Ear Biscuits with Rhett & Link - 113: Awkward Conversations with Teens ft. Mayim Bialik | Ear Biscuits Ep. 113

Episode Date: September 25, 2017

Rhett & Link are joined by Mayim Bialik, actress, neuroscientist, author, and Buddy System Season 2 cast member, to talk her book Girling Up, growing up in the industry, parenting almost teens, and more on this week's Ear Biscuits. Get more from Mayim here: Girling Up: https://www.amazon.com/Girling-Up-Strong-Smart-Spectacular/dp/0399548602 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTOocPnDh2YQZZwh86K2OxA  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 Hosted By: Rhett & Link Executive Producer: Stevie Wynne Levine Managing Producer: Cody D'Ambrosio Production Manager: Jacob Moncrief Technical Director: Meggie Malloy Editor: Kiko Graphics: Matthew Dwyer Set Design/Construction: Cassie Cobb Content Manager: Becca Canote Logo Design: Carra Sykes Featuring: Mayim Bialik 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 have our friend Mayim Bialik, who, she's on Big Bang Theory. I heard of that show. She's also been a guest on Good Mythical Morning.

She's also on GMM. She's gonna be in Buddy System. She's also been a guest on Good Mythical Morning. She's also on GMM. She's gonna be in Buddy System. She's that much of a friend that we keep getting her in on our stuff. She's everywhere. She's nice to us. She also wrote a book that we're gonna talk about, Girling Up, How to be Strong, Smart, and Spectacular. Neuroscientist, actress, grownup girl,

my embryonic PhD wrote this thing. And we're gonna have a special guest very dear to my heart. My daughter Lily is gonna join the conversation with Mayim, yeah. You know how I know that she's going to? Because we already shot, we already recorded that. And she's also still sitting right there. We had a great conversation.

Lily will make you question if she's actually related to Link. That's how well spoken and smart she is. You know what, thank you. I'll take that backhanded compliment. Before we get into that conversation, when this podcast goes up, it will be one day before the Streamys.

Yeah, so tomorrow night, on release day from this thing, we'll be all dolled up, man. Yeah. To take home some awards. Yeah, so I mean, and I think we kinda made this clear, but just, and we probably will have made it clear in other ways before this podcast, but we believe in,

we think the streamings are a great thing. We believe in the concept of an internet award show. And I don't even necessarily, first of all, the vast majority of the awards that will be given tomorrow night are things that are determined by an actual academy, a committee or whatever. And what awards are we up for? We've got Buddy System for comedy,

GMM Show of the Year, and then Buddy System for Best Director as well for John Fortenberry, director of season one of Buddy System. So we'd love to take one of those home, but specifically Show of the Year and Personality of the Year, Person, I don't know what it is. Which we're not nominated specifically show of the year and personality of the year, or person, I don't know what it is. Which we're not nominated for person of the year.

The way they determine those is by popular vote. And we honestly were just like, listen, we made a big push for this last year, the year before, I don't know. And everybody did all this work and it was just like, I always felt a little bit dirty asking for votes, you know, because you have to constantly bombard people. But because people vote,

and they can bombard votes like a whole bunch in a day, every day leading up to the thing. I think you can just do once a day, but I mean, I'm sure people do multiple accounts. People end up doing a lot of work. Like it takes a lot of work to do it. And so anyway, as you. And we, yeah, you're right.

We haven't felt great about asking. I always feel weird about asking for votes for anything. I just wanna win an award based on merit, but I do understand the strategy and so I don't know. Well, and listen, part of the strategy is that when you vote on Twitter or wherever you vote, it churns a conversation about the streamies.

Which I believe in. And so by design, it's something that they engage fans to talk about who they're passionate about and also talk about something that they may not be passionate about, which is the something that they may not be passionate about which is the Streamys in order to make it a relevant part of the more relevant conversation. I mean that's part of their strategy.

Well yeah and I'm not faulting the strategy. It's one of the reasons that we're talking about the Streamys right now. Now but as you know instead of, we ask people instead of putting the effort into helping us win to put some effort into helping to protect net neutrality. And I just wanted to talk briefly about that because you know.

Because we sent people to savetheinternet.com. My thoughts on this, because a lot of people, I know that net neutrality is relatively, it's relatively controversial, right, because essentially you've got two sides of this issue. You've got the pro-net neutrality side,

which is saying that internet service providers shouldn't be able to discriminate in terms of the content that's on their infrastructure, and then you've got, which would involve a government regulation in order to protect that. And then you've got the anti- Yeah, whereas they could do, I mean, they would be much less limited or unregulated

to do what the heck they wanted with their pipes. But the other side of the coin is against net neutrality and this is a position that I sympathize with because I'm generally do believe that, you know, getting the government out of systems can be helpful. I'm pretty independent on this, but I do sympathize with the position that this could be government regulation,

which then would stifle innovation. So if you've got these people that are investing all this money into networks and infrastructure and then you're imposing regulation on them, then you may stifle them. If you treat the internet as a utility, then it's almost like, well, what happened with phones? How did phone line technology change over the 50 years

that we were using them or whatever? It's not exactly an apples to apples comparison. But I do sympathize with the argument that this additional regulation could stifle innovation. But here's what I'll say. Regardless of whether, I still feel great about sending people to save the internet and to lobby their congressman.

And I will jump in before you balance that. The reason why we said is because, I mean, from our perspective, I wanna protect against a situation where the way that we came up, like, I mean, this is not just about entertainment, but if you just, that's our experience. The way we came up was on a platform

where you could access our videos just as easy as you could access like a bonafide television show, which a bunch of gatekeepers funded and said, "'Okay, this is something you should watch.'" And so it gave us the ability to be seen and to create, to develop a show, a business, to become entertainers when otherwise,

before the internet, you had to convince a small group of people, gatekeepers, to allow you to make something that would then, they would put in front of their eyeballs that they had earned. And theoretically. Through their network. Theoretically without net neutrality,

the infrastructure providers could discriminate against content. Now, what I will say is that even though some people I saw some comments were like, there's absolutely no evidence of anybody ever doing that. Well that's not true, there are documented cases of those principles being infringed upon. But I do believe that competition between service providers,

it's like, if somebody's like, oh, if Comcast comes along and says I'm going to throttle YouTube or Netflix, well people are probably gonna go to AT&T or Verizon because, well, they're not throttling those things that so many people are using. So the argument is, if you just take the government's hands out of it, that the consumers will win

because there will be competition. I'm not saying I disagree with that principle, but this is what I think, and this is the whole point that I'm trying to get to, that I feel like is what makes our country and our political system a great thing, and I also think it kind of goes back to this whole building bridges, not walls thing that we've been trying to talk about,

which is how we want to speak into these political situations, is that I think that we're in a place in our country right now where if you believe, if you're on one side of the issue, of any particular issue, you demonize everybody're on one side of the issue, of any particular issue, you demonize everybody on the other side of the issue, you believe that they have absolutely no merit

to their argument. And I actually think that there's merit to both sides of this argument. And because of who's in power right now and who is the chairman of the FCC, we know what those interests are. So I think that it's healthy and balancing to speak to the consumer interest to say,

I don't exactly know where this is gonna come down in terms of legislation, but speaking up and going to savetheinternet.com and saying that we wanna make sure that consumers are protected and that content is not throttled or discriminated against, that will ensure that whatever legislation does get passed, it increases the chances that the consumer and the market will both be taken into account respectively

and we'll get the best result. You see what I'm saying? So I'm saying that I feel great about sending people to SaveTheInternet.com and to get them to take that action because we need a balancing force with this particular issue right now and hopefully wherever the legislation lands, it'll be the best compromise

because I do believe that there's a compromise. You don't want to kill this thing with government regulation and you don't want to say completely hands off and then the almighty dollar is the ultimate motivator and then people, especially poor people, usually end up suffering more than rich people and the inequality divide increases.

So all that to be said, I wanna say, those of you who kind of commented on our video and we said, hey, we're sending people to save the internet and we're pro net neutrality, who were like, you guys are stupid. I saw one guy who was like, I guess this is just a reminder, I like you guys because of your comedy,

not because you're intelligent, because if you're pro net neutrality, you're obviously an idiot. Thanks for that thoughtful comment. But I appreciate the people who came into the comments and gave the opposing argument in an intelligent and respectful way. I believe in that kind of dialogue.

But what I'm saying is that in spite of the fact that I think there are some legitimate arguments on that side of the table, there are legitimate arguments on this side of the table as well. And we can, and this applies to so many different issues that we are struggling with right now, is like, let's not demonize a whole group of people.

Let's say, what is the interest say what is the interest that they have? What are they scared of right now? And is there a way to address that need in a way that we can increase the good for the most people? I think that's a mythical thing to do. And I think it applies to net neutrality. But you still should go to save the internet.com and lobby.

Or if you don't agree, you can read about it some more. Yeah. You know, we're bringing attention to an issue and then you can, you don't have to agree with us and we don't expect any, we're not comfortable asking people who love our content to vote for us to win something. So I'm not comfortable asking people to just do something because I said it.

Yeah, just go read about it. That is for save the internet. If you developed an informed opinion about net neutrality, either way that you fall on the issue, I consider that a victory because at least you know what the issue is and what's at stake and then we can move forward in the best possible way. I think one of the things we can agree on

is that you like listening to Ear Biscuits. Hey! And maybe something else you can agree on is supporting the things that support making this a possibility. Ear Biscuits is supported by NatureBox. One of the reasons we named this podcast Ear Biscuits is because we are always thinking about food.

I think so, yes. But biscuits are not necessarily good for you. Sometimes you feel like that's the choice. I'm gonna choose between something that tastes good and is bad for me or something that's good for me that tastes bad, but with NatureBox, you do not have to make that choice. No, you don't.

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and Naturebox will deliver them right to your door, and there's no risk if you ever try a snack you don't like, don't eat it, don't eat it! Naturebox will replace it for free. Don't you eat it don't like, don't eat it, don't eat it! NatureBox will replace it for free. Don't you eat it, but you're gonna wanna eat it, cause it's good! And right now, NatureBox is offering you, Ear Biscuit-eer, 50% off your first order when you go to naturebox.com

slash ear, but you gotta go to that one, okay? NatureBox.com slash ear is that one, for 50% off your first order. What did I say? Naturebox.com slash ear. We have developed a relationship with Spotify. You know why? For a couple of reasons.

Number one, Ear Biscuits is available on Spotify. And number two, we've been creating some playlists over there. We got summer playlists, fall playlists, mythical playlists for your listening pleasure. You get in our brain, you get that audio in your brain of us, you know how we do. But a lot of people don't know.

A lot of people don't know that you can get. Spotify, Spotify. You know what, I think what you're doing right now is you're doing that audio and you're changing it to Spotify, which is You know what, I think what you're doing right now is you're doing that and you're changing it to Spotify, which is probably violating some sort of copyright law. And you know what, if we get sued, it's you get sued. I do not. You take the fall.

You take the fall. You take the fall and I'll find a new partner. What a weird ad read. A lot of people don't know that there are podcasts on Spotify. You know that if you're listening to Ear Biscuits on Spotify right now, but if you did not know that and you are a Spotify listener, go over there,

open the app, tap browse, and look for us in the podcast section. You can also go to spotify.com slash podcast, follow us, and then our episodes will be dropped into your library as soon as they drop. Spotify! That's good, you changed the melody. That's acceptable.

Let's get back to the biscuit. Last time I saw you, we were in a morgue together. That's right, we were. In a six drawer morgue. It That's right. In a six-drawer morgue. It was creepy. It was so creepy. And since then, we- Four-Body System, season two, I should say.

Especially Link has watched you in that morgue. Oh, yeah. Countless times. That's even creepier. Countless times. Well, but it- Was it part of the editing process, I hope? It was part of my professional job.

He calls it his little encouragement clip. He took it and every morning he wakes up. I need to see my Mayim in the Morgue encouragement clip. Wow. Mayim in the Morgue in the morning. There's a sentence that's never been uttered in the history of the planet. You know what?

We had, remember that? Yes. We had a little segment on some show. I don't know. That we did did it was called never been said before that's a gnome chomsky thing really is it the linguist yeah he had a whole thing about like you know the the unbelievable thing about our consciousness is we can understand that we can create sentences that have never been said before words that shouldn't even belong

together right we have the ability to put them together and make them grammatically correct. Hold on. What is unbelievable about that? Is it that we can do it or that we can know that we're doing it? I didn't know what you meant.

I think that we can know that we're doing it and that we can also, again, form them with proper semantics. It sounds right. In invent a totally new linguistic thing that works right like that's that's the hard wiring of language right that that exists no matter what nouns or verbs you use right like this is how language is structured well i think what's amazing about it no chomsky in 30 seconds is that what's amazing about it is that, what's amazing about it is that the nature of the universe and time itself and possibilities,

the fact that we can just sit here and one after another create completely original things. That's what's amazing about it to me, is that in spite of all the things that do exist, have existed and will exist, we can make novel things exist just right now. Right. And we are.

We are. I'm about to cry. You just touched me very deeply. Right. And you've never cried. Right. I've never cried in this room with the two of you. That's a first for you.

Could you cry? Are you someone who could? No. I'm not a cry on cue actor oh um a lot of young actors if they can do that like it literally goes on your resume so that if they need like a you know soap opera kid but right next to tap dancing and roller skating um what's interesting is um kids my for kids that's really kid actors. Okay. My father passed away two years ago, and I had to actually do some acting work, you know, like in that... Funeral?

No. What? Like, after he died, I had to go back to work. Okay. You were acting during the same period. I understood. Thank you. And what was interesting is that I did a part that required crying, which normally I can't

do, and it came like that. Oh, really? Because the emotions were just so right there. And I realized, oh, this is what method actors do, right? They create this environment of emotions so that you can bring it like that. It was uncomfortable, though, because it feels real. I wish that family members died recently well they're able so they can channel that's exactly what i meant they're able to actors are cool people they can access

those things like i can cry i do cry easily but not intentionally like commercials yeah boy i i can go i can turn it on a commercial right oh yeah like, and my dad's the same way. And it's funny, because you know my dad, and my dad and me, neither of us are known to be sensitive, emotional people, because in one sense we're not. But you're hardened in another sense, it's just like, I'll- What kind of commercials? Maybe that would give us more information.

Just like one, like a lost dog comes back. Oh, so something with emotional content. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it does make sense. But yet I'll go to a funeral and not cry. I remember feeling guilty for not crying at my grandmother's funeral. How old were you? Twelve?

Yeah, I mean, that's a different kind of thing. But he was consciously saving it for an acting job that he hadn't even acquired. Or for a commercial he had yet to see. Yeah. Someday, I'm going to see a commercial where a lost dog comes in. They need a cue.

That's what they need to do. I mean, who are we kidding? It's not like we have to know how to cry on command to act in Buddy System. I did. Both seasons. They gave you the drops buddy system. I did, both seasons. They gave you the drops, man. They did give me the drops.

You were trying really hard, but then they just said, bring the drops in. And they brought the drops in for me this season. Yeah, I got the drops this season. Fine, I'm gonna do it right now. No. Are you thinking about something specific? Are you just creating a cry face?

He's doing pretty good, though. I'm creating a cry face? He's doing pretty good though. I'm creating a cry face and soon the tears will come. Nope, I'm not gonna do it. This is an audio-centric place. We could just say, come on, just say that I was crying. Yeah, Link just cried like a baby. I was crying. He cried like Rhett watching a lost dog.

The lost dog's gotta come back. Oh, sorry. A dog just being lost and being alone. That's funny to you. Yeah, right. But when the dog comes back home, reunites. The commercial where the guy comes back from, the soldier comes back home and the dog eats him.

Oh, that kills me. I have chills right now just thinking about it. I'm gonna cry. But again, it's audio, so I'm not gonna do it. Yeah. That kills me. Yeah. I have chills right now. I'm going to start crying. I'm crying. I'm going to cry. But again, it's audio, so I'm not going to do it. You have lost dog bumps. It's like goose bumps for... Never mind. Now, recently, didn't you not speak for a while recently?

I did, yeah. I had to go on vocal rest. Yeah. And you know what? How did you know this? Well, because I follow her on Instagram, man. We keep up with each other. Oh.

I actually use the internet on a regular basis. Oh. But the use the internet on a regular basis. Oh. But. Yeah, I was on vocal rest for a month. The internet uses me. That's enough. You being on vocal rest for a month. Made my children.

Fed into my hypochondriacism. He's been talking about it for weeks on here. Do you think you need to go on vocal rest? Yeah. You'll know if you hemorrhage on your vocal cords. No, I actually, I've had them inspected twice now. I just have this lingering sore throat. I'm doing okay.

But the only reason I thought that I might need to go on vocal rest is because right when I was, literally the day that I was worrying about it the most, I saw your first video where somebody else was speaking for you. We're talking about this again. And I was like, oh no.

So now you have to tell me what happened. Somebody was speaking for you? Okay, start at the beginning. Well, so I have a YouTube channel, and we had literally like- What's the handle? It's Mayim Bialik. Yes. Just spelled exactly the way it sounds.

Yes. That was a joke because no one knows how to spell or say my name. Anyway, so we had just really started getting some regular, you know, consistency is important, which is one of the things I'm pretty sure you guys told me when I was starting out. And we had just started like consistently putting out videos we're like clocking them out and then i went on vocal rest and we're thinking well shoot what do we do now so what was the trauma oh so i hemorrhaged on my vocal cords from overuse and misuse and polyps forming overuse and misuse yeah and polyps what me. What do you mean? What do you mean overuse? How did you overuse and misuse?

I was on a book tour. You know, I burn the candle at all. I create a new end of the candle to burn it at. Right, yeah. So I'm kind of constantly producing, working, writing, making videos. And then I went on this book tour. It involved a lot of travel. Then I went to Kiev to film a SodaStream commercial.

And it was very, very, very long days with very few breaks. And I have a naturally raspy voice. And my dad had the same exact kind of voice. And he had the same exact diagnosis. He actually had surgery for this. And I'm hoping to avoid that. So basically, when you hemorrhage on your vocal cords, you know, like they stick a camera on your throat, and the doctor looks very disappointed at you it's like you hemorrhage twice and you but what does that physically mean like your vocal cord so there are blood vessels all over your cords and they can hemorrhage they explode that's a that's a word i don't like to use when i think about my vocal cords but yeah they explode bloody cords like literally they were dripping in blood. Bloody nodules

is what we were calling it. So we had to find creative ways to keep my YouTube channel going. For how long was the bed rest? I was on vocal rest for a month. That's an unusually long time. And I don't just mean like I wasn't speaking publicly.

I was not. I mean, my friend Noe, who works with me, he could tell you I was literally, I was angrily writing and like very frustrated when I couldn't communicate because I'm really. You can't whisper.

You cannot whisper. And I'm really like a person of words. Like, I love words. You know, my parents were English teachers and like I'm a person of like I that's my tool as my weapon is you and Noam Chomsky. Anyway, so, yeah, it was really crazy. We did a charades video. We did videos where I would write

and have someone else read what I wrote, like try and be like poetic about it. And you were sitting there silent while they read it? We did two with sign language, with American Sign Language interpreters, which is actually interesting. You innovated. Well, and also like,

it's actually very humbling and empowering in a mystical, I found like spiritual way to have your voice taken from you. Because it's really the universe saying to you, like, really stop, you know? Like, listen more and talk less. Have you ever done, like, a silent retreat before then? So I haven't. But, you know, as a Jewish person of faith, we have a lot of meditative aspects to traditional Jewish practice. And Yom Kippur, which is actually coming up in a little less than two weeks, that's a day when we also don't eat and we don't do all these other things.

And it's a day where you're silent a lot. You're praying. So I actually really tried to say, like, okay, universe, I get it. What can I learn and gather from this experience? Because, you know, also a mentor of mine told me to ask the God of my understanding to teach me lessons with joy and not with pain anymore, because this is a hard way to learn that lesson. But, you know, they say you keep getting the same lesson until you learn it. And so I feel like, okay, I really have learned to slow down and I've learned to listen

more and speak less. And I've learned to enjoy silence in a way that I really didn't before. I missed singing. That was actually harder than speaking. I missed my music and I would play piano and I would like, it was like, it wanted to come out, but yeah, pretty much. So in that given month, how many slip-ups did you have and did you have any moments where it's just like i gotta break it i have to speak i was because there's no cast you know if you break a limb or something right but they restrict it with a cast so it heals there's no cast for the vocal cords no there's willpower i mean that's literally it i was allowed to speak at the doctor's office for my you know my checkups with my ent i was allowed to speak at the doctor's office for my checkups with my ENT.

I was allowed to speak there. But it was almost like I didn't recognize my own voice. Who was that? Yeah, I was so not used to using it. And I'm supposed to learn to speak in a higher register like this. Really? Yeah. So apparently I'm resting on my vocal cords. And I've been doing that for 41 years.

That's one of the reasons that my wife speaks at a higher pitch. It's because she was trained as a teenager vocally. And so the first thing I noticed when we started dating is when she needed to yell, she would yell like this. And I was like, why would you actually yell? And she was like, I've trained myself to never yell. I'm not supposed to laugh vocally. This is how my ENT said I have to laugh.

Ready for that? Like, well, can you do something? Well, you guys are funny a lot. Say something funny, like tell a joke. Oh, gosh. How do you spell myambiolic, Link? G-O-O-D-L-U-C-K. That's how I'm supposed to laugh That was not satisfying to me

I knew it was a horrible joke But boy that made it feel worse I'm supposed to laugh like a hiss Did you spell good luck? Yeah I don't even understand that But it was funny But I'm supposed to hiss

I didn't understand that But it was funny That's the only way I am funny So yeah And sometimes with my kids Like I would really If I really needed to convey something, sometimes I would say, like, you know, I would bang on the table.

I can't speak. Yeah, because it's not the kind of thing where you undo all the work just because you speak. Do you want to know something really tragic? I threw my back. I threw my back completely out halfway through vocal rest. Oh, no. And when it happened, I was alone upstairs. I had just gotten out of the shower and I was drying my hair.

This has happened to me twice in my life. And when I mean my back went out. The two of you are up there. It brought me to my knees, the pain. And I could not speak or call out. So what I started doing. My friends were downstairs. I started going like this.

Whistling? Yeah. Whistling? Yeah. Whistling and beaning. She's taking the whistling. Buck naked, hair wet, because that's what I did. I was drying my hair with a towel. Like, someone come help me. I was on the floor. How long did it take? That's how you call a dog. I was then

with no voice. I was literally on bed rest for about 10 days. Oh my gosh. I know. What did you do to your back? Yeah, because I also have back problems. We should 10 days. Oh, my gosh. I know. What did you do to your back? Yeah, because I also have back problems. We should talk later. Yeah, we should. I mean, honestly, I think it's tension that's being held in my back for about 41 years.

Yeah, right. Yeah. That's what I discovered. So what you don't hold in your cords, you hold in your back. I'm finding new parts of my body that can hold pain and tension that I didn't even know. Exactly. That's what it's about. You gotta release it, Pilates.

I don't think you're a hypochondriac. Pilates makes me burp. Really? I'll tell ya. Pilates makes me pass gas out the other end. Because you're constantly like, contracting and squeezing. I take two classes a week.

Once a week, I'm by myself. I think it's pronounced pilates. Yeah, pilates. The once a week class where it's just me and the instructor and it's in the morning. I'm always nervous. I'm like, is this gonna be a farty day or not? You know, and then she's folding me up

and I'm like, well, she's not gonna walk away. She's gonna be right here next to me for an hour. I'm so bottled up out of there. When I, as soon as I walk out of the Pilates place, it is like, it's like your Nana. Are you like a balloon? I propel myself back to the car. I actually tried to do Pilates.

And here's my rule. Nothing against 65-year-old women with manicures and lots of jewelry and makeup. If you can wear all those things for a workout, that's not the workout I want to be for. You need to come to my class. It is intense. Studio City is a little heavy

on the 65-year-old women with manicures and lots of jewelry. This is intense, man. Do you know what I mean? Let's talk about your book. Can I drink this, by the way? You should be drinking it Drinking from that Ear biscuit jar

Is like drinking God nectar From a Hardened biscuit batter Beverage container Available only at Mythical.store I knew you were turning this

Into an ad You sell some great things By the way What else? I just Well some of your hoodies Are awesome I'm serious This is not, well, some of your hoodies are awesome. I'm serious.

This is not an advertisement. Yeah, some of our hoodies. But I've noticed more ads on your Instagram account that I've been seeing. Yeah. You have really cute things. Well, they're not, we don't call them ads. We call them like content adjacent.

Yeah. Posts. I didn't know we called it anything. Content adjacent. Well, anyway, sorry. Yeah. Posts. I didn't know we called it anything. Content adjacent.

Well, anyway, sorry. I'm interested in the journey of you writing this book. I mean, here it is. Because it's been out for a while. Here it is. I'm holding it. You talked about it so much that your cords exploded. That's right.

It came out in the spring. And I mean, it represents a lot of work, I know. Yeah. And a lot of yourself over how much time? I mean, I write in fits and spurts. You know, it was written over less than a year. Okay, that's good. Yeah.

Because you already wrote two other books, right? Yeah, this was my third book. But they're all totally different. Yeah, I wrote a book on um our experience with parenting um just parenting my boys i wrote a book a vegan cookbook of the recipes i most often cook for non-vegans um what's that called it's called mayim's vegan table now it would have been called plant-based but back then we didn't know to use that word oh and then this one is girling up yeah the science of being a girl. Pretty much.

Now, the interesting thing is that, okay, so you have a teenage daughter who's actually here. Yeah. Right over there. She's lurking. She's looming. But we all have kids who are at different stages, right? We've got kids who are about to go through puberty, kids who are going through puberty, and kids who have been through puberty. And can you believe that we are responsible

for them? Just let's just stop for a second. And we're responsible for these people. Yeah. Like that's scary to begin with. I think technically I am, but I think practically they know not to expect that of me anymore. Yeah. But like they're made of us. Yeah. That's I sometimes get freaked out, you know, just I'll look at them and them and you know they'll do something that reminds me of me or or of their dad and it's like that's a human being that's made of two people right yeah i was i was thinking of that the other day too i was just trippy it's like wow it's like you got this this shared experience that's a person yeah that's that's beautiful. That's weird. That's really beautiful.

The experience part, what are you talking about? What part, there was an experience. I didn't intend for me to be referring to that, that's not what we're here for. Creating a child, but it did sound that way. What I understood was you said, we had this shared experience that created a person. I was like, that's reproduction, Link.

It is, yeah. Do you write about that in here? Oh yes, she does. Oh yeah, that's in there. It gets, what is the word write about that in here? Oh, yes, she does. That's in there. What is the word that you would use? Technical? Very clear. Very clearly stated. Well, and I really tried to write, I mean, I'm trained as a neuroscientist, so

I'm a science communicator. I've always taught science, and that's what I did for many years after getting my PhD. So I really wanted to present it in an age appropriate way, but also not a talking down to kids way. Because I think that, you know, a lot of us were kind of spoken to that way and a lot of times- Or not spoken to.

Or not spoken to at all. And I really wanted to present it and like, here's the thing, like, let's not be afraid of these words. You don't have to love them. You don't have to shout them from the rooftops, but these are the parts of your body. This is what happens. And, you know, it's, I'm pretty conservative. You know, I don't, I don't do a lot of things that I think there's pressure to do in a lot of teen books because I really wanted it to appeal not only to younger kids, but to kids who are late bloomers like I was. What do you, so what do you mean pressure to do in a teen book? Like you're talking like preachy stuff? Well, like preachy stuff or kind of moralistic stuff

or even getting into some of the more complicated aspects that certain teenagers encounter when they're dating. And, you know, I didn't feel like it needed to be like a... Normalized. Yeah, I didn't want to normalize.

I mean, I didn't want to pass judgment on on behaviors but i also you know didn't want to have to feel like we need to talk about the full gamut of things which in my opinion are best left to be discussed privately or with your intimate partner got it i understand does that make sense yeah and i'll explain it to link yeah okay okay you're being respectful because my daughter's here too. Maybe we don't wanna talk about that stuff. Well. I did ask Lily to come on here. Yeah, the good news is is because she wrote this book,

you don't have to talk to Lily. Right. It's like I don't have a daughter. I mean I've had some awkward talks with my boys already. Still figuring that out. Oh yeah, I've had some awkward talks with my boys already. Still figuring that out. Oh, yeah. I have those too. Not with your boys.

Not with your boys. But I don't have to worry about this. I don't have to have this conversation that you have. But, you know, you probably should also talk to her in addition to just giving her a book. Well, this might, honestly, I think that for a lot of dads and also moms, it's also a good kind of framework and guideline for a set of conversations, because I do leave a lot, you know, kind of open ended. Like these are some things that you can talk about with a trusted adult if you want to. But even, you know, basic things about anatomy, like, you know, guys, especially of our generation, weren't really taught a lot. And when you have a daughter, especially if you're a, you know, an engaged dad, the way dads now are encouraged to be and are. You want to know more about, you know, your daughter and how she kind of functions.

I mean, my dad literally said, well, your mother said she was going to talk to you about the birds and bees. She never did. No, dad. She never did. Like, my dad and I had this conversation when I was in my 30s. Why did no one ever talk to me? He's like, your mother she never did. My dad and I had this conversation when I was in my 30s. Why did no one ever talk to me? He's like, your mother was supposed to. She said she was gonna take care of it.

Right, so, I mean, what's the sweet spot of the target audience for this thing? I'll read the- I'd say 10 to 18. My 11 year old read it, my boy, and he said the language was fine you know he didn't like seeing certain diagrams but that's normal okay chapter one how our bodies work two how we grow three how we learn four how we love five how we cope and six how we matter now I know that

I wanted to bring Lily on because she's read your book. Right. And I'm super proud of my daughter. I hope she liked it, otherwise this is gonna be a very awkward Yeah, let's see. portion of time. Lily, come on to the round table of dim lighting here. Welcome, Lily. Throw your...

Hi. Can we put these on? Yeah, put those on. Now I can hear you better. Yeah, and you can hear yourself. And bring the mic, you know, cozy up to that mic. You're the first Rhett or Link progeny to be on On Ear Biscuit. Is that right? Yeah. Now I can hear you better. Yeah, and you can hear yourself. And bring the mic, you know, cozy up to that mic. You're the first Rhett or Link progeny

to be on an Ear Biscuit. Is that right? Yeah, right. Yeah, you set the record. That's special. I've talked, I've probably talked about Lily more than any other child, especially going through the back surgery and everything.

We talked about it more on Ear Biscuits than anywhere else and super proud of, look at her. She's doing, she's done amazing. She's phenomenal. Yeah, look how she's sitting up straight. She's done amazing. She's phenomenal. Yeah. Look how she's sitting up straight. She's got the best posture of all of us. She absolutely does. She sure does.

She makes me feel like I just need to do this. Now, Lily, I made you read this book in preparation for coming on here, right? Well, no. My mom, well, she told me, she was like, oh, mine's writing a book. I was like, oh, I'm really excited to read it. And I read it in the first three weeks, maybe two weeks after it came out, I got it, and then I read it in.

I got a sneak copy. Did I not give it to you? I think you did. No, that's the one you gave to her. Okay, okay, I didn't make you buy your own. No. Use your allowance. Like I made my kids.

Yeah, you gotta get on, you gotta get those numbers up. You gotta register those sales. Yeah, but I read it in like three weeks. I was kinda off and on, because I was like deciding between like three books, if I was gonna read them all at the same time, or if I was gonna read them in separate,

I don't know, sections of the month. But I really did enjoy it. I loved it. Oh, that's nice. Wow. No awkward conversations. No, that's nice. Well, I'm sure we can find some.

Yeah, we'll make it awkward, don't worry. You know I'm gonna make it awkward, right? Yeah. I don't know how, but I'm sure I will. Oh yeah. But um. How does your body work, Lily? Well.

You just made it awkward. That's all it's up. All right, go ahead. Here you go. Oh thanks. She can take it, she's used to it. But one, like for the overall theme, I really loved how you use your knowledge of the brain and of, well, being a girl yourself.

But also like using personal experiences in more non-scientific situations to like explain different things and make it feel more real. Like not just, oh, this is a fact book this is like telling you what's going to happen what what you're made of and like what it's going to do like you it's not a science book it's not strictly but there's some science in there there's some which i really enjoy because i love science um I heard you like biology a lot. Yes, I do love biology a lot. Is there some neurology going on in this thing? In the book? Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, I talk about some of the chemicals that are, you know, activated, particularly in the love chapter. I talk about sort of the neurochemistry of that. Talk about fear and anxiety and depression. I talk about some of the chemicals for that. I mean, you know, the brain controls everything you do and perceive. Talk about some of the chemicals for that. I mean, you know, the brain controls everything you do and perceive. So, you know, kind of everything is neuroscience is, you know, sort of, well, I'm a little partial. But yeah, I mean, there's specific brain conversations in it.

But you're saying there's also like some juicy Mayim stories in there. Well, yeah, I talk about my experience, you know, liking boys and things like that and how poorly that went oh is this the kind of book that you need to like take like a satchel full of them to school and just start handing them out to other other girls do you think that would be how would that go i i mean i've definitely talked to some of my friends about hey i read this book and it's really great, and you should totally read it. Make them buy their own copy, though. Yeah.

Well, I mean, I got a book. I don't trust people borrowing my books. It's gone badly. You got to write. What do they do with your book? You got to write your name in them. Or they make those. In the old days, it was like a little imprint that you'd put on it.

Does no one know what I'm talking about? Like a wax seal? No, but it's like, it makes an imprint. It lifts the paper up in some places, like your initials. Oh, I know what that's called. I got one for my bat mitzvah. It's like a thing. And you mark every page of every book.

Embosser. It's an embosser. Not every page. Every page of every book you've ever read, you've embossed. This is how we know page of every book. Embosser. It's an embosser. Not every page. Every page of every book you've ever read, you've embossed. This is how we know it's your book. Never mind, really. But you wrote it because you thought that you filled the white space, so to speak. I didn't have, right.

This book didn't exist when I was a kid. There were books that were about science, you know, and about like how your body works. But they weren't, you know, and about like how your body works, but they weren't, you know, presented like this. And we have, you know, there's like, it's a comic book artist style, you know, illustrations and showing. I also wanted to show different shapes and sizes and body types and talk about that. So, yeah.

Because I mean, it definitely didn't exist when I was a kid and I needed that kind of, you know, information. was a kid and I needed that kind of, you know, information. And also, I think a lot of what I talk about is the variety of experience that that people, but especially girls have that, you know, I didn't know when it's normal to start your menstrual cycle. I didn't know what's normal. I didn't know what's abnormal. I didn't know that it's normal to be abnormal, you know, that your body takes some time to settle into what it's going to be like. And, you know, that what you look like, you know, I was a head shorter than every kid till about seventh or eighth or ninth grade. And now I'm an average height for a woman, you know, in my whole life, I thought, oh, my gosh, no one's gonna like me. I don't have breasts.

I'm really short. My nose is too big. Like, that was my experience. And what I wanted to I'm on TV. I'm very famous. That actually didn't that didn't that didn't help. I mean, that what I wanted to present was— I'm on TV. I'm very famous. That actually didn't help. I mean, that—and I talk about that also. Like, you know, most of the young women reading this book were not alive when Blossom was on and probably haven't seen it. She was on a show called Blossom. When I was three. Yeah, I know.

Have you seen that? Have you seen Blossom? I haven't seen it, but mom has. Where can you binge watch? I get that a lot. Where can you binge watch Blossom now? Is it on Netflix? No, no. It's not?

No, and only the first two seasons were released by Shout Factory. They didn't release seasons three, four, and five. They're in like a vault? You can't get them on Amazon? That's so weird. The first two seasons are like... I think people have posted them illegally. I don't know.

I mean, it doesn't feel that illegal, but it is. But anyway, I do talk about that, how sometimes getting too much attention can also feel yucky. Like there are different kinds of people. There are introverts. There are extroverts. But how did you – because that's the question I have is I can't imagine us having – you know, the fact that by the time this all started clicking into place for us as a career, that by the time this all started clicking into place for us as a career,

we were already 30 years old with kids and had real jobs. But there's just so many kids now who they get that, especially on YouTube, it's like something catches and all of a sudden you've got a 17-year-old kid who is famous. I mean, I can't imagine what would have happened to me. How did you turn out normal? Well, I don't know that I turned out normal. I mean, you know. How did you turn out healthy?

I'm an odd bird as they go. You know, I don't like. Because how old were you? So when I was on Blossom, I was 14 to 19. And I was in a movie called Beaches when I was 12. Right. I played the young Bette Midler. So I really just started acting a movie called Beaches when I was 12 I played the young Bette Midler so I really just started acting a bit before

Beaches I know I grew up with many people in the industry some of whom have passed away from excesses and so I don't like to say well here's how they should have lived so that

that wouldn't have happened to them because mental illness and drug abuse and alcohol abuse, like those things happen whether you're on TV or not, you know, to many people. So I know that what worked for me, you know, I mean, I come from an immigrant background. My grandparents are immigrants. So I was raised with a very strong work ethic, very kind of disciplined and conservative, you know, household. I had chores and, you know household I had chores and you know I had a whole structured life and my parents were very strict and I think for my personality you know that created boundaries that felt good for me I was a very anxious child you know I was not very social also the world was very different then there was no internet there was no publicity

telling girls that they should wear extensions and have their lips done when they're 16. You know, like I looked like a kid when I was a kid. And, you know, a lot of the public females that we see now, I think, don't have that that that right to sort of be innocent public people. So I think, you know, for me, that was really instilled by my parents. But again, you know, I knew kids in high school who weren't on TV who were also getting into trouble, and there are a lot of reasons for that. Sorry, I just made it sad.

Well, you know, you talk about how you were an anxious child. I mean, I'm an anxious adult too. I didn't mean to say it like, you know. You grew out of it. Well, that resonates with me. I mean, you know, raising my kids, I'm not that, well, I'm reminded like now when they're going into school and like there's a big milestone of, okay, moving from like homeschool and charter school to moving into public school and for the

first time this year and encountering a lot of new things and anxiety that comes along with that. And I'm reminded of like Lando going into second grade. It's kind of like when I went to kindergarten and even preschool, I remember being so anxious. You know, I think it wasn't something that I was aware of, that I was actively taught how to understand what was going on in my brain and in my body. Just to use that as kind of a case study. Totally.

Anxiety for me was something that, it was college when I really started to identify, well, the way I interact with school is totally based on anxiety. Yeah. Like until, with any, I go from assignment to assignment, trying to do, trying to get enough of it done ahead of time so that I can not be wigging out that it's not done. Like I was an anti-procrastinator because I was an anxious wreck.

Right. But I can trace it back through childhood, but it was something that I never actively talked about well I think people didn't you know yeah like culture is different now and I wanted also I wanted this book to be culturally relevant you know we didn't know what even gender fluidity was much less you know but but even it yeah even if it's not your thing to be a gender fluid person like this is the vernacular that our kids are growing up with you know so I at least wanted to introduce terms so that like we know even if it's not your thing to be a gender fluid person, like this is the vernacular that our kids are growing up with,

you know? So I at least wanted to introduce terms so that like, we know what we're talking about, you know? And then people can have whatever opinions they want, you know? But I think that's part of it. When we were like, no one wanted to hear that.

I was anxious. They wanted like, like finish what's on your plate, go do your homework and I'll tuck you in. And don't talk to dad when he gets home from work. Cause he's in a bad mood. Like those were the rules, like go outside outside and play that may still be a rule sometimes you know when not to talk to dad it's not a rule she just knows it's an understanding but no one

cared what we wanted for dinner like with my kids it's like what would you like oh gosh oh i don't want that oh no no one cared i was talking to jesse about this the other day, I was like, we have so many interactions with our children. I was just like, I was like, why do, and I've only got two. Exactly. I was like, why do we have so many interactions about everything, and I was like, I'm just thinking back to the way I interacted

with my parents, and it was just like, you're outside. Yep. And then your mom yells to come back. Yep. And then you eat, and if you don't eat, you get in trouble. That's right. And then you go watch something,

and then it's bedtime. I was like, just getting Shepard to go to bed. Oh my gosh. It's like, you know what it was for me? It was Dukes of Hazzard going off. Yeah. And I specifically remember the NBC sound. Yes!

And that was like, ding! You immediately fell asleep, you were like Pavlov's dog. And so it was like, oh, I gotta go to sleep. It's just like, boy, I wish I could have a bell that would make my kids go to sleep. It's like, no, we have to have an argument, and we have to. Or even a conversation, right?

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, conversation, yeah. Let's talk about it. Yeah, but ultimately, the thing I keep reminding myself of is like, I think this is better. I think this is a better way. But it is more exhausting. It's more taxing for the parents. It's more exhausting, yes. But you're cultivating self-awareness.

I mean, if it's – Lily, I'm curious for you. Is there something that it impacted how you thought about yourself? Like the level that you think about yourself and how your brain works or, okay. You know, for me, it was anxiety that I didn't think about. You know, is there something like that from the book for you that got you thinking? Yeah. I mean, it's really just like, I guess, the science-y stuff. So like, I'll read something or even in biology class right now, I'll be like,

oh, we're learning about DNA or, oh, this is what happens in your brain when you do this. And then it's like, oh my gosh, that actually happens in my head like there's there's a there's a thing in my head that does that stuff and then it's like oh i like right here in my arm there's there's dna like there's a cell that has dna in the nucleus and it it's like, that's just like, sometimes it's just like, whoa. And sometimes there's impulses in your brain that you know you can separate yourself from that and you don't have to act on it.

You are not your brain? Is that what you're saying? Yeah, your brain is just an organ that just, it has all these impulses. You are not your thoughts. Do you mean, wait, hold on. You don't have to act on everything. Do you mean electrical impulses or like urges?

Yeah, I'm talking about urges. Let's talk about that. Like dating urges. Well, that's. Like just to date as an urge is not healthy. I don't know. I don't want to put Lily on the spot, but I actually speak about the part of the brain that is not fully developed in teenagers, which is responsible for controlling urges. And it's the reason that we don't like young people.

I mean, one of the reasons we don't like young people to drink alcohol, to do drugs, even to be responsible for driving or being responsible for other important things is because the frontal lobe of your brain is not fully developed. And that literally is what controls impulses. And that notion of like, if your parents tell you don't do this, and you know, you remember being a teenager, it's like, why not? That's literally like, you're not done developing. Do you think a neuroscientist told the rental car companies that the magic age was 26? 25. I think they did. Because it's so weird that once you get past 25, that's when you can rent a car technically and the rates go down. And that's when your frontal cortex is completely developed. My kids asked me the other day, they were learning about banking. We were learning

about the fact that they have accounts and, well, when can I have that account, Mama? And I said, well, when you're 25. And they said, well, why not 18? I said, because your father and I sat with a lawyer and we decided that we didn't want you having money at your disposal at 18. Because the things that you think of at 18 are not necessarily the things you might want to do with money. Yeah. Well, and I remind myself of that a lot of times when I'm reasoning. I'm going to use the term reasoning with my kids. And like Locke, you know, who's a teenager now,

and then I find myself talking to him about something and then I have to remember, I'm like, I want to just take the logical thought that I feel like I'm having and just put it in his brain. Yeah, but they also have to experience things for themselves, which is important, but... But not dating. No, and it's funny because someone was saying,

oh, you got to learn it for yourself. I said, no, I was a very obedient child and teenager, and I didn't do the things that they said not to do, and it turned out okay. I figured it out eventually. Right. Yeah. My best friend friend she was like

she told me before i read your book she was like okay so this like the frontal lobe isn't fully developed when like until 25 for males and i don't for females it is it sooner that it's probably yeah and i wouldn't be surprised and then and then is it sooner that it's developed? Probably. Yeah. I wouldn't be surprised. And then I was like. And then it's more developed in comparison. Yeah. There's not like a leveling out. So thinking of the teenage years for girls and guys,

but like there's just this moment of realization like that makes a lot of sense. Right. But also like when, you know, you don't wake up at your age and say, like, well, here's another day with me not having all my faculties. You know, you feel like you've got it together, you know, because you're going through life and all of all the things that that my kids and that our kids and that, you know, young people experience. It's it's real.

You know, there may not be all the information and experience, but it's real. And I remember the pain of not being allowed to watch this movie or not being able to watch this TV show because my parents were really strict about that or not being able to go out at night. And it felt really unfair. I was the only teenager who wasn't allowed to drive

when the first girl in our class got her driver's license. And every other kid got to go out driving with her. And they had a great time and I had to stay home because my parents didn't think that that was safe you know and i remember that just feels crummy like even though logically i get it it feels crummy to be that kid you know oh yeah anyway i hear that quite a bit well lily uh we can let you off the hook here and is that do you have any other pressing questions for Mayim based on the book? I'm really putting you on the spot.

You're doing great by the way. Yeah you are doing great. She almost seems prepped, but I know she's not because that would have required some forethought. From me? From you. Come on man. This is your opportunity to take up from me and say how I'm such a great dad.

It's no longer about my or her book. I'm happy to witness this. Your party words can have something to do with how great I am because you know you're my favorite. I mean, I tell you that all the time when none of the other kids are around. Sure, not that our dog is your favorite child or whatever.

You know, none of that. Have I said that out loud? Uh-huh. Oh. Whoops. But I still love you a lot. That's what happens. I do love you a whole lot.

Thank you, Dad. I love you, too. Oh, my gosh. I feel it coming. All right, let's act. Yeah, if I ever have to cry on cue, I'm going to think of that moment. Lily, thank you.

So you can sit back over, you don't have to be on the, be in the pressure seat anymore. The hot seat, I think is what it's called. It is called the hot, the pressure seat sounds like something different. The pressure seat. Yeah, it's like a 17th century torture device. Well thanks for having me on, it was fun.

Thanks for being on. Yeah, thanks Lily. Thanks for reading my book and liking it. Maybe one day you'll write a book. She'll write a book like this. About being a vegan, I won't let her be a vegan. Draw the line there. You know, we actually just, just right before we came in here,

well like this happened to me like eight hours ago, I saw our printed book for the first time. I can't wait. But you just saw ours, you've been in the edit all day. Yeah, I know. Just an hour ago. I saw it on,

I was talking to Rhett and I looked down at the desk and I saw we've had like preliminary paperback versions of the book. The galley copies. The galley copies, yeah. And I thought that's what it was. And then it was shiny. A little bit different.

So I saw it. I can't wait. I wasn't going to bring that up because this was about her book. No, I'm just saying, I'm just looking at her book and thinking the fact that it's such a good feeling, right? My aunt just sent me a picture from a bookstore in San Jose and it was like, my book

was on the shelf and she just couldn't believe it. She took a picture. Yeah, because I don't know what it is. I mean, as somebody who's – you've been in a lot of things. You've created a lot of things. And all the videos that we've created that are still out there, but it just – I don't know. It's not as permanent. Yeah, it's like you've got this book, and it's just like,

I was actually thinking about it in the context of the kids. I mean, we talked about this as we were writing it. It was like so much of this, because a lot of it is very memoir-based, and I was like, there's so much of this stuff that I've told bits and pieces of these stories to the boys, but it's like, oh, it's like, yeah, just read this book because. Yeah, there absolutely was a point when we were writing and I was like, this is gonna be,

even if only our kids read this, I will be so glad. And me. Yeah, I don't know, it's just looking at the physical book and this is your third one. It feels very like Forrest Gump to me, you know, like they put my face on this book that's not really my, you know, like I feel like I've been inserted into it.

And also. I don't remember Forrest Gump being like a ghost writer. No, not like that. The face of a book, ghost written. Never mind. Just the way he had the moments, you know. But, well, and also, I was a kid once. A kid once. I see that, yeah.

The picture in the back of young Mayim. With a pickle pick. And you know how it is, like, when celebrities write books, right? And you actually, you said this you know how it is, like, when celebrities write books, right? And you actually, you said this in an interview. I don't like when celebrities write books. That like, and for good reason, right? Because people, so many people,

and I think this is definitely true, it's not any less true of YouTubers, it's just like, oh, you got an audience, fart a book out, so they'll buy it. And we, you know,'s that trend started happening on youtube yeah they call it amateur by amateur autobiography right right yeah and not condescending at all no i didn't call it that that's the thing that well meaning it's not someone who's an author it's someone you know who hasn't written before and they're writing their story for the you know the

fan base that will find it you know something that they want. Well, then you're thinking like, okay, well. Which is fine. Did they actually write it? Not everybody did, right? Right. So there's probably some ghost writer here and some of them you pick up and you're like, this is not a book.

This is pictures. Well, sometimes it's like stories. So, but the thing I, well, I'm bragging about your book and our book together. That's what this is turning into. Yeah, we're trying to make some sort of association here. No, because it's like.

There's some coattail action happening. Because I can feel the, like, with all the stuff that you've done, but especially with this one, this seems like the one that is the most like, this is the thing that I had to get out of myself. And also I think what's special, and I'm assuming you may have had a similar experience,

like many people have come to me in the past year since I've been on Big Bang Theory to say, can we slap your face on a book and call it science for girls and sell a lot of copies? And I kept saying no, because I mean, that's not, it's not true to, forget about my brand. Like, what's science?

You know, and I literally sent an email to one of these publishers saying, I'm sorry, which science do you mean? Do you mean biology? Do you mean physics? Do you mean chemistry? Like, what do you mean? There's no – Just science. Right.

It's like that's not a book to slap my face on. And this was really, you know, when Jill Sansopolo from Penguin reached out to me, she had read an article that I wrote for Grok Nation for my website about the episode where Amy and Sheldon are intimate for the first time. And I wrote about it as a late bloomer playing a late bloomer on television. And she literally reached out for that reason. And that really spoke to me because she said, I like the way you spoke about being a late bloomer and some of the benefits of that and I'm wondering if you'd like to share that with a broader audience and I said well since you seem to be a real person of substance can I pitch you this and I pitched this book I said what if that's just part of the experience of sharing about what it's like to be

female some of us are late bloomers some of us aren't here are the things you should know about your body that no one ever told me you know here's the way to kind of put yourself out into the world as a female so it's the book that you know i feel most closely connected to because i really had to fight for it you know right it wasn't just like let's do a book and you know i mean you know as lily indicated like there's science and like i'm trained as a scientist that's what i that's what i am it's not cutesy stories about like, first I like this boy. It's like I like this boy that no one else liked because he was a goth and I cried about him for six years. His name was Misha.

Misha is mentioned in the book. He was a goth. Yeah, he was dark and he liked sex pistols. Is he still a goth? Have you looked him up? No, he says that – I've spoken to him since. We connected in college. He said that the years that I had a crush on him, which was literally from seventh grade through twelfth grade,

he said those were his golden years. He's like, baby has been all down here and there. I'm never dressing black anymore. He's not goth anymore? I don't think so. It's really tough to maintain that. Pretty ironic. I don't know that he was goth.

Goth to be your golden years. No, he was more like blackened years. He was more punk rock, I'd say. Okay. But, you know, there was all those circles. Yeah, especially in rural North Carolina. Was eyeliner involved? We just called them-

No, no, no eyeliner, no. The alternative kids. Yeah. They hung out in like punk, goth, whatever. They smushed us all together. There was a category of people called heshers that very few people seem to know that term. I don't know if it's a West Coast term.

Really? MC Hesher? No, the guys who wore like the Metallica shirts and the skinny black. Like they kind of looked like Ramones guys. Okay. We called them heshers. It's probably we just didn't have any.

You weren't a hesher. You just crushed on them. No, I wore Doc Martens and fishnets almost every day. And I was like the girl who wore like the peasant skirts and like the linen glasses and you know. Okay. Ironic. I get it.

I read Dostoevsky in my spare time. Oh wow, yeah, I didn't read until I was 30. And now you wrote a book? Yeah, right. Look at you now. Yeah, no no I read some of the book yeah yeah

but substance the word that you use when you were talking about the editor that approached you yeah a person of substance because you had an idea

ideas of substance and wanted to write a book of substance and that it's just it's not I don't know it's

I don't want to be one of those people it's becoming rarer it's not it is though and people say you know and also I mean you know the YouTube world like I don't want to be one of those people who's like, it's becoming rarer. It's not. It is, though. And people say, you know, and also, I mean, you know the YouTube world. Like, I think it's really impossible to try and do what I've done already, which is like, I'm not that, I don't think I'm that interesting. I just, like, have a lot of strong opinions about things.

But people seem to want to hear them. And we're trying to lighten me up a little bit. I mean, I've been told I'm too old since I'm five years old you know like i've been told i'm too cerebral and too you know and i can be fun hey hey listen you've seen me be fun i've seen you i wore things on my head yeah but yeah but you know i i like things of substance because for me those have been the things that have caused the most personal change and the most change that I see that I can affect in the world like that's literally like that's a thing of mine right for reals yeah

yeah it's like dent the universe like Logan Paul says yeah let's talk about substance hey come on I mean if you're choosing between Logan and Paul I mean I mean Logan and Jake if you choose between a first and a last name of the same person you're kind of just talking about a person I mean if you're choosing between Logan and Jake. If you choose between a first and a last name of the same person, you're kinda just talking about a person.

I mean if you're choosing between Logan and Jake, I mean I think the substance is on Logan's side. That's all I gotta say in the Logan-Jake debate. Wow. There you go. What do you think about that? I'm wearing a Wolverine shirt, so Logan's great. Okay.

You like that? See what I did there? So your oldest son read the book. Correct. He was my first editor, as I said. First editor? Yeah. And then he's like, write one for me too.

Did he? I'm working on it. Oh, yeah? Oh, wow. She whispered. She's not supposed to whisper because of the nodes, but she did. So boy-ing up with you on the cover? Maybe.

Put Forrest Gump on the cover. Boy-ing up. I wonder how much you would. You're not, why didn't you respond to that? How much would you have to pay Tom Hanks? I'm not allowed to yet. How much would you have to pay Tom Hanks to just be on the cover of a book?

You're like, that's all you have to do. We're not gonna say it's by you, it's just I want you to be on the cover of my book. I don't know the answer to that question. We should've thought of that. We should've put Tom Hanks in that cereal bowl. We could list that as a sentence that's never been uttered. How much would it take to put Tom Hanks in that cereal bowl. We could list that as a sentence that's never been uttered.

How much would it take to put Tom Hanks on the cover of a book? Yeah. How much money do you have to pay? I'm pretty sure that's what she'll say. Oh, people probably have asked that actually. A lot of frustrated editors. All the ones that called you then called him and said that. He probably gets phone calls about that kind of thing all the time.

Well, even though it's been out for a few months, I'm glad we were able to talk about it. I really appreciate it. I appreciate your support. Yeah. I do. If you don't have it, get it. It's still out there.

It's a fun read. I mean, it's a light read. It's not like a textbook. No. Did you do an audible, an audio book? I did just before my voice went out. Oh, you did? I did.

It was the first book I've ever narrated of the three that I've done. I've never, you know, spoken the other ones. And it was really fun. A little hard to explain some of the diagrams. Yeah, right. So we recorded our book a few weeks ago. Yeah, you have to kind of work around some stuff.

But the thing that we talked about is it's a totally unique experience because Totally. It's like, well, For the listener, you mean. Yeah, we actually end up having to explain things in a way that you wouldn't get if you just got the books. You kind of got to do both. Also, I found the experience kind of interesting. You don't think that much about how you speak.

But when you read things for a long period of time, you start having the same intonation every sentence. And every sentence sounds like this. So she would stop me and say, you're getting a little sing-songy. And she got a little stern about it. I was like, oh dear, too sing-songy. We sat here. I mean, there's two,

we would bat it back and forth. So we'd have some built-in recovery time. But yeah, the director guy, he would sit right here. And then we would usually correct each other before he would. He was like, why am I even here? Why am I here? They direct each other. They keep jumping down each other's throats.

I got to back away slowly. It's getting heated and awkward in here. And they're doing my job. That'll be your next book. Heated and Awkward. Heated and Awkward. Write that down. With Tom Hanks on the cover.

I get to be heated. Okay. Sure, you can be first this time. Well then you, I don't wanna be awkward. I'll be awkward. I've been that long enough. Heated and Awkward, starring Tom Hanks. Hold on. That's gonna come on after Big Bang Theory, yo. It's just like, stay tuned. New on CBS this fall.

Heated and Awkward, it'll be on for a few episodes. It does sound like something that would sell. Starring two guys. John Heated and Mike Awkward. Mike Awkward. Oh, we can sell it. It's sold. Will you be in it?

Why is it John Heated and Mike Awkward? Why is this such a stupidly good idea? Hey, listen. If we sell this show, you're in. I'll say I knew you when. Okay, all right, I wanted to make like a development deal right here. If we sell John Heated and Mike Awkward. You've had some really famous people on Instagram.

They get in a dating, they get in a love quadrant with Hot and Heavy. A love quadrant? Heated and Awkward get in a love quadrant with hot and heavy. A love quadrant? Heated and awkward get in a love quadrant with hot and heavy. What's a love quadrant? I think it's like polyamory. No. Oh, for Pete.

No. Love trapezoid. You can't put that on network television. No, I'm just saying it's like a love triangle, but it's for people. I just did two videos about this issue of polyamory. Really? Because I know nothing about it and I got it all wrong in my first video, so I made an apology video. Okay.

So you didn't take the first one down? No, I spoke to four people, actually clinicians, in the polyam community who told me what I literally got. Not just like, oh, you're wrong, you should think it's great. Oh, what you got wrong. Like literally, I used the wrong words, and so I made a new video, not just like oh you're wrong you should think oh what you got wrong like literally i use the wrong words and so i i made a new video and it's kind of crazy but i got some really great love people saying it's good that you left the other one up is what i'm saying yeah so you can keep

monetizing people were like thank you for admitting you were wrong and even if it's still not your jam we appreciate you clarifying the terminology well Well, we need to consult them. I might need to send you those links. Yeah. Because maybe you didn't mean polyam. Maybe you meant open relationship. Well, I was just... Never mind.

I was making an offhanded joke about a love triangle has nothing to do with any of this, guys. But you said love, right? I said a love quadrant because there's four people. But it's the same. It's a love triangle. He did it awkward and hot and heavy. Oh man.

Yeah, all I'm saying is that each person like the next person like the next person. There's no overlap. Train of like. Oh, it's a train. It's a train, man. Is it a dance show? It's a soul train.

It's a dancing show. It's a reality dance competition. We're bringing soul train back and we're calling it heated and awkward. Mayim, thanks for coming in. We'll have you sound the, sound, sign the table. Oh, I would love to. You're in second. Let's get that.

This was fun. This was super fun, thank you. We'll have to do this again. I would love to. And we need to talk about our medical issues apparently. Yeah, we do. We need to talk about getting old. I'm gonna check out for that.