating and also freezing at the same time oh and i was just like i laid down on our couch up in our little loft and i was just like mike there's no way i can shoot today and then i was just like i had a flight out at 4 a.m that that next morning. Oh, that night.

That night, yeah, technically. Well, my flight was at 6, but I had to get in an Uber by 4. And so I was just like, I have to go. So I went into Cody's office and I was just like, there's nothing good that's happening. You vomited in there? No, I vomited when I got home. You did?

Yeah, oh yeah. But didn't you, was it the day before that you shot that censored food thing? Yes. Oh yeah, we didn't even really put it the day before that you shot that censored food thing? Yes. Oh yeah, we didn't even really put that together really. We sort of talked about that. Well Stevie was the one who said that because the interesting thing was,

and that video is out on This is Mythical, but so you did the censored food video where everything that you're eating, you're making is censored visually, but everything that you're talking about is also censored verbally. But she came, she was explaining to me, she was like, Alex is sick, and I think it's probably

because of that censored food thing. I think she might be onto something. And the funny thing is is they made gross stuff and they put like dirty mop water in one of the dishes and they didn't need to because the whole thing was censored. Yeah, funny how that works out. But, I don't know. You gotta make censored. Yeah, funny how that works out. But you got to make it real. Yeah, it wasn't as authentic.

I mean, I appreciate leaving our recipe out of that. It was censored for a reason. Okay, now you guys have one of the ingredients. That's on me that I did that to you. Yeah, that's right. I knew we'd see color. I suppose they could have changed that in post, but I said we need something black.

That's right. We always get something black in the mix usually. But you don't think it was food poisoning no i felt horrible i mean i was in new york that weekend with my girlfriend and it was just like awful like that whole week oh so that's where you were flying yeah yeah oh yeah on a being on a plane sick is not good no it well i remember this is this is awful because i essentially just was like sick that whole time and then i got on the plane and we're about to take off. And I was like, wow, I'm going to throw up right now. And then I was like.

There's a bag for that. Well, it wasn't in front of me, though. So I was like, how could I get to the bathroom while the plane is taking off? I was like thinking like. You can't. Is that physically possible? No. I don't think it is.

You probably could do it, but you would be tackled. Are you telling me. Did you look for the barf bag? No, they're not in the thing anymore. I don't think it is. You probably could do it, but you would be tackled. Hold on. Are you telling me, did you look for the barf bag? No, they're not in the thing anymore. Is that real? What do you mean? Yeah. Is it real? What?

It's in the thing. In the 90s, it was real. Is it real? No, listen, man. There's a barf bag in every. Not in the seats anymore. You got to get them from the bathroom. What airline were you on?

Delta. Delta's saving money, not. Oh we're gonna save money on barf bags, but we're gonna lose a lot of money on having to clean up barf. I don't know. What did you do? I looked, I toughed it out. You gotta go deep into the pouch though, man.

Really, so it's not in the pouch? It's down deep. It's like finding a baby kangaroo. You gotta pull it open and stick your hand way down in there. Or just barf into the actual... But then we're taking off and then it's coming back at me, you know? No, into the magazine holder.

Yeah, I guess that was an option. I don't know. I just was in a catatonic weird state. You staved it off while you were taking off? It was like a mental battle. Deep breathing. Focusing. Yeah. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. It was an experience.

I've never had a flight like that. The guy next to me probably thought I was on drugs because I was sweating. This guy's obviously in withdrawal. You were contagious, man. Yeah. On a plane. But in love, you know?

Had to get out there. Had to get out there. That's another podcast. Did she get sick later, eventually? I think she's all right. She'll be all right. She talked to her. She already knew to's all right. She'll be all right. Talk to her. She already knew to keep her distance, period.

Exactly, yeah. So did you vomit anywhere? I only, the only time I threw up was when I went home after work. Not in the plane? Not in the plane. And then you got better while you were in New York. Yeah, then I just hung out in New York.

Well, happy birthday. Yeah, it was great. Cheesecake was great. Yeah, well, I missed birthday. Yeah it was great. Cheesecake was great. Yeah well I missed it but it sounded great. Now you guys are roommates in real life, that's not just for the show. All right boys live together, make it happen. We may have done that anyway.

So when he leaves, what do you do? Get separation anxiety. No I mean, I tend to leave too, I guess. But that makes it sound like I can't be alone. I tend to leave too. That makes it sound like I can't be alone. No, well we do that because it's like for scheduling, obviously, if one of us is the only other time

anybody else can leave. So you went back home? I did. Oh, you did? I did go home. Your lives are getting in sync just like ours. Yeah that's what happens man. You have to. You have to take simul vacations. Menstrual cycles, the whole nine.

Everything begins to sync up. I haven't developed that yet. It happens. Well. Well. All right. Your cycles come in. I've been synced up with you for years.

I'm not old enough. Okay. Okay we're gonna talk about your show. But I thought a good way to get into this whole embracing immaturity was to bring up this article. And it is a hole. Yeah, it is a big, it's just like the pouch in the back of an airline seat. Okay, back in July of this year, we were featured,

well, we were mentioned in a New York Times article. Do you know about this? No. By Jennifer, was that Weiner or Weiner? This is the best part about the article because it's an article about. I'm already being immature about it but I honestly don't know because you can say Weiner.

Jennifer Weiner. Her last name is because you can say Wiener. Jennifer Wiener. Wiener. Her last name is. You can say Wiener or Weiner. Wiener, I'll say it for you, it's Wiener. She absolutely hates this conversation. I went to school with a couple Wieners and it's Wiener. Yeah, Jennifer Wiener wrote an article, an op-ed in the New York Times called

The Men Who Never Have to Grow Up. And the big picture that is featured here is Donald Trump Jr. laughing in a field in a flannel shirt and baggy jeans. And the premise of this article is basically that there is this sentiment that runs deep in American culture that says boys will be boys and therefore men can get away with anything.

You know like we've got men who are in their 30s who, mid to late 30s who should be grownups but act like kids and we excuse their bad behavior. So she talks about Teddy Kennedy and the whole bridge situation with the girl that drowned. And like, you know, the way that, when he's 37 years old at the time, and like he was kind of excused for that

because boys will be boys, and then they talk about, then all of a sudden they start talking. But that wasn't, that's not current. No, no, no. She seemed to be talking about like a current trend that Donald Trump Jr. is the poster boy of. Well, yeah, she goes on to say, and this is when we get mentioned, okay, and then she gets back into Trump here in a second, but we can laugh, but we should also recognize

that Americans have a soft spot for our troublemakers and scamps, scamp, I didn't know that word, who are, as Waylon Jennings sang of Bo and Luke Duke, good old boys never meanin' no harm. Start with YouTube, which is crammed with fellows in their 30s and 40s who have declined to put away childish things and have instead made their fortunes by singing love songs to their pillows

or performing trick basketball shots. And then the love songs to their pillows, there's a link, is that us? Oh yeah, it is. That is us, oh good, they linked to the video. More views. Millions of subscribers watch Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal, that's us, both 39.

Ooh! That's that number. Both 39, not for long, baby. Eat bugs or play Will It Taco with pine needles. And then they talk about this other dude. And then they, and then. Colin Furze, the 37 year old inventor with his 360 degree swing and his wearable Wolverine claws.

Is also huge. Moving on to Ryan Seacrest and then Chris Hardwick and then Billy Bush. Whoa, whoa, okay, we just escalated. Now we're in Billy Bush territory and then she comes out of the bush and then she brings up Donald Trump Jr. again. Which is so.

And Ryan Loetke. Yeah, right. So, and the idea, and she brings up the whole, the Russia scandal, and this point, everyone was talking about his meeting that he had. And so, her point is that this is pervasive in culture, but then she brings up scamps and troublemakers and throws us and by the way,

Ryan Seacrest and Chris Hardwick into the mix. Ryan doesn't fit, he's no scam. So I mean. But you think we fit. No, no, no, no, no. You can say it. No but. Well I think, first of all,

there's lots of comments on this article and thank you to all the Mythical Beasts who came in to comment and came to our defense and kind of pointed out some obvious, now first of all, credit to Miss Weiner because she. Sorry, you can't laugh. I'm not helping. She did the thing that you need to do

when you write an article and that is you gotta get people talking about it and I tweeted about this. I said I'm not sure why we were included and then Chris Hardwick responded to that tweet and he's obviously, he's more popular than we are. He's tweeting about it so congratulations, Jennifer, because people talked about your article,

Mission Accomplished, but. Thanks to you. I think one of the things we're gonna talk about is the difference between being a troublemaker or a scamp and being somebody who's young at heart and likes to have a good time and I think she conflated those things. Well can we just get out of the way the fact that we are professional comedians.

Whether you're a male, a female, no matter who you are, if your job is to be an entertainer and a comedian, there's a long, long history of, irrespective of your age, embracing immaturity as part of. The job. A part of the job. Right. I mean, I'm not a frickin' politician or the son of one.

Yeah, and we're not getting away with things or morally questionable things because we're having a good time acting like fools. And we're, but the accusation is that we are contributing to a culture where, oh, you know, boys will be boys. It's just harmless little scampage. A culture where, oh you know, boys will be boys, it's just harmless little scampage, just let them off the hook kind of thing because this is the example that we provide.

There's a disconnect there. I don't know what it is. I don't get it. I don't get the connection. Well I can't remember what Hardwick tweeted but he basically said something like, I am a responsible adult who owns a company or whatever. We can say the same thing.

Married with children, fathers of teenagers at this point. Running a media company in Los Angeles. So there's a mature part, like we've taken responsibility for our own. Responsibility. Responsibility for our own actions and our own, you know. I would even say influence. Yeah, but that is unrelated to acting like a fool for the sake of entertainment, I think.

And you guys act like fools pretty much nonstop. I mean we say one of the tenets of mythicality in the book is tomfoolery. Bringing that back. Yeah exactly. As a term. Curiosity, creativity, and tomfoolery. I mean you're building a whole show around it. Yeah. Right?

Yeah, absolutely. You feel guilty now? No, absolutely. You feel guilty now? No, well. You guys second guessing? No, I think it's weird to, I just think it's a weird thing to call people out for. Also, it's just like, I feel like people wanna discredit things.

So they see like, oh, this is like a fun, goofy thing, and they wanna discredit it as like, oh, it's silly and dumb. When in reality, as people who work behind the scenes on a bunch of shows here, it's like there's so much creativity and things that go into all the work here and I don't know, people just wanna discredit that without giving it any credence

for a reason I don't understand. Well and this is, we say this all the time, it's like we try to be very smart about being stupid, right, we try to do stupid things in a smart way. So, and that's what you guys do. So you have your, the reasons that you come up with on the show to do the things that you're going to do for the sake of entertainment,

make it seem like you're just a couple of guys who kinda sit in a loft all day and just wait until something inspires you. But you guys also produce the show. Yeah. Right. Yeah, we do everything with the show. I mean, it's a lot. I wish that we could just sit down in a loft

and come up with the things that we come up with. There's an element of that. But we're not that person 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Yeah, exactly. Or we'd never get, the show wouldn't get done. We'd never be able to do anything. We'd just be doing really stupid stuff all day. So I'd say naturally, sure, we're imbeciles for maybe, let's see,

50-50 part of the day, sure. But it's like we do sit around and we talk about why do we wanna do this idea. That's okay. That's a good question. Why? What goes through your minds when you come up with the things that you guys wanna do on the show? I think the main thing, the first thing that drives us

is has anybody done anything like this before? And I think that drives all the shows here for the most part. Especially GMM, I mean it's like the main thing, I mean we're always cross checking everything to be like, has anyone done anything even like this before? And so I think we have a little bit more pull to kind of do way out the wall stuff. Not even off the wall, out the wall.

People have said off the wall, so you made a choice right there. Yeah, exactly. I'm gonna say out the wall. People are saying off the wall, it's out the wall. Right. For 10 feet tall. Right. Which rhymes. Out the wall with 10 feet tall.

Yeah, exactly. But we're always trying to do just different. We wanna be different. Anybody can be weird and stupid, but you gotta do it in a different, more creative way, which is what we try to do. What is, does something you've shot stand out like, as a moment of, just another day,

I always say, when we're in the middle of something really stupid that we're doing, that I mean, again, we're talking about we fully calculated why we're doing it and how it's gonna be fun for the audience, but then when I'm doing it, it's just like, man, this is another day at the office. Doing something totally stupid. Yeah.

And I mean, you conceive these things and then when you're in it, or dangling from it, or trying to sell it, or whatever it is, I mean, to me if you're having those moments then you're doing something right. Yeah. I think moments like.

What are the best moments so far? The moments of like pure creativity that you can like see us figuring out as you go are the ones that I like the best. Like we did this thing with two giant teddy bears where essentially there was no game plan for like how we were going to make that work. Like we were just like we want to do a battle with two giant teddy bears. And so you can see us figuring it out on camera and like discovering what everything was going to be because we had no idea if any of that would work at all or even if we could get inside

of it that's when you can tell we're having i think that's what people love is when they can see we're actually having a ton of fun doing something exploring something we didn't know would work or not yeah and then when it does work it's incredible it's's insane. Right, like there's this curiosity, like well, how do I, can we get a bear big enough? How do I get in it? Right. How do I get out of it? How do I, all of those.

How do I fight in it? Of course. And documenting that is super important to us. Yeah, like capturing those moments where it's like you guys are discovering something. So everyone across America can do it as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hopefully. No, it's weird too because I think that's kind of what we were talking about earlier.

It's like going back to those childhood moments where you're with your friend maybe and you have two giant teddy bears like your sisters or something. And you're like, we're not doing anything today. We should do something weird with these teddy bears. And like that's what we want the show to be like. It's like you're there with your best friend just trying to figure out something to do, and then you make something totally crazy happen. Yeah, and I think the interesting thing is that your show, in the same way that GMM has a broad audience

in terms of age, the peak demographic of people who watch GMM is 18 to 24. The second highest group is 25 to 34. And then it's actually 13 to 17, the youngest kids are, that's their third. So the interesting thing is we're doing really dumb stuff. You guys are doing really dumb stuff as well. Let's say silly.

I don't even wanna say dumb. Silly. Like silly. Oh it's silly. I don't even wanna say dumb. Silly. Like silly. Oh it's mythical. We can use the term mythical because it's hitting the trifecta, you know, creativity, curiosity, and tomfoolery. It's not dumb, it's not stupid.

It's not, well. It's tomfoolery. To finish the point, adults are watching this and I think because it appeals to people, right? Seeing grown people do silly stuff, it appeals to people because it's not, when we kind of lock ourselves into, this is where I kind of take issue with Miss Wiener's

article, or at least being included in it. I'm not saying that the thing about the culture and the boys will be boys is wrong. I'm saying that including us as an example of that where I disagree with that is the fact that people get locked into quote unquote normal jobs. You grow up and you've got real responsibilities and it can become very easy to just be consuming

those responsibilities and never have any outlet for your fun, right? If you've got a job where, first of all, lots of people have jobs where they've gotta be serious the entire day and those people are, you know, I don't want my doctor in a teddy bear suit. You know what I'm saying? So, but that doesn't mean that he's not gonna have,

he or she is not gonna have an outlet for tomfoolery in their life and I think that it's, your show is an escape from that. And it's not, to Link's point, it's not just one thing, it's not just tomfoolery, right? If it was just stupid and that was all it was, which there are a lot of YouTube videos that are just stupid, but it has an originality,

creativity and a curiosity factor to it that I think kind of redeems and makes you feel as a responsible adult, I can get into this, I can laugh at it and not feel like I'm just wasting my time. Well, you know, I think when we talked about starting 10 feet tall and what it was gonna look like, in addition to also saying, okay, this is a starting point, these are some ideas, let's agree on what this is and then you guys go

and make it happen and then make it your own and it'll morph over time. Even with that being said, as a side note, I remember talking early on about With that being said, as a side note, I remember talking early on about some of the first ideas and we talked about Jackass. Well we're not just gonna make another version of Jackass. If you guys wanna do weird things,

it's like these are some other elements that I think you guys were interested in including that we've already talked about. But then I actually don't even wanna throw Jackass under the bus. I didn't watch it a whole lot and I haven't watched any of the movies. We've actually, we've talked about the movies

because you've watched them. And you're like, you actually need to watch them because there's a level of creativity that went into a lot of the way that they did those stunts. I'm a fan. So even something like Jackass, you may say, well, that is just plain stupid. I mean, just getting hit in the balls,

I mean that gets old. And it does. Getting hit everywhere else. It does get old. It happens to me over and over again. But even that, there's a level of creativity that went into what they did that, again we wanna do something different.

I think mythicality includes some other things besides that but I can't even write that off. I can't even point to Jackass and say, well that's kinda base level. Right and we're gonna keep talking about that but first we're gonna take a short break to show some love to our sponsors. Did you know that every episode of Ear Biscuits

is available on Spotify? And you've got even more reasons to be on Spotify now than just Ear Biscuits, because we've now uploaded playlists, music playlists. We had a summer playlist, and now we just added the fall playlist not too long ago. Enjoying Ear Biscuit? Enjoy some fall music.

One of my favorite Merle Haggard songs just has the word fall in the title. Right, that's clever. It has nothing to do with the season, but I put that on there because I want you to be introduced, Mythical Beasts, to one of my favorite Merle Haggard songs. I'm always on a mountain when I fall.

And you can fall in the fall, that happens. Sure. I went less with the fall theme and more with just the vibe of the tempo in the fall, that happens. I went less with the fall theme and more with just the vibe of like the tempo and the feel. And I'm always trying to introduce people to Jason Isbell because I love the guy's music. He's got a relatively new album, Nashville Sound.

And I put the, it's a love song, If We Were Vampires. It's one of those songs that if my wife and I listened to it together, we'd both start crying so we just don't listen to it together. So you can get that, but again, you can also listen to this podcast. Yeah, you just go to spotify.com slash podcast or you go to the app, tap browse,

and look for us in the podcast section and we'll be there. There'll be other podcasts too, so you can do that after listening to ours. And now on with the biscuit. Well, I mean, the fact that we wrote about, we dedicated a whole chapter to embracing immaturity in the Book of Mythicality, I think the reason why we did that is because we wanted to tap back

into the experiences we had when we, you know, when we were just becoming friends, I guess, well, over the years, and even with GMM, the way that we stay in touch with our inner child. You know, and I think that's what you guys bring to 10 Feet Tall and what we bring to GMM is 10 feet tall and what we bring to GMM is we channel viewers into their inner child. It's like okay I remember I used to feel that way.

I wish I could jump headlong into a bowl of cereal. Right. Or dangle from a crane. It's a lot more painful than you think. Yeah. But I'm very comfortable. But when did you guys realize that you both were like, you obviously had to connect as friends

and then realize that you're both willing to act like fools. And because it isn't, you know, it isn't for everybody, right? Acting that way or appreciating adults acting that way isn't for everybody so you have to find somebody who's willing to think that way. Like what was the initial, because you were already here, Alex, you were working here.

Yeah. I remember it. And you started as a PA, right? As an intern. As an intern, yes. It was probably. Oh I know. Do you remember?

Yeah. Are you sure? Yeah. Does it have anything to do with e-cigarettes? Oh, okay. I think that's where it really hit its peak. Oh, you got two. He's got an earlier one. Where we really know we had something there.

We'll come back to that one. So you're going earlier. I was probably like three weeks into my internship. And, you know, I'm fresh out of college. I'm really nervous. Like it's first job in the industry. Yeah, we thought Mike was a mute for the first couple weeks. I was like, we got to make a good impression.

You know, all your professors are like, if you screw up the first one, you're in trouble. You were thinking that. Oh, really? They put a lot of pressure on you. They're like, it's hard enough to even get an interview anywhere. The thought of you trying to not screw it up with me is so funny to me now. Well, I learned that.

But I remember there was an instance. So you interviewed him? In the theater across the hall there. Really? That's funny. I remember we were loading a van for something and we were carrying a table, and you asked me if it was too heavy or something.

I don't remember exactly what I said, but I know it was very inappropriate, and I don't remember why I said it, but you laughed so hard, and I was so shocked. It was like meeting somebody for the first time after being around them for like three weeks. A, he said something, and B, it was funny. Yeah, very funny.

I remember there were questions about Mike, right said something. Yeah, yeah. And B, it was funny. Yeah, very funny. Well I remember there were questions about Mike, right? Sure. People would be like, he doesn't talk a lot. I remember Link asking one time, is he upset about something? And then Stevie was like. No, I think the question was, is he upset about everything?

Right, right. And then Stevie was like, no, no, no. Mike is actually really funny. Ask Alex. No, no, no, Mike is actually really funny. Ask Alex. The application wasn't Mike is really funny, just hang out with him for a while.

It was just, no, just go straight to Alex. He'll tell you that Mike is funny. What was the e-cig thing? Eddie was going through a period where he was vaping a lot and mike would mike would tell him he could vape anything so it's such a stupid thing we would like pick up a glass and you'd be like like pretend vaping a glass and then i was like mike please don't vape the building like it's the dumbest thing we went to eddie had like a housewarming party or something oh yeah we went there and there was a guy there who's super like hardcore into vaping okay really into the culture about

it talking about his box mods on his baby and i went there and i did the vape bit and meaning you you he pretended to vape like a pencil like a scooter i think there's a razor scooter in the room so you made fun of the guy to his face Yeah And I thought that was the funniest thing I've ever seen in my life Oh but that guy didn't like it He didn't get it Which happens a lot No I remember That's the best jokes

Oh those are my favorite Only your friend gets Yeah I'm a selfish comedian Making you go up and talk to him though Be like hey go tell that guy that you could vape anything Well I told him I was a sponsored scooter guy too Like you were with Razor Yeah that you could vape anything. Well I told him I was a sponsored scooter guy too.

Like you were with Razor? Yeah. Oh that's so funny. That party was so wild too. I wonder if he bought a scooter after that. He was interested. Vape culture is, they are very, very defensive. Like when we did that whole, when we brought the Surgeon General on

to talk about e-cigarettes, oh man, we had some people who were just like boycotted the show because we said, we let the Surgeon General come on and say scientific things about vaping. I remember a guy made a response video and he did like a beat for beat, like every 10 seconds he would interrupt their video. Here's the problem with that.

Okay, you're wrong man. And he's like ripping his little vape the whole time. Really? I love that. I'm sorry for all the vapors we lost. I didn't watch that. And you know what? Is that why the Surgeon General got fired?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because of that response video? It really took off. Oh, we did it. Thank you to all the vapers who are still with us. Keep vaping so that's funny to me. I can't honestly say keep vaping, but. Yeah, we're not gonna say that.

That Surgeon General was fired, so I mean, but the science still backs him up. Yeah. One of the things I wanna talk about too was the, I think we've got, speaking of science, I think we've got science on our side. We do a job where we get to do a lot of foolish things. And I think that that has kind of caused us

to perceive ourselves as younger than we actually are. We were talking about earlier today that like when I watch, I'm gonna be 40 in October, but when I watch like the NBA, they all seem older than me. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, James Harden at least 45. Right.

No doubt about it. And I feel like they're always, like when do you start, like now. They're also more talented than you. Vince Carter, Vince Carter is older than me, but he may be like the only one, right? Now, at what point do you begin to feel older than NBA basketball players?

Or just professional athletes in general? I think the question is, does the average 39-year-old feel that way when they watch NBA? I don't know. We don't have any. We don't have any. We can only ask those nine year olds. I will say yeah, I feel like they're older than me.

And I've seen them in person, man. And they're also athletes and you've been watching that since you were a kid. Right, so it's associated. There's other things, but then like, you know, sometimes you'll just, well you'll meet somebody, you'll meet somebody. And then you'll find out, that dude's 39?

That dude's the same age, that dude's younger than me. I will meet people, it happens a lot in the context of my kids. And I'm not talking about looking old, I'm not talking about looking old. No, it's a total package, yeah. Acting old. I will meet parents of my, of friends of my kids.

That's one way to put it. And what? What the hell? Parents of friends, how else? That's one way. That's definitely not friends. My kids' friends' parents is another way to put it. Yeah, right.

And I just find myself thinking, do they think I'm a kid too? Like I literally think that, I'm wearing a hat. I'm not a kid. Like they're taking out juice boxes and then they give you one too. Right, right, right. It's like would you like a sliced orange?

It's like I'm also a dad. I'm here to support the kids in their sports or whatever. Cause I'm like wearing a hat or like a, I'm wearing a freaking t-shirt with a dog on it. Right. And then I'm wearing like a trendy hat. And at some point. I mean not that trendy, Mike.

That's always been weird to me. That's how I know when I wear hats. No, when, yeah, sure, sure. When I walk through the office, it is a little weird. I've never asked my dad, but I always wonder, did he dress like this forever? Yeah. Or did it happen at some point?

It happened at some point. Right, yeah. Because that's the question, when do you need to make the transition? Well, he got a real job. We never got real jobs. I mean, it's pretty obvious. No, no, we dressed, you remember how we dressed

when we were engineers? Well, we had engineers, we had real jobs. Khakis with polo shirts tucked in. We dressed like 55 year old guys. I dressed like a 18 year old most of the time. And people have commented on that. I mean you were talking about maybe switching up your wardrobe this summer after your experience

on Buddy System, you're like, I remember you talking to me, I was like, I had some chambray pants or something like that. And you were like, I had some chambray pants on this shoot and I'm thinking about changing everything up. Yeah but for him that would be moving from being a youngster to being like a hobo. Yeah.

He's skipping tracks. I wouldn't get older though. He wouldn't get older, he would just get. More comfortable. He would just less respect. That's a stepping stone too. And I have some of those. Or like a guru.

Like all of a sudden Rhett shows up at work and he's like why are you dressed like a guru? But the funny thing is. But not old. It only works with the man bun and I don't have that and I'm not gonna have that in real life. So then it just doesn't really complete the look. But I mean, but a job, but a normal job

that you start to assimilate. And I mean to do certain jobs, like to be an engineer and to walk, when I had to walk out on the floor of the factory at IBM and tell them the conveyor belt goes here or you're fired, sir, because a robot is replacing you. Like when I would do things like that, and I would, my shirt better be tucked in if you want people

to move that conveyor belt. But it can't be all about dress, right? We can't, I don't, too superficial. And my hairstyle. Well okay, hairstyle's part of it. But it's more of a mentality. Because I'm not saying, I'm not saying anything about external stuff, because I feel like this is more like internal age. Because I'm not saying anything about external stuff

because I feel like this is more like internal age perception, I think is ultimately what we're saying. I mean we have the luxury in the town that we live in, in the industry that we're in, specifically what our jobs are in the industry, we can kinda just never grow up externally. There will be this time, sooner for us than for you guys,

in which it's sort of like why is that 50 year old guy dressed like a child? So there's. Because he's still a YouTuber. You have to find a way to make a transition. And it will maybe be suddenly very awkward, you know. But there were people, like back in Harnett County growing up, like I think Coach Brandel, my soccer coach,

he never, he grew up but he never grew old. Like Peter Pan. He would wear like a soccer jersey and soccer pants and no underwear. And if the light. Hold on, that has nothing to do with age. If the light hit his soccer pants just right, you could tell.

Hombros. He had no underwear on. It's like, that's not something a responsible adult does when you're parading up and down like a sideline. Nobody really ever goes, I mean that's, going commando, like, I mean, right when you're born you are, but then you soon after wear a diaper

and then you transition to underwear, it's like, I think that actually signifies really old. But he was young at heart. Stop scaring me. He was young at heart. And okay, and science backs this up, that this is a good way to live, this is a good way to think about yourself.

Two researchers at University College in London looked at the responses of about 6,500 men and women who answered the question, how old do you feel you are? The respondents were aged 52 and older with an average age of 65. Their answers, about 70% felt three or more years younger than their actual age, 25% felt close to their actual age, and 5% felt more than one year older than their actual age, 25% felt close to their actual age, and 5% felt more than one year older than their actual age.

Then, eight years after the study, participants answered the age question, oh, eight years after the study where they answered the question, researchers went back and determined who was still alive. Oh. 75% of those who felt older than their age were still alive, 82% of those who felt their actual age were still alive, and 86% of those who felt younger

than their actual age were still alive. So a 11% increase in, well not longevity, but people still being alive after eight years just because of the perception of their age. Then it goes in to talk about like well what is that? If you think that you're younger, you tend to think I've got more of my life ahead of me, you make better choices about your diet or whatever

but I'm sure there's like lots of connections that they'll continue to discover. But there's an argument to be made that when you kind of grow up and you start seeing yourself as your actual age, you actually increase your risk of dying early or on time. And you may be able to cheat death a little bit if you think that you're younger than you are.

Well let's each get in our minds how old we actually feel like we are. And don't say it out loud, because I don't want your answer to sway me because you know if you say an answer I'll just copy it. So I got how old do we feel? Okay. Got it.

I got an answer. Okay, I got my answer. You can't change your answer. Yeah, well I'll go first. Well let's start from youngest to oldest. Okay. Yeah. So Mike.

Now how old are you again? I'm 24. Okay. About to be 25. I feel 19. What? Specifically. Why?

I feel like, I don't feel any different than the year I graduated high school. That there may be a problem. I know, I know I am and I've done some, I've done things to show that it hasn't hindered me, I hope, but I don't feel like I think any differently. You're 19. You don't think any differently?

I know I do but I don't feel like I do. You know your brain, of all of us, you're the only one whose brain is actually still developing. Still going. Still going. Still going, yeah. No, your frontal cortex is still developing. Still going. Still going. Still going. Yeah. That stopped a while ago. Your frontal cortex is still developing

and will until an average age of 26. So you actually don't become as like cognitively capable as you will be until you're 26. And then you peak and then it basically starts going downhill. Which is why we haven't given up on you. Thanks for that. I just feel like Mike's might not be. I don't wanna, I don't mean to undercut what you're saying.

He's been vaping too much. He's been vaping scooters. The guy was vaping scooters. Yeah, you stopped when you vaped that scooter. That's very possible. The cortex is just like, it's a wreck. I'm out. Okay, how old do I feel?

Well, I'm old now. Well, I don't know. I feel. You're 28, right? 28. I feel? Well, I'm old now. Well, I don't know. I feel. You're 28, right? 28. I feel 23. Not bad. Four years younger.

That's because when you tell me it's been five years since I've been in college, I just think there's no way. Like, I feel exactly the same as I did when I was a senior in college. And I feel, I don't know. I just feel like nothing has changed since that time. But I hope to God some things have. Because I'm, 23 year old Alex was a mess. But still, I feel like mentally, I'm pretty much the same.

I don't know. But that's a big, five years seems like a long time, now that I say it out loud. Yeah, but you having changed and been through a lot in those years, I mean, it doesn't necessarily mean you don't, you can't still feel like that same person. I mean, you're gonna be, I don't know, you're gonna be surprised, I'm going last though

so I think you're gonna be surprised at my number. Oh. I believe in my heart of hearts that I'm 26 years old. Yes, yes. 26. So 26 is it for me. That's, yeah. Yeah, so I'm younger than the real you in my mind.

But not younger than the you in your mind. So you're still younger than me on both accounts. If we compare an apple to an apple. This is actually kind of shocking because I'm gonna give you my number and then I'm gonna give you the theory for why you feel how old you are and I feel how old I am and it's the same reason.

So I am 39, will be 40 in October. I feel 27. Ooh. That's right, so proportionately correct. And no, not no. Yes, you're a year older than me. No, because we're both 39 right now. So in this moment.

But you're about to be, you're practically 40. Who are we kidding? Yeah, but that's not the reason. It's not relative. It is the age that we were when we had our first child. Yeah. You were 26 when Lily was born and I was 27 when Locke was born.

And that was the. It was a milestone. That was the last, and listen, I didn't come up with that. That's a good theory. I came up with that irrespective, I was like, how old do I feel? I was like 27, I feel like my life, well my life has changed drastically

and being the father of two kids or three kids is different than one kid. Mm-hmm. And being the father of a teenager is different than being the father of a newborn. But being a father. But being a father is like the last great milestone. That we've experienced.

And it's also after that magic 26 year old age where you're fully cognitively developed. And it's like. You'll get there, Mike. I got to that point and it's like okay, I'm married, I got kids, I'm a homeowner, I got a job, that was also, we hadn't started Mythical Entertainment at that point

but we had all the trappings, right? The things that kind of define you in your life stage and at that point, I kind of feel like I haven't really gotten any older since then. I also feel like I'm kinda cheating life that I have so many kids that are as old as they are. Because out here in LA, you start to feel like people who have kids my age are a lot older.

So it's easier to believe you're young. Oh yeah, out here. But hold on, wouldn't that make me feel older? No, makes you feel younger when you meet your kids, friends, parents, and they're all 10 years older. You know, because if you got a 13 year old out here, when people are like, you got a 13 year old, it's like, what?

You guys, when did you have them? 13 years ago. Yeah, you figured that out. But the theory applies to you guys. Yeah, I was just gonna say. Because what you were saying about the college thing. That's the last major milestone I've had in my life. Yeah, well leaving, I mean, maybe graduating from college

was the milestone. Yeah, that's what I mean, 23. But you don't, yeah, I mean, maybe graduating from college was the milestone. Yeah, that's what I mean, 23. But you don't, yeah, so once you cross that threshold. Yeah, and then I mean, the next kind of chunk is like post-college and then I started working here, which has actually been a while, three, three and a half. But Mike, you feel like, okay, so in your mind, I know where you're getting at,

I think there's a reason for that. College was no. I probably know yours too, the reason why. Cause when I graduated high school, I immediately, within like a month, moved to Nashville. Okay. And then a year after that, I moved to Chicago. You gonna be a country music singer?

We didn't know about that. I was gonna be a audio engineer. Ooh. Which is what I originally wanted to do. That's a whole other story. I bet that's a sexy story. So I lived in Nashville for a year. Then I moved to Chicago a year after that for three years,

and then I moved to L.A. right after that. So I feel like I've just been going since I graduated high school. Nothing has been like 18 years of stability. Yeah, your college experience is very fragmented. Oh, so you've been itinerant. Mm-hmm. Itinerant, how do you say that? I couldn't tell you. Iditarod.

Yeah, Iditarod. Yeah, that's it. He did the Iditarod across America. So immature of me, sorry. But okay, so wow, we've really, we've tapped into this. We've tapped into this. Yeah, my god, that's scary. Yeah, I can, like, divide my life into end of college and then post-college.

That's how I feel right now. Like, I'm developing as a person, kind of, like, through college, trying to figure things out, and then after that, it's your, like, real world. But when does it change? But it is identity. What is the next milestone? We're talking about identity in terms of like when you meet someone at a party and the first thing you ask someone is,

what's your name, but besides the name, it's like what do you do? Or do you have a partner? Do you have kids? That type of stuff. So it's like these very simplistic, oversimplified ways to think about, they associate well, who am I?

Am I a dad? And once you're a dad, oh there's no going back from that. No recovering from that one. And then it's associated with a certain, this is what I do. You know, I think a lot about, in terms of being a dad, I think about being young not just for myself now but for my kids.

Like I like to, I mean it's a great way to connect and bond with the kids to be like, I mean when I'm at the dinner table and Lincoln's still got that, what's it called? Cast. It's called a cast. It's called a cast. He's got a cast on his arm and people are signing it now and I'm like, oh.

And these are people he's meeting at school now and I'm like, who's Gina? Who's Gina? And I was like, don't write a VA in front of that. And like that's my joke at the dinner table. Virginia Gina. Gina from Virginia. Oh God, I am immature.

That's a stupid joke. That's not a joke a dad should make. Well, a good dad. Unless you're a really good dad. My good dad will make that joke. He's like I can get on your level, man. Well this is funny, so, Locke was getting ready to go to school,

first day of real school, you know, and we were talking about what he was gonna wear, and he had sweatpants. Oh, come on now. First day of school, you got that. And then I'm like, you're gonna wear sweatpants. Oh come on now. First day of school you got to. And then I'm like you're gonna wear sweatpants? They were like these, but they're not like, they were like cool sweatpants.

And they say like. Drop crotch. Drop crotch joggers. They weren't even drop crotch but they were like, he kinda dresses like at any moment a basketball game could break out. You gotta be ready. And he's really into basketball,

but he also was like, dad, like, It's the jock look. 70% of the kids will be wearing sweatpants. It's not, because I was like, why don't you just wear skinny jeans and a button up? Ooh, yeah, very cool. And he was like, because I'm not of your generation. Oh!

Dang. Wait, how old am I? Like, I was thinking, yeah, good call, Rhett. because I'm not of your generation. Wait, how old am I? Like I was thinking, yeah, good call, Rhett. I'm not saying that there aren't kids at his school who wear skinny jeans and a button up, but he's basically, it was the first time where I was like, am I like out of, is that like an older guy thing now? Like kids, not millennials, but whatever the teenagers are now, whatever that generation is,

like they're thinking differently about that and they've gotten more casual in their clothing at least in California. And I was like oh, because I kind of like to take pride in the fact that I know whatever music they wanna listen to, it's like we can enjoy it together, it's not like I want you to listen to Elvis, son. I connected with my parents' music,

but it was very much like, it was okay, I'm gonna listen to Elvis, I'm gonna listen to Chuck Berry, I'm gonna listen to the Four Seasons, because they listened to those records and they had them but I was connecting with kind of a throwback but they weren't listening to, in the 80s, I was listening to Michael Jackson, you know, in Weird Al.

I was listening to Michael Jackson sing a song and then Weird Al singing again but they didn't know or care about any of that. Yeah, and I'm doing the same thing. Like I'm talking, like I'm very into music, so I'm like, I'm trying to teach Lincoln how to appreciate Kendrick Lamar. And I'm like, listen, there's some,

and help him process past like foul language and say okay, there's. What's he really talking about? What's he really talking about here What's he really talking about here? So he started to break this down and then one morning I was trying to connect with him and I was playing Outcast. So this was like a 1996 or maybe 95 song and Lincoln walks in and I'm like,

Lincoln there would be no Kendrick Lamar if it wasn't for OutKast. So you sit down and listen to this and I realized, as hip as I thought I was, this is now the new old man thing to say. Me talking about, there's this group called OutKast and there wouldn't be Kendrick Lamar without OutKast. It's like.

I got one that's even more embarrassing than that because we were driving along and I was like, I want you kids to listen to what I thought was like the best music when I was your age and I played Young MC. Do you guys even know Young MC? No. Like Bust a Move, you don't know that song?

You probably heard Bust a Move, right? So and I was like, we're gonna listen to the whole album. The whole album? It's, and we couldn't. Were we on a road trip? It's so, yeah we were. It's so bad. OutKast, in contrast, holds up, right?

Oh, well yeah. But Young MC does not hold up at all. Like, it's so stupid. Like very segmented, like, Oh, talking down the street. Yeah, exactly, it's not quite like parents just don't understand, I mean it's kind of the same era, but anyway, and that was the point, I was like,

this is like getting my kids to listen to something and I kind of admitted in the middle of it, I was like, this isn't good, is it? This is kind of embarrassing to listen to. Okay, yeah, that's worse. I mean, OutKast is a legitimate forefather to Kendrick Lamar and my kids, it's a valuable part of their education.

But I just realized how long it's been since that, I mean, we're talking 20 years. I mean, I had a moment like that when I was in New York. Like, just very, very, like, on that trip, because I was leaving, I just had, like, left the hotel or something, and I remember seeing, like, a pack of New York teenagers. And I was like, dang, these kids are so much cooler than, you know, I think I'm pretty hip, you know?

I know what's going on with the kids these days but I've never seen like these these kids were so much cooler than I could ever be us I so grow up in New York like they're all dressed way cooler than me they have they had like boom boxes like people did in the 80s and 90s and stuff like that but they were like cool new Bluetooth boom boxes walking on these kids are so cool, man. And also old and a little scared. They could beat me up at any time if they wanted to. It was kind of intense, weird.

There was a physical element in it. Mike, have you ever felt old yet? Oof. Do you ever not feel 19? Never, no. I don't know, have I felt old? Are you still the youngest person in Mythical Entertainment?

Chase is younger than you. Chase is, I think we're the same age. Oh really? Do I feel old ever? No, not yet. Yeah. I felt, I had a, yeah. Well when it happens, just ignore it like we do.

Yeah. I probably will. If you wanna live forever. And I think the point is, it's also, it's okay, right? It's like, there's nothing, again, we're making the distinction between somebody who never grows up and never takes responsibility for their life and somebody who does take responsibility

for their life but then doesn't completely grow up and is willing to do childish things. It's like, I kind of feel like there's something inside you that dies a little bit and possibly yourself later dies when you just say, all right, I'm putting all that aside and I'm not ever gonna be silly. I'm not ever gonna imagine or do the things, the unreserved things that I would've done as a child.

And again, some people are lucky and they get to do it for their job. We get to just act like fools and if you were to take and do the stuff that we do on our shows at your house or at your school, you'd be expelled. Box boxing is not good. But you know, one of the cool things that I have seen

a lot of times is I'll see like a fan video of like a father and a son doing like their own will it or doing like something that we did on the show. Yeah, we had a kid who spent 24 hours in a box after we did our photo booth thing and his mom sent us updates. They were like, here he goes, he's about to start. 24 hours in this cardboard box.

Where was the box? Like just in his living room. He wasn't really roughing it like we were, but still, it was dope, it was cool. I don't know. Even his mom just being a part of that is like her participating in that tomfoolery, you know? Did he do it?

He did, yeah, we got a video of him coming out at like hour 24. He was stoked. Yeah, it was fun, it was cool. Of course you guys didn't actually do it. It was off the camera. Actually did. Every time I showed up you were in there.

Yeah, exactly. That's why you were laughing so hard that morning is because you couldn't believe that we're still there. Yeah. That was funny. You know it's just coming up with something that's ridiculous but then saying,

who knows what we're gonna learn or how we're gonna grow as people. Like our brains, I mean the science of it, you start to make all these, you go out on so many limbs, your brain grows, man, it connects. Oh you think the brain is growing and connecting? It grows and connects, man, it keeps you alive when you say you know what, I'm gonna,

I'm gonna jump in head first, baby. Metaphorically speaking. Check the depth. This is anecdotal but you know there are just people who are like, I'm old. Well I can't do that anymore. Well that was something I was gonna ask actually is like people, people,

one of the few negative notes that we ever get is, like, oh, this is so mature or something. I didn't know, like, how you guys kind of react to that or what you think about that. Like, when people come at you, there's, like, not much bad you can say about the shows, I think, in my opinion. But, like, the only negative notes that we've gotten is really, like, oh, that's so dumb or that's so immature. But it's, I don't know, that's kind of, it's a little upsetting that people are so quick to discredit for that reason. It's like, yeah, it's dumb,

but it took forever to come up with this. You didn't come up with this, you know? And it's like, it was a cool thing to do. I just think that if somebody says that about one of your videos, they're just not getting the joke. Yeah, exactly. It's like, do you really think that if somebody says that about one of your videos, they're just not getting the joke. Yeah, exactly. It's like do you really think that

the main motivation here is to really figure out how to get inside of a bear? It's like no, that's almost part of the fun that we're legitimately asking the question. But it's really for that moment that we can be two bears fighting each other. Yeah. And there's just a, it's just like we talk about

in the book, it's when we were inside that cereal bowl and I actually saw on Facebook recently, they reposted it, somebody had curated the five top moments of Link freaking out or whatever. And one of them is in the cereal bowl. And there was like this pure, I mean I was there too, it was kind of a bigger moment for you than it was for me. But it was a big moment for both.

But there's this pure like unadulterated joy and euphoria of just being able to do something like that without regard to anybody's perception of it. And people are gonna be like, this is dumb, I don't get it, this is immature, or this is a waste of cereal. We donated it, it was donated. Gave it to horses.

But it's. It's that moment, I mean it's that moment, I remember the first time I successfully rode a bike. Like I was, my Aunt Tee TC was gonna teach me to ride a bike and she did that thing where she was like holding onto the back and running with me. And then we were going around the house. And then one time I came around the house

and when I came around the house I saw her. And I knew she couldn't be behind me anymore. And I was like, it was, it felt like I was flying. I felt like I was flying. And then I fell. But before I fell, that was, I mean, that moment was something that I felt when I came up out of that cereal.

And I know you guys feel it. I mean, that's the magic that you capture is not just okay, they actually did it, but they experienced it. You know, you experience life, man. You grab it by the balls. You embrace immaturity. And it's something to be celebrated, not something to be apologized for.