Ear Biscuits with Rhett & Link - Anniversaries and Pork Chops | Ear Biscuits Ep. 385

Episode Date: June 12, 2023

Talk about the ups and downs of getting a pork chop! In this episode, Rhett and Link talk about their recent wedding anniversaries, which both involved a story about pork chops. Plus, they get into their thoughts on new technology, as well as some reflection on their relationships with their own creative process. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/EAR and get on your way to being your best self. Thrive Market: Healthy living made easy – thrivemarket.com/EAR 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

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Welcome to Ear Biscuits, the podcast where two lifelong friends talk about life for a long time. I'm Rhett. And I'm Link. This week at the roundtable of dim lighting, we're talking about all the stuff that's happened to us over the past little over a week. I celebrated an anniversary. I celebrated an anniversary. I celebrated an anniversary. I celebrated an anniversary. I had a delayed celebration of my birthday. Of course, I'm celebrating that all month.

I heard about that. And then, yeah, me and Christy's anniversary. Did I already say that? Yeah, 23 years for you, 22 years for me. I've been trying to catch up, but you keep beating me. I keep going. Did you just wish that my marriage would end? Well, it did sound like that, didn't it? That would be the only way that I can beat you.

So, yeah. Don't do that. So, yeah. Well, what if it just pauses? Okay, can you guys get separated for a year? Just so I can catch up. No, get separated for two years so I can be in the league. And then be happier than ever.

Well, you don't know. You don't know. You don't know how it's going to work if you get separated. Well, first of all, no. Because you don't know any different. We're not going to get separated. Does your wife listen to this podcast? That's not on the table. Sometimes she does. I think she reads the comments to decide if she needs to listen. Okay.

All right. Well, scratch all that. So we are not getting separated. It's not in our vocabulary. Okay. And I was only suggesting it for the sake of me being in the lead in our number of years that we celebrate. Right.

Is there something you could do to just accelerate your marriage? Hmm. Can you do a two for one? What do you mean? How did you get two years and one? No. Marry another person? No, no. I definitely don't want to do that. One is enough. I don't know. I think maybe I'm stuck.

I think you are, Rhett. I think I'm stuck one year behind. Yeah. I think we're going to have to be waiting until the departure of one of us. I'm talking about death. So you got married in the- So you'll catch up if one of us dies before either one of you die, which of course isn't going to happen, because as you said many times, tall people die earlier, because I guess the blood has been working too hard to get to everything.

I don't know how it works, but it is statistically true. So you have a really easy way of remembering your anniversary. Yep. Slightly easier than mine. Like you just look at the year that it is and that's the year that you're celebrating. And thank God for that. Because that's the only way I never, you know,

any number that I have to like get plucked from my brain and then shoot out of my mouth, there's this membrane that all numbers go through from my brain to my mouth. And it's a belief that I'm not going to be right about it because I've been so wrong about numbers. But this is the interesting thing because I didn't realize how easy it was to remember my anniversary and also my wife's age until she explained it to me. She was born in 2000? She was born in 1980. So she was basically like, yeah, whatever year it is, is the year in that December is the year that she's turning. Plus 20. This is already too complicated. Plus 20. This is already too complicated.

Yeah, yeah, plus 20. Yeah, yeah, right. So the year that in December of the year, you add 20, and that's how old she is. But that's only true for a month. Not even a month. Her birthday is December 23rd? No, December 18th. December 18th. If I'm thinking about it, though. You got like a week to use this mnemonic.

And I could be wrong. She explained this to me, and I was like, I've never thought about this. Because we were celebrating our 22nd anniversary. Can I ask? I was like, 20, oh, yeah, whatever year it is, we just take one off, and that's our anniversary. And I never used that math. And the interesting thing about yours is so much easier because it's just the year. So much easier. Yeah, that's why we did it. However...

Plus we really wanted to have sex. I can't tell you... And be married. The number of times I've seen someone ask you how long you've been married and you don't know. Well, that's because I'm trying to figure out what year it is. You haven't been using this method. I haven't been using this method. No, I used the method 23 years.

Why are you so slow to answer the question? I told you, because I have a membrane. Any number. You don't know what year it is? No, I'm like that guy. So if you get a concussion, asking you what year it is is not going to be valid. You can't ask me who the president is. Well, I think you can right now. But like, it takes a good year.

I mean, it's like, it takes until, I would say, April, until I'm really solid on the year. And that was really bad, because I don't write checks anymore. That's how you know what year it is, is how you write checks. Well, that's what trained me. It's like, new year, write that on your check. Yeah, I remember those. You know? What else do you date?

The only other thing I date is business documents. I just kind of feel like I'm bombarded with it. Starts with the glasses on New Year's Eve. The glasses? You know, the year glasses that everybody wears? That's how I register the year it is. Oh. Okay, yeah, it's like, I mean,

we both sound really stupid right now. Well, one of us sounds stupider. Yeah, and I know you're talking about me. See, I'm not that stupid. I had a thing happen this morning on the way in that really just made me happy that I live where I live. And let me tell you, because where else can this happen? I mean, I guess it could technically happen anywhere,

but it's much more likely to happen here in beautiful Los Angeles, California. I need this story, because nothing good happened to me on the way in. I was behind a car, and I looked at the license plate, and they had one of those license plate holders that has something written on it. And it said, tell me if you've ever seen this. I'm against those, by the way, but I'll put a pin in that.

Well, you wouldn't be against this one. Mm-hmm. I won this car on the Price is Right. Oh, what? I won this car on the Price is Right. Oh, what? I won this car on the Price is Right. On the Price is Right. And I don't think you can get that at just any store. I believe it to be true.

I believe it might be illegal to put that on your car if you didn't actually win the car on the Price is Right. Why, before we get into what really matters, why did you say that you love living in this town? What about this town has to do with driving a car that you want at a price that's right? You could live anywhere. Because the percentage of people who are on game shows that are in this town are much higher because these shows are shot in this town. How many of these license plate borders have you seen?

One. Oh, okay, well. And I've been to a lot of towns. Only in this town. So anecdotally.. And I've been to a lot of towns. Only in this town. So anecdotally. This is a great town to live in. I'm just saying. You know why? When I saw it, I was like,

hey, that person, yeah, that show is shot in this town. I mean, we have an employee who went on the Wheel of Fortune and won a vacation and then turned it down because of the tax implications. I mean, where else can that happen? That would be David. That's not happening in Omaha. Nothing against Omaha, it's beautiful. Been there once.

I think, I don't know. I'm trying to figure out if it's just as likely to. It's definitely not just as likely to happen anywhere else. Just because there's more people that participate in the Price is Right locally. Yeah, and also it might be somebody who works on the show and it's like, I'm going to get one of those for my car because that seems fun. Because it's probably not illegal.

So did you try to get up beside them? I wanted to. Get them to roll the window down? Congratulations! I wanted to see who they were. Congratulations! Well, that's what they're looking for, obviously, if they're going to put it on the back of the car. Unless, actually, to go back to your earlier point, which

you don't like these things, they put these on your car when you buy them. That's what I don't like. And here's the difference between me and you. It's advertisement. You take it off, and I'm just like, well, it's on there. I'm not going to take it off. And so when you get one from The Price is Right, they obviously put that on the car, and then you don't take it off. And so when you get one from The Price is Right, they obviously put that on the car and then you don't take it off. Let me be more specific. I don't like the dealership putting their advertisement on the back of my car. I wouldn't say, I wouldn't ask for it.

But like, I'd rather be fishing, golfing, rock climbing, vacuuming, napping. Yeah, but those are all great. You don't have that, you have nothing. I have nothing. Right, and nothing that doesn't look as good as a border, even if the border says the dealership on it. I have one of those custom California tags

that's got the black background, and I kind of feel like it does look okay. Are you saying that I need a border? Well, I've thought it many times. Well, oh, really? Yeah. Well, I'll get a blank one. Or... See, now you're putting in effort that's unnecessary.

I don't like it to say... If it's going to say something, I need to believe it. Like, I won this car and the price is right. But you did get the car from the dealership. That's why I don't feel bad about it. Yeah, but that's free advertising. Okay. I feel like I should have gotten a discount for that.

How many people are going to look at that and then decide that? I just don't see it. I mean, I know it is advertising, but- What else could it be? I guess I don't care because they did a service for me. Now, as I've established before, I do not agree if somebody's working on your house-

No, they didn't do a service. They sold you a car. That's a product. Right, but they sold you the car. I mean, you decided to buy it from them. You chose them. So you have one of those? On all my cars because I don't take them off. It's just if you give me a car that's got something on it. In fact, when I went to the, when I got my FJ worked on at the 4x4 place, they just put like a 4x4 thing on my license plate.

I didn't take that off. I'm like, I don't care and it takes, I have to get a screwdriver out. Well, they did provide a service. I had to get a screwdriver out and take that thing off. And why am I going to do that? Now, this is different than somebody putting a sign in your front yard if they just did your roof.

It's the same. No, because a sign in your yard, that feels intrusive because not everybody has a sign in their yard. You know what I mean? That's true. Also, listen, I'm not against the American flag, but there's a guy who goes around my neighborhood, and I believe he goes around many Los Angeles neighborhoods,

who's a realtor, and he puts little American flags. Yeah, with his business card underneath it. On each side of your driveway. Oh, two of them. I think I got one from that guy one time. I felt a little bit bad when I just picked them up and threw them both in the trash can. Right.

Because he wants you to feel bad about throwing away the American flag. It's manipulative. That's manipulative. I don't feel that way about the license plate. But the thing underneath, it is an advertisement for him, for his business. Yeah, but I didn't... He doesn't know what my relationship to the United States is.

You know, he doesn't know. He doesn't know how I feel about that. He's making a lot of assumptions. Well, judging you by your actions, it sounds like you don't like the American flag. I love the American flag, but interestingly, when we were kids, having the American flag flying in front of your house was like, almost everybody did it, and now it's become a little bit of like a...

It's sad. It's like a weird statement now, unfortunately. Yeah, yeah. It's unfortunate. It's become this act of aggression, almost. And when a realtor puts it in your front yard, it is an act of aggression. I think that should be illegal. I think that should be illegal. I think it should be illegal to put a flag in someone else's yard.

Right. So I'm going to be campaigning for that. What about putting a flag on the moon? That's what us Americans did too. That was, I mean, that was, and we got there first. We got there first. We put a flag on it. Yeah, yeah, we did.

But I don't think that, I mean, does it mean that, does it mean anything besides we got there first? Because typically if you put a flag in something, it means that you're like colonizing. Well, no, I believe that Neil Armstrong was a realtor. Oh, he was a realtor. He was advertising his, it was a little business card. If you look closely, and actually I don't know

if he's the one who put the American flag up. That might have been Buzz. I don't know who did the flag. One small step for man, one giant leap for real estate. Free real estate. It's on the moon. It's free real estate. You remember that?

Oh, yeah. I bought a square foot or something, I think, at some point. Of the moon? I'm talking about the Tim Heidecker meme Oh, it's free real estate It's free real estate But yeah, I don't I don't believe in People Putting advertisements on my properties

Without my permission If you ask me Yeah, you should ask me I'll probably still say no putting advertisements on my properties without my permission. If you ask me. Yeah, you should ask me. I'll probably still say no. No, thank you. You going to give me a discount? When I got my Toyota pickup back in, I guess it was the year 1999. I no longer have it.

The dealership had put, they'd gone a step further, and they had put a sticker on the, what's the thing on the back of the truck? The tailgate. You should never own a truck again. And then, yeah, I probably won't. You just disqualified yourself. Tailgate. And it was just stuck on there, and it said, like, Sanford Toyota.

A sticker? It wasn't even a magnet? It was a sticker. It was the letters stuck to the upper right-hand corner. Yikes. Sanford Toyota. And my father-in-law said, because I was complaining about it, brand new truck got a sticker that says Sanford.

I don't live in Sanford, the longest city in America. He said, well, if you take a blow dryer to it, heat that thing up and just peel it right off. Sounds like a TikTok hack. He's like that guy on TikTok who does everything with the WD-40. I love that guy. He's what keeps me on TikTok. I've learned quite a bit from him.

I've learned so much from him. I haven't done any of it, but I've learned quite a bit. Oh, I use the WD-40 to clean my windows. You know what? I'll get back to that because that's something that I actually want to talk about today. Not what I'm currently talking about. Okay. Yeah, I took a blow dryer to that tailgate,

and I peeled that thing off without messing up my paint job, and I was very pleased with myself. And that's what led me on the journey to remove all of my license plates because if I can sit there with a hot air blower back there. I've never blowed my car before. It's a lot easier to Phillips head that border out from around your thing. And you don't need it. People think, well, my license plate's going to fall off if I remove this. False.

It won't. The only thing that will fall off is your advertising for somebody else against your own will. Take the power back! Remove the border from your license plate if it advertises a place that you don't want to advertise. But you chose that place. Or if you don't want to advertise any place. But you chose it.

It's like, the back of your car is not a pre-roll ad for the person behind you in traffic! They just gave it to you for free. It's not. Now, I will say there's a little bit of a problem with my border on my license, and that is the registration sticker doesn't quite totally fit underneath it. Yep, and then the freaking sticker doesn't live. It doesn't go in the right place because of the border.

But I was going to say, I don't really care. Because the corner is a little bit like... And if you don't really care... Sticking up, you need to wake up. Well, and the thing is that I kind of like the corner sticking up because I get a clear view of the cross- section of how many stickers I put on there. That's cool. I love that cross section.

That's cool. See? It's cool. So it's better. That is cool. That's something to think about. We've got other things to talk about, including... A banned episode of GMM?

Is that what we're talking about? Yeah. A banned episode of GMM. Is that what we're talking about? Yeah, a banned episode of GMM. You know, we have a tradition ever since we had to remove an episode of GMM from Good Mythical Morning, the channel, because we did some things that YouTube was not too happy about.

Yeah, it turns out you can't eat a mattress on YouTube. And you can't really curse on YouTube and, you know, still remain in the, you know, get the same sort of whatever monetization. I don't know how it works. We have a great team who tells us these things. We just know that we can't. The reason we don't curse on GMM is because it puts it into a different category. So if we want to curse on GMM and really curse, you know what I'm saying, like really curse. Like, for instance, do an episode, that's a

shuffleboard episode, that's the A Thousand Years of Curse Words. Well, we have to make that a banned episode, and we give it to you on the Mythical Society. Is this for... And you don't have to pay. This is for free. Yeah. All you have to do is, you create a Mythical Society account as an initiate

for total freeness, and then you can watch this banned episode. If you want to watch the banned Good Mythical More, where we talk about, we learn bad words in other languages, well, then you need to be first degree. First degree and up. Mythicalsociety.com. Go watch that banned episode.

Summer's here, and you can now get almost anything you need for your sunny days delivered with Uber Eats. What do we mean by almost? Well, you can't get a well-groomed lawn delivered, but you can get a chicken parmesan delivered. A cabana? That's a no. But a banana? That's a yes. A nice tan? Sorry, nope.

But a box fan? Happily, yes. A day of sunshine? No. A box of fine wines? Yes. Uber Eats can definitely get you that. Get almost, almost anything delivered with year of marriage under our belts. I did a little weekend getaway, and I know then the following weekend, you did a little weekend getaway for your wedding anniversary.

Christy and I ended up going back to Santa Monica, and we like to stay at the proper. There's a lot going on in our household right now, mainly gearing up for Lincoln to graduate. Like, there's so much going on. Like, get ready for that. There's a number of—we're having a family close friend party tonight, which you are a part of.

I am ready for it. Celebrating Lincoln's graduation and also Mike's daughter, Mike and Jenny's daughter Madison's graduation. We're going to eat some Italian food. Oh. Okay. Some presents. Locke's in town, right?

So is Locke and Shepard are coming over? I mean, listen, I have no control over them at this point. Well, make sure they're coming over, dude. Yeah, I mean. Because, you have no control over them at this point. Well, make sure they're coming over, dude. Yeah, I mean, I'm... Because, you know, Lily's home. Oh, I'm sure that... Listen, they're going to be there. My mom's here?

I also have no control over them, but I'm pretty sure they're going to be there. Well, just tell them... Oh, I'm sure they've been told. I know, but tell them that... You just need to understand, I've stopped fathering. Okay. Well, okay.

Well, I want to... I've checked out. They shall be there. I've checked out. All right. Okay. Yep. So, you know, we, a little weekend away before, like, it's like the calm before that graduation storm. Cause like Lincoln has like a friend party at the house. We're trying to have a big blowout this weekend. Uh-oh. Okay. Yeah. You gonna nail everything down? Because kids steal a lot these days. Except for the tacos.

Kids are stealing things now. Really? Yeah, yeah. It's kind of... Something been stolen from your house? It's a cool thing now. You go to a party and you steal something? Steal something.

Oh, yeah. Oh, especially if they catch wind of the internet fame in this house. Is this some sort of an internet relic? This guy's been around a while. I got eye tags on everything in my house. Everything. Somebody walking out, dragging a rug behind him.

Little candles. I'm saying each match. People be trying to eBay things, too. I'm just saying, you gotta put eye tags, you gotta nail it all down. Are you, did something happen to you? Booby traps, you need to set some booby traps. Is this why you don't father?

Booby traps. Yeah, I've kind of, I've stopped fathering and I've just moved on to like trying to prosecute teens. Catch teens doing things. I'm kind of, you know, I'm sort of, it's a little bit of an unofficial law enforcement thing that I'm doing. Cool.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. You're saying so many cool things. Yeah. So. Thank you. The only thing that I'll. That's what we almost called this podcast.

The only thing, the only thing that I'll report on from my romantic weekend away that's for public consumption is, you know, we went to this nice restaurant on the beach, and they had a pork chop on the menu. You know what? I think I'm going to go to the rest of my life, and I'm never going to order a steak at a restaurant again. I'm just not a steak guy. I just need to come to grips with it. I'm just not a steak guy. I just need to come to grips with it. I'm just not a steak guy.

It's just not... It's not that I don't like steak. It's just that... You're just not a steak guy. I'm just not a steak guy. It's not that you don't like it. You actually love it. You're just not a steak guy.

I just wish... When I get a steak, by the time... It just doesn't make me feel good when I'm done. And I've noticed that about myself. But a pork chop does. But a pork chop will make me feel good when I'm done. And I've noticed that about myself. But a pork chop does. But a pork chop will make me feel okay. Now, what do you think it is? The farce that it's white meat.

You'd like the color of it. It's a little lighter to me. In color? Yep. And in feel. In my tummy. Okay. And I think I might like the taste better.

Is it something to do? I love a great pork chop. It's funny. I have a pork chop story from my tummy. Okay. And I think I might like the taste better. Is it something to do... I love a great pork chop. It's funny, I have a pork chop story from my trip. Can I tell you my pork... We both have a pork chop story. Yeah. We now have the title of this episode. Pork chop stories.

Line up. There's so many people who want to listen to this that they can't listen at once. It's like trying to get on the freeway in California. There's a traffic light. It's one car per green? I ain't never been nowhere else in the world and seen one car per green. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That kind of sucks. Yeah. I mean, that kind of balances out. I won this on the Price is Right. Yeah. Well, that's where I saw the Price is Right car. It was one car per green, and then they went, and I couldn't catch up with them. Driving that car fast, getting every bit of it out of it.

So I ordered the pork chop. Well, when you don't pay for it, you don't treat it right. You abuse it. It's like a rental car, floor it everywhere you go. It's like if you got a rug from your friend's parents' house. You're not going to treat that rug well. No one's stolen a rug, if that's what you're implying. Yet.

But I'm ready when they do. So I went with a pork chop, and I was like, I think I'm going to get the pork chop. And then I read below it, and I was like, I have to do this, if for no other reason so that I can tell Rhett I finally did it. And this was a, you know, I'm not bragging.

This was a $72 pork chop. I'm going to be real. Okay? I would never, I was like, this is ridiculous. That's the second thing I saw. And that's when I decided

I wasn't going to get the pork chop. And then when I read underneath it and I was like, well, I got to get the pork chop so I can tell Rhett that I got the pork chop. I think he'd be happy.

Are you writing this off because now you're talking about it? Good point. Yes. It was an Iberico pig. Iberico ham. It was a pork chop made from Iberico ham? Yes.

It was a acorn exclusively acorn fed pig pork chop. Isn't that what Iberico ham is? I'm no expert. Well, don't act like it. Or, you know what?

Do act like it. I think that's your sweet spot. I'm going to tell you that I don't... It said on the menu. It said acorn-fed. And it might have said exclusively acorn-fed. Okay, maybe it's acorn-fed. And it said the word iberico.

Okay, I'm just saying this. I don't know a lot about this, so I definitely could be wrong. But based on my experience with the ham... Don't burst my bubble. Don't blow a bubble. I'm blowing a bubble. Don't burst it. Now, first of all, you're getting a pork chop from a different part of the pig, so obviously it's not the ham. So maybe this is true. I've never had this. Yeah.

But the ham is so expensive. It wasn't called a ham. It was called a Iberico pork chop. That per pound, you got a deal. 72 bucks? I mean, you got a deal if that's true. I guess it's totally true. I mean, they gotta do something else with the other parts of the pig. You know?

Well, you know what? Maybe it's not true. I also had a side of acorns. Maybe that's what... No. Yeah, you're not supposed to do that. The pig's ghost will come back. I gotta tell you, man, I'm not gonna let you totally burst my bubble even, you know... It was good, right? It was the best. I was like, lo and behold, Christy, I think I'm eating the best pork chop I've ever had in my life.

Huh. Which restaurant? Shutter's on the beach. Oh, yeah. I don't, I'm not a fan of the place. It's kind of like, It's on the beach.

Well, it's on the beach and that's nice. I did Mother's Day brunch there last year. But it's really, For Jesse, not for me. It's like a country club. I mean, it feels like a country club. I mean,

it feels like a country club, like a golf course, fancy dinner. It's a bit dated. I don't disagree with that. But the food was so good. If you ever have a chance to get an acorn chop,

get you one. It's so good. Break your piggy bank for it. Okay. That's why it's a piggy bank. All right, I'm going to tell you. To spend on a pork chop. Let me tell you my pork chop story, which.

That was not the highlight of my. I got to say, it's better than your story. Romantic getaway. Okay, I'm just going to say that. But it was the highlight that I'm going to give you. Actually, my story is worse than yours, which makes it potentially more entertaining. Okay.

Jesse and I went to a restaurant. So we decided to stay in Malibu. The thing about living in Los Angeles is that, especially when you live quite a ways from the beach, like we do, going to the other side of town, going to Santa Monica, going to Malibu, it's like a vacation. It feels like a vacation.

You're still in your same town, but you're going to this place that you hardly ever go, which is so funny because I remember I was talking to Jesse about this story when we were hanging out in Malibu, a place that we don't go often, that when we were working on our first ever television show in 2007, David Hurwitz, producer, along with Paul Cockerell, was talking to us about, you know, like he kind of knew these guys from North Carolina who've probably never left the country are here in Los Angeles.

They're working on this television show, and they probably are overwhelmed because we were. Yeah, he could see it on our faces. Right, everywhere we looked, we're like, look. Our tongue's hanging out of our mouths everywhere we looked in Los Angeles. And I think he could sort of feel the country come to town vibe. Yeah. And I remember him saying, he was like, once the show got picked up,

you know, we did the pilot, but then the show got picked up and subsequently canceled very quickly and harshly. But in that little window of time between it being picked up and it being canceled, we were living so high on the hog and thinking that we were going to have this incredible future in Los Angeles. And I remember him saying, yeah, you're gonna be in Malibu, your wife's gonna be gonna have the stroller,

pushing the stroller down the street in Malibu. And I remember thinking like, oh, that must be what happens. Oh, that's how- What are you laughing at, Jenna? He believed in us. I was like, oh, that must be what happens. What are you laughing at, Jenna? He believed in us. I was like, oh, that's how this works. You get a television show, and then you get a home in Malibu. Having zero idea what any of this means. You know, I saw the sign coming into Malibu, population 13,000.

Just to put that into perspective. That's not a lot. Not a lot of people. Like that's a small town anywhere in America. You know, well, okay, medium-sized town, whatever. Buies Creek had 1,000 people. That's where we're from. But Fuquay, when we left, had over like 70,000, I think.

So like, you know, Lillington's probably got that many people, right? And it was just like, the way it's like, nobody lives in Malibu except apparently Michael Bolton, who I saw driving a car in Malibu. Driving a car? That was my highlight.

Wow, he's got a license? I think it was him. You know, he had a little license plate that said, I want this car on the Price is Right, which is the main thing that I was focusing on the whole time. He was driving through that Malibu, that place you told me to go. There's not a lot in Malibu.

Malibu Farm. The market area. Yeah. I walked by the Harley Davidson store. I told you to do that. And the guy was like, Rhett! Yep. He was like, I was like, oh, yeah. He was like, Link came in here. I was like, yeah, he told me to do that. The guy was like, Rhett! Yep. He was like, I was like, oh, yeah!

He was like, Link came in here. I was like, yeah, he told me all about it, the electric bike and the bike from long way up. Yeah. Did you get on it? He said, Link got on it. And so I was like, well, I won't. It would have been so easy for you to get on. It would have been.

But, I mean, I kind of know. I have an idea what it would feel like. I don't need to feel it between my legs. Well, your loss. Back to the pork chop, though, because we had dinner. We did not really leave a very small radius right there next to the pier, which is where the hotel was. And we went out to dinner.

Surf rider beach, very famous beach. Top 10 most famous beaches in the world probably. Right there at it. A lot of surfers riding waves. And I, Jesse, Jesse got the pork chop. Okay. And she, oh, and I, I was like, how's the, how's the bolognese? The spaghetti, you know?

He was like, and this is not like a nice restaurant it's just a restaurant across the street from the hotel he's like that's what gordon ramsay orders every time he comes in here okay i was like and he says and and then he was like actually it's what he and his entire family order it's kind of of strange. So apparently he orders, everybody in the family orders this dish. Just gets spaghetti? The spaghetti was great.

It was great. And it turns out I made the right choice. What? I never order spaghetti at a restaurant. If I'm in a pasta mood, sometimes I'm like...

I'm not a pasta guy. Sometimes... I'm more of a pork guy. Wow, you don't like pasta? Your wife loves pasta. I like pasta. I'm'm not a pasta guy. I'm more of a pork guy. Wow, you don't like pasta? Your wife loves pasta. I like pasta. I'm just not a pasta guy. Sometimes you just want it.

Sometimes you... Like a good meat sauce, man. Ooh, and it was so good. Well, tonight... It had sausage and beef in it, you know, in the sauce. And it was like all mixed together. So it was really built up and it still met those expectations it was excellent it was excellent spaghetti and yeah it was spaghetti but i'm not trying to be fancy

i'm just trying to have a good time and jesse gets the pork chop and it's a thick pork chop it's one of those pork chops that like it's got two two bones coming out of it? Like it's got like two ribs coming out of the pan. And she, you know, a well-cooked pork chop is a little bit pink in the middle. A little bit pink. Like there's like, oh, I think that's a little pink. Let me see it in the light.

Like that's how you cook a thick pork chop, right? Yeah. And so she like takes the first bite and it's a little bit pink first bite. And I'm like, oh, it's fine. And then she takes the first bite, and it's a little bit pink. Already? First bite. And I'm like, oh, it's fine. And then she cuts a little bit deeper, and it basically looked like a rare steak.

Gross. You know? And I'm like, okay, okay, okay. Well, let's, all right, stop. We don't need trichinosis to complicate our 22nd anniversary, even though it's highly uncommon to get trichinosis in America, just so you know. You're probably not going to get it.

But still, it's kind of gross to eat it because it just comes across way different than beef when it's rare. So she gives it back to the waiter. He's like, oh, I'm sorry. You know, apologetic. Good. And it was a pork chop

that had like a mushroom sauce on it. And he comes back and like there's a lot more sauce on it. I'm like, okay, that's interesting. She cuts into it. Still rare. And then it's sort of like, you know when somebody's talking to you and you don't understand what they've said and you said what twice now?

And then you're like, am I going to just say okay and nod my head this time? But no, because like she she's gotta eat this thing. So the guy comes back, and I'm not mad at the waiter. I don't do that. I'm not mad at the waiter. I'm like, hey, it's still rare. It basically feels like it's exactly the same. Now there's more sauce on it.

He's like, okay, I'm sorry, let me take it back. Takes it back again. He's turning trick gnosis. It's gone for a good seven minutes. Okay. By this time... They're cooking it. I've eaten all the spaghetti.

Yep. It's tough to slow me down. I'm fast anyway. You don't want to get cold. I mean, this is Gordon Ramsay's favorite dish. Does he tell you to go ahead? She just expected it. Oh, okay.

And he brings it back. She cuts expected it. Oh, okay. And he brings it back. She cuts into it. Still rare. Could you tell that it had been warmed? It did not. It had more sauce on it. They kept thinking you were wanting more sauce. The sauce was hot.

I think maybe they think that the sauce cooks it. Oh. I don't really know what's happening. I think they they think that the sauce cooks it. Oh. I don't really know what's happening. I think they thought you were asking for more sauce. And so what I ended up doing is at that point I just kind of took her plate. I cut the steak completely in half to open it up to just confirm that this is what's happening. And then he walks back by and Jessie's like, I don't, honestly, she's like, I don't know what's going on.

It doesn't seem like they're cooking it. And he was like, they're cooking it. I watched, I saw it in the pan. And then I was thinking like, well, maybe it's like a cookproof pork chop. Like, I don't know what's happening. But then Jessie's like. Those acorns. Before he came back, she was like, I was like, I'm not hungry for it anymore.

Not hungry for it. You know, we're going on round four at this point? Yeah. So she was, I said to them, we were like, could you just bring the dessert menu? Oh, wow. Defeat. So they, you know, to their credit, they gave us, they didn't charge us for the pork, and they gave us the dessert for free.

So I give it to them for that, but we had like a cook-proof steak, a cook-proof pork chop, which, I mean, it wasn't $72. And actually, it was $0. There you go. You got what you paid for. But I want to... That was not better than my story. That was kind of quite a downer. I want to know if you experience the same thing. Again, we don't go to what we call the West Side.

Like, Santa Monica is the West Side. Malibu is not really. It is west of us, but it's Malibu. Yeah. Different town. Not just a different town in terms of West Side and Malibu, but it's different people, right? This is common in major cities where, like,

different areas of town have different people, and they kind of look different. But there is something that I observed in every restaurant that we went to, pretty much everywhere that we went, that I'm going to call Malibuty. That's the word that I'm using for it. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like what has happened with this group of people who live there is that they have all together, you know, like, if you're all doing the same thing and you're, like,

all moving in one direction and you all lose perspective? Yeah. Malibu goggles. And this may not surprise you, but it struck me in a new way, the severity of the plastic surgery. Yeah. And I was like, talking to Jesse about it, because it was like- The lips are not only big, but it's like the mouths won't close anymore.

Yes. There was a woman who- It's like the lips don't go together. Yes! There was a woman who... It's like the lips don't go together. No, no, it wasn't that. It went up. Yeah. It had been turned up. It's like curled up, yeah.

And there was just a consistency to the skin. It's like a middle schooler that just got braces and they can't get their lips over their teeth, you know? I think I've- You gotta figure out how to like get your lips over your teeth again. But I have a theory. Your lips will touch. I have a theory that, first of all, yes, they've lost perspective

because if your friend is doing it and their friend's friend is doing it, you know, you always kind of lose perspective. Right. But I almost think that it's just a status symbol. I think it's like, I can afford to do this to my face, can you? Oh, really? You know what I'm saying?

Well, but they do think it looks good. They wouldn't think it looks bad in a status symbol. Right, but I think the philosophy, you would think that the philosophy of plastic surgery is you can't tell that you got it, right? It seems like the standard would be you look younger, but we can't tell that you got work done. Like it's not obvious. We don't want it to be obvious that you got work done.

Maybe that's changing. Maybe it's changing with like the Kardashians being really popular and stuff. So it's like, okay, yes, everyone can look. They haven't had any work done. No, they haven't. Of course not. But when you can see the before and after, you can see what somebody looked like at 20,

and then you see what they look like at 30, and you're like, well, that's not, you don't go through a second puberty sometime between 20 and 30 where things happen like that. Maybe it's just become more culturally acceptable, but I just felt like I was- That's an interesting theory, but yeah, definitely like the insularity of it

kind of feeds itself and just props itself up. And yeah, it's probably a status symbol. My theory about it is it's all about the photos. Like, I think there needs to be a better mechanism, and maybe it's called video, where it's like people, you know, you want to be able to like, people pick themselves apart in their photos, and I think that, and compare themselves to other people's Instagram photos, and then it's like,

well, I want to be able to have a better post. I want to be able to put, I want to be able to take a better picture. Yeah, what about filters? And then, well, then the thing is, their face doesn't move anymore, or it moves in weird ways. the face doesn't behave the way that normally does but that's not how it's being measured it's like can i take a still photo

that where i look like i want to look but then if you have an interaction with the person in that photo their face doesn't behave right anymore. Like, oh, it's not just that she's like surprised or like whistling in all of her photos. I had a conversation with this person and it turns out she can't make her lips touch anymore. You know? And so it's like this, there needs to be this kind of like

video in motion assessment of it. Yeah, but I don't believe in your theory. Maybe your theory would have been right 10 years ago, but with filters, filters, okay, have you seen... What about other people taking your picture? The retouch, you can always, you can, have you seen the retouch thing on TikTok now? Well, I mean, I see the thing,

I just see people saying like, I can't believe, this is not my face. Well, you're talking about the bold glamour filter is what probably you're talking about. And there's so many different ones apparently. And I don't know. I see that when you go on TikTok, there's just like this retouch thing that's either on or off. And it suddenly like makes you like, it just like evens your skin tone out. Okay.

But then I saw somebody was in, I don't know how this stuff works. I don't really keep up with it, but I guess it was another filter, but they were essentially like isolating all these different aspects of their face and changing all these different things. Like the spacing of your eyes? The plumpness of your lips,

the makeup on your face. Yeah. Not the spacing. These weren't like morphing things. This was like, do you want to improve, improve, you know, according to certain cultural standards, these features on your face. And so here's the thing. You can see so easily how this could become so widespread.

In fact, I saw a woman talking about it, and I was actually, okay, this is a different perspective. This makes me think differently about it. She has a pretty gnarly scar on her forehead, right? Okay. And she's like, let me show you how, you're allergic to conversations about this? Yes.

It was a three sneeze? We'll wait. Just. I'll keep eating my spaghetti. So. Okay. She said, this is what I usually do. I could do without the commentary next time.

The makeup. And she's like, see, like, I'm going to take, what, half an hour to put this makeup on, to blend it in? Right. She says, look, I pressed this button, and now I can just get out of bed, and I can make this TikTok video. Oh. Like I've got makeup on. And if...

Okay. And, of course, you know, when we were recording this, they've just announced this, the new Apple Vision. Whatever it's called, Pro Vision. Vision goggles. And I guess eventually it will be cheaper than $3,500. Good gracious. At least an Iberico headset.

It's made of only acorn. But basically when you have a video conversation with somebody, what it's doing is like, so when you buy this thing, you like show it your face and it creates a model of your face. And so then when you have a video conversation with somebody, it tracks your eyes and hears your voice and it creates a three-dimensional composite of you talking. So I'm looking at a video of you talking, but really you've got a headset on, but it looks like you're just in your living room. Now, I saw Marques talk about it on his video and he said that it looks a little bit weird and it looks a little fake, but obviously it will get better. Yeah, sure. But the point I'm making is that we're moving to a place where if you're not going to go outside, right? Yeah. You have all the digital tools to make you look exactly how you want to look.

And if you can do it, aren't you going to do it? Right? So I can look a little bit better. And then people are going to be like, well, I can look a little bit better with this filter and you won't know that I've done anything. Right? Which I think is what most people are trying to do. Like, oh, I actually look like this. I put this makeup on today and I look great, whatever.

Or I don't have this, you know, this blemish on my face that I'm embarrassed by. So I think that in one sense, maybe all these people who've gotten really intense plastic surgery for real life stuff might be like, oh, man, I should have held back and just used a filter for this. Well, yeah, but there's still. You can't use a filter at a restaurant, though. No. No, you can't. I'm not against any of this. I'm just fascinated by it.

And when I say you need to have a video check, not just like that... Even if you're just looking in a mirror and you're like holding a pose, it's like I would... You got to be able to test, did your face still move in the way you want it to move? In the way that you want it to move.

You know, it's all I'm saying. I mean, I'm wearing makeup right now. And why can't we just put a filter on? And then I wouldn't have to, because after this is over, I'm going to wash the makeup off. Just, you know, just take the shine off. Even things out a little bit. And why is it that, why do we think that a little bit of shine on our face is a bad thing?

Right, right. Why is looking a little bit sweaty a bad thing? I mean, I've got powder on as well, you know. We put it on if we're going to get on camera. It's not like a thick layer of makeup, but it's like, ah, oily skin. Take the sheen off a little bit. Yeah, it just makes you look a little... Like you're trying too hard?

Or desperate or like sweaty. Sweaty. Like nervous. Makes you look uncomfortable if you're sweating. Makes you look uncomfortable if you're not. So it's just like it can be distracting. You also sometimes you can like see things in it like a mirror. You see yourself in someone's forehead.

You don't want that. See like another set of eyes. Which interestingly, which I don't want that. See like another set of eyes. Which interestingly, which I didn't understand this. You've seen the ads for that Apple headset. Vision. And you see like the people's eyes through there? Yeah. Well, you would think that you're seeing the people's eyes.

You're not. You're not? It's a screen. What? That's projecting an image of what the camera is seeing of their eyes because it's completely opaque. Are you serious? Yeah, so when you see through it and you're in AR mode,

so there's a toggle, there's a switch where... If you're wearing them, you can look out and you can see everything. But you're not looking through them. You're looking at a screen that is using the cameras to gather the environment. And the same thing is happening in reverse. For everybody else to be able to see your face through it? No. Well, yes, but here's the utility of it. And it's actually kind of cool, but also a bit creepy if you think about it. When you look at somebody with this Apple headset on

and they're in ar mode they can see you yes they're in vr mode they can't see you but if they're in ar mode augmented reality they can see you and there's a what we're trying to what apple and we're i'm not a representative for apple i don't know why i said we're uh what they're trying to do is they want to make it obvious if someone's in AR mode. So like Marques talked about it, like if you're on a plane and you're watching, you're doing some work on a plane in your headset, and the flight attendant comes up and asks you if you want something to drink

and you look up at them, they need to see your eyes so that they know you can see them. But they're just seeing a screen that has your eyes on it. Right. But it actually shifts. Like, it has a parallax. Like, if I turn like this, you'll see a parallax image because the cameras will be shifting the image. What camera is sending is creating, like, this composite.

It's kind of crazy, and it's, like, dimly lit. So what's going to happen is... The whole thing about filters that you were just talking about is... I mean, you just need to have not just one over your eyes as goggles. You just need to have a whole face like a bubble that you put your whole head in, and then there's like a video-generated version of your face that people think is really you under there. But, I mean, you could be a lizard person.

But that is essentially what's happening if you're interacting with somebody online. But then you could just be walking around with this. But then you're like, what are you, breathing gas or something? You can breathe anything you want. That's another advantage of it. Oh, like strawberry air? Yeah. Oh, he's breathing strawberry air.

And there's a little strawberry on the face? So bring it on down, Apple. Make it a complete bubble. And then you never have to worry about what you look like under there. It's like make it big enough. I want it big enough so that my hair is part of the presentation. So I want a big bubble. Yeah, I don't know if this is going to sell well.

And then I can have the experience I want a big bubble. Yeah, I don't know if this is gonna sell well. And then I can have the experience I want, and I can give people on the outside the experience of me that I want to give them. And they can... I want you to think... Jasper? Jasper. What you gonna do, Jasper? This is a recording. Oh, she's like... He hears people talking.

They do need to be quiet. That people talking is... Jasper, come here. Good boy. You're protecting us. This doesn't feel like the right thing to reinforce. I don't want to tell you how to raise your dog, but... He's doing good.

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Benefits vary by card. Terms apply. Um, what was I saying? You were saying, you were talking about a feature that Apple's never going to listen to. Um, no, it will happen. Well, most people are saying that, a lot of people. Some people are saying, okay, now that Apple's in this game,

this is the beginning of everyone being okay with this, right? And then some people are saying, no one's ever going to get used to having something on your head. Yeah, that's the first thing I said. It's still this headset. It's pushing your hair down. It's the reason why people don't wear helmets. It's not pushing your hair down.

It's a band. It's a band. Yeah, it pushes the hair down in the back. Yeah, but it's not like pushing it down on top, which that would be even worse. Well, it puts a band around your head, and you're wearing goggles. I mean, we just got to get rid of that. Well, we got a long ways to go. You're saying just make it Google Glass again?

That works well. No, I want it to be a necklace that then projects everything up in front of me. Yeah, okay. And then projects what I want it to be a necklace that then projects everything up in front of me. Yeah, okay. And then projects what I want people to see of me out there. That sounds healthy, right? Speaking of healthy, how about I bring it down even further? And I talked about a raw pork chop. You got a negative story?

I'm going to bring it down even further. It's not really a negative story. I have a positive story. I'm going to bring it down even further. It's not really a negative story. I have a positive story. I'm prepared to bring it back up. Okay. One of the things I noticed, we've been talking a little bit about this, but for me, and it wasn't really a vacation. It was like a weekend celebration of our anniversary,

but I'm not in work mode, right? Yeah. And one of the ways that I can kind of register my anxiety levels is by going on, like getting out of work mode. Right. Yeah. Because if I'm in work mode, I don't, I think that there's this unspoken belief that anxiety is just kind of the fuel for the fire. You know what I mean? Like feeling like you got to figure something out or feeling like you got to solve a problem. It's just kind of part and parcel with our job in some way. So it doesn't ever really register with me very much. But when you are like oh i'm at the

beach you know i'm in malibu everybody's got plastic surgery and you're supposed to be relaxing but then you keep registering this anxiety um you know i've tried to get to the bottom of it and i well i'd say there's two things that are happening. The first thing is, and I'm sure you may not be experiencing this in an acute way right now, but you probably have noticed the, as your kids get older, it feels, as my kids get older, it gets easier to parent in a practical way, but I get more worried about them, right?

So when I see kids, when I see, like, everybody who's got kids here at Mythical Besides Us, they got these little babies who can barely talk, walk, spit up on themselves, shitting everywhere, whatever, you know? Like, I don't want that anymore. Not everywhere. Well, if you don't put a diaper on them, they will. I think our employees know how to use diapers. They, you know, you don't get great sleep.

It's tough. Being a parent of a newborn and a toddler, this is a more physically and mentally and emotionally demanding stage, typically, for speaking in general. Yeah. And I've always said it's going to get easier. When I talk to somebody, I'm like, it's going to get easier. At some point soon, you won't even know where they're at.

You know what I'm saying? But one of the things that I've noticed is that, but as they are getting older, you start, like it feels like the stakes are increased. When they're three, they might fall down and hurt themselves. When they're teenagers or on the precipice of their 20s, it's just like, this is an adult. And like, I don't know, I found myself like registering a new type of worry about my kids, right? Not necessarily about anything that's happening as much as it's just like, oh, they're in this.

The potential. Yeah. And so that's one thing that sort of like the baseline anxiety sort of raised a little bit. And then the other piece of it is from a professional standpoint, you know, the positive, there's a lot of positive,

the positive related to what we're doing creatively right now, which, you know, we've talked about it fairly extensively on this podcast, of like our shift in strategy and mentality and approach to instead of trying to package ourselves for some pitch meeting across town and come up with some project

that's gonna check the boxes that the traditional system wants us to check. We're saying we're not doing that right now. And we're trying to create in an unfiltered way and just put things on YouTube and see what our audience and maybe a new audience will think about the things that we're doing. And in almost every way, it's great, right? Like it's fulfilling, In almost every way, it's great, right? Like it's fulfilling, it's fun. But the thing that I kind of forgot, and I was telling you earlier, was it's so much like the early days of our career

in which we were like grinding to find something. The intersection of what we want to do and what could work. grinding to find something to like... The intersection of what we want to do and what could work. Right, because again... And in this landscape, we're doing an exercise that we used to do a lot when every video was its own thing, totally separate. And you live and die by every single video. And now it's a new environment.

And we've got all this other stuff going on. Like, you know, we've got GMM and we've got the company and all the things that are happening and things continue to go well and hashtag blessed. However, when it comes to this little sliver, which in our hearts and minds is much more than a sliver, it's like, it's kind of the biggest piece of the pie for us emotionally right now, for me emotionally right now yeah creatively um and i'm saying creatively and i'm tacking on emotionally that's the thing that i'm sort of picking up on myself is that tying a lot of putting a lot of energy and focus into wanting to crack this thing open i yeah believe so strongly in us following our creative vision and what it could mean and where it could lead

and how people are going to respond to it. And the thing is that right out of the gate, we make this video that I feel like is a real great representation of what we want to do creatively. Not specifically. We don't want to make every video like the medium-sized whole video, but it had a lot of us in it, right? It's like it was such a Rhett and Link video. It's us being ourselves, doing something stupid in a smart way, or maybe even something stupid in a stupid way. A little bit of sketch here, a little bit of song here, you know, very us.

Feeling great. Again, like we said from the beginning, you never want to tie your happiness, your fulfillment, your satisfaction to an external reaction that you cannot control. That is the reception of this thing by an audience. But it's kind of hard not to do that. So then we do the second video, the Exorcist D&D video. Yeah. And of course, you know,

the overwhelming response to that was, there's a lot of people who loved it, but there's a lot of people who are like, this guy that you guys featured in this video makes me feel uncomfortable. He ruined the video, whatever. And it was apparently enough of an effect

to cause it to really suffer in performance, right? So to me, it was a little bit of like, okay, all right, the reevaluation, right? Because we don't create things in a vacuum. We create things in the context of this audience. And we're not going to be like, well, you know what? You don't like that? Well, guess what? We're doing it again.

Like that's just not how we, you know, we find satisfaction in doing something that we're excited about that then a bunch of people get excited about. Yeah. And so, you know, and then, you know, a third video is kind of like, okay, well, better response in some way. I just find myself, I realize while I was attempting to, and I think successfully so, celebrating 22 years of marriage with my wife, there was these two streams of unsettledness. One is this like, worry about my kids. And one is this sort of like, well, how, what is it going to

take? Like, what is it going to take to really break through? Right? Like how many videos are we going to make on the Rentalink channel in 2023? And like, how many are going to, are any of them really going to break out beyond our audience? And I start thinking about it. And then I go into this place where every waking second is just trying to write down ideas. Like, you know, like I get to, I get into this headspace where I'm just like, I like look at something. And I think, is there an idea in this thing that I'm looking at? How many ideas can you come up with in looking at this pier? Yeah.

You know, and so because I try to treat the anxiety like self-soothe by being like, well, if I can come up with a bank of ideas, and then Link and I can get excited about a couple of them and believe that these things will work, then I won't be anxious anymore. Now, you know, there is this, this is where it's tough for me because I get in this place where I'm like,

well, you know what? Every time in the past when your back's been up against the wall, like you think about those things that we made in the past when your back's been up against the wall, like, you think about those things that we made in the early days that defined, that basically allowed us to do what we do now. We think about GMM. So many different things, so many like pivotal points.

We were in this little bit like, oh, what are we gonna do now? Like GMM is a great example because we were in a place where a show had been canceled we were living in los angeles we were suddenly paying rent that was seven times as high as my mortgage in north carolina and running out of money real fast and then we got to do something to connect, right? And then it was like, oh, and they're really rewarding, these longer videos and these daily videos.

So there's a part of me, and so I fall into this place that like, well, it's good, it's good to feel this way because you'll shit out a good idea in this desperate state of mind. But then there's this other part of me that's like, yeah, but is this healthy? And so I'm not saying I have a solution. I am talking about it in therapy. But that was something that sort of came to the surface

while I was not in work mode, so to speak. Yeah, I think it, and you know, that's why like last week we shut down the studio and let everybody have a break, because I think you just, you can get some, you step away, you can get some clarity. And sometimes that clarity is that, oh, there's all this underneath the surface that, like, I'm not distracted by just going in and grinding away at my obligations at work. not distracted by just going in and grinding away at my obligations at work. I can now feel it and maybe begin to address it more head on. Right? Like you say, you're talking about in therapy. I mean, that's definitely my experience too.

It's like, you know, just feeling like what we signed up, we signed ourselves up, we created this creative initiative, and then the newness wears off and you're like, okay, now this is, yeah, you got to really apply yourself to figure this out. And it's very engaging, but there's lots of points when I find myself very dejected. It's not easy. Because it's really hard. We've kind of forgotten. Yeah.

Forgotten how hard it is to innovate. Yeah, and how there's an of challenges just fixating on the negatives or the troughs. And I'm really trying to, you know, I gave a speech to the team yesterday about what I was trying to do. You know, take it or leave it for them. But for me, it was like, can I embrace every aspect of the process as part of why I did this? So it's not about, you know, something breaking through, as you call it. I don't even know what that means. So it's chasing something that is pretty nebulous

instead of chasing every step of the process as something to engage in, to experience, to learn from. You know, you experience the highs and the lows. It all kind of together defines what we wanted to do, and you just can't. I try to remind myself of that, to give myself permission to be down when it's down, but also not to stay there. I'm kind of in that place right now.

I think that one of the things that I've done, and this is how I'm going to bring it back up, is I teased to this, is I said, you know what? I just need a project where I can just, a home project where I can just kind of zone out, tune into something else. And for me, the perfect thing was washing the windows. Wow. It was that time of year.

Christy was like, you know, we got this graduation party. You can't even see out a couple of these windows. And I'm like, yeah, you're right. This is good. I'm going to go out there. see out a couple of these windows. And I'm like, yeah, you're right. This is good. I'm going to go out there. I'm going to wash these windows. I think I was washing windows for like three hours,

not because I have an extraordinary amount of windows, but because I have an extraordinary standard for how clean they need to be. And boy, I mean. And you used WD-40? You did the technique? I used WD-40 on the screens. And you used WD-40? You did the technique? I used WD-40 on the screens. You take the screen down, you put WD-40 all over the wipe,

and then you wipe down the metal screen. And then you light it on fire. And then you light it on fire, and it burns off. It burns all the dust off. That's one of the things he taught me. I was like, I'm going to do that. I got this special, do you remember I told you, it was a few years ago, I got this special window washing squeegee and bucket.

Oh, yeah, you taught him that quite a bit. Yeah. And that thing's been staring at me in the garage for a couple of, probably been a couple of years. And then I'm like, it's time to break that baby out again. And she worked just like new because she's just a squeegee. Of course, I guess there could be dry rot on a squeegee. Yeah. So it was still supple enough.

You want to have a supple squeegee, man. And now I just walk around my house and I look out my windows. I mean, I even took a – I would – it's a multi-step process. And I have my AirPods in. I'm listening to my music. Just zoning out, forgetting all of my worries and everything that's tough. Singing that type of song to myself. Yeah, you take your WD-40, those screens, set them to the side.

You take a hose. You hose everything down to get, like like the dirt and, you know. It rains so little here, even though it's raining a lot more than normal. A lot of stuff gets stuck and sludged up. You got to do all that before. You got to pre-wash the windows and the sills before you can actually wash the windows. And then you go back with your special squeegee soap and your squeegee, and you scrub it and you squeegee it. I meant to look on TikTok for the best way to squeegee

because I remember seeing those. I was on a tear a while for it. It's like, well, if you start in this corner, and you start down here, then you go up, and you go over, they can do it all in one. It's not like, squeegee, wipe, squeegee, wipe. It's squeegee and circle and curve and squeegee, and now I'm at the bottom, and boom, it was one motion.

But I was so excited about getting going, and I had so many steps that I forgot to do that part. But I tried to invent it for myself. So you didn't put the WD-40 on the window because that's what he did in one of the TikToks I saw. But he did it on the shower. He did it on the shower. He did it on the shower. With the calcium stains.

Yeah. I didn't have to do it because I had the other soap, so I didn't do that. And then after I was done with the squeegee, I had a razor blade. This is where it gets really good. Anything that's still stuck there, I'm like, getting to the side, getting to the other side.

You got to get angles. You got to get angles. And then you're taking that razor blade and you're taking off the things that are like stuck. And if you really get lazy, you can just take that razor blade and you can just drag it over the whole window and you can feel when it's getting stuff.

You don't even need to use your eyes. Wow. And this is fun for you. So much fun. So much fun. And it's, you know, it just, it got, it got, it got my energy out. It got me in my body. It got me out of my head.

You know, it's like, so I just need a little respite from, yeah, just from, you know, sometimes it's just spiraling thoughts. Like, I noticed that, like, when we hung out for my birthday and we're like watching. My rec. Your rec. Your rec today or Your Wreck today? Or your Wreck last time? Yeah, you recommended it, and then we're like, hey, let's watch it. I didn't recommend it, did I?

I think you should leave. Did I recommend that last time? Oh. You're going to recommend it today. That's my Wreck, the new season. All right, recommend it right now, because we watched... I'll come back to it. It was hilarious, but I did notice that you just couldn't stop thinking about this idea you had. I could tell that you wanted me to engage with the idea so that then you could say,

yes, this is a good idea. We are on the same page about it, and now I can feel better. Oh, that's clearly what's happened. Right? And then I was like, you know what? I'm just not, I'm not in the headspace, at a certain point I told you, to give you what you want here.

I mean, I'm just not, I can't engage in this idea. I can't work right now. We're watching the show, and I could tell that you were struggling. Yeah. Which is what you were struggling. Yeah. Which is what you described that weekend, too. Maybe you didn't even know it yet because that was before the weekend.

Well, the thing that makes it extra difficult for me is that when you describe how much you get off washing windows, like... Don't make it gross. how much you get off washing windows. Don't make it gross. You know, it's like, this is what's tough about it because it is my work, but it isn't work at the same time. You know what I'm saying? It's like, and that's what makes it so complicated for me.

Well, coming up with ideas can be fun, but you're not describing it in a way that you're enjoying. Well, yeah, but I mean, I guess what I'm saying is that like, that's not my goal. It's never been my goal, and I'm not saying I'm right. I'm just telling you how my brain works. Your goal is to achieve. Well. Right? Isn't that what you're boiling it down to? That's part of it. To achieve the idea. Well, that's part of it, but I think that's an oversimplification and kind of robs it because it is my greatest joy to create.

Oh. Now, I don't think that if you look at any artist who's creating and who's in creative flow, they might have a similar look on their face to whatever the look on your face is when you're watching Windows. You know what I'm saying? It's kind of like I can't touch my lips together. Ultimately, what I'm saying is that it's kind of like the stage that we're at

right now, which is just like cracking opportunity. It's almost like the fact that the parameters and the constraints are so little. It's like this just open space. Make any video that you want. Like we're not responding to a brief. We're not responding to an assignment. We're not filling, like it can be as long or as short.

It can be scripted. It can be unscripted. It's so wide open that it's like does something to my brain where I'm just like, create something. And so it's like simultaneously very like intoxicating, the process. Like I'm addicted to the process. But when it's not flowing, like when it's not, oh, like when you're in that like trying to get the train moving. Yeah. The look on your face might be one of just frustration and like the mood that I'm in might be anxious.

And then once it's like, and then one of the reasons that I'm going to like, try to like get you on board with the idea, because it's just like, that's, I mean, that's sort of our creative process. It's like once we get in sync, then the thing starts moving forward. And I'm like, chugga, chugga, chugga, chugga. This is, we get in sync, then the thing starts moving forward, and I'm like, chugga, chugga, chugga, chugga. This is, we're doing it, right?

Yeah. And because we're not doing that right now, like, we don't, like, we got a couple of things that are the next things we're working on, but, like, we don't, there's still a lot of open, there's still so many sort of ideas floating out there. And so, again... But we have the next idea. Yeah, yeah. But we don't have the idea after that.

Right. And I'm not saying, again, I'm not defending myself for saying this is healthy. I'm just describing the process and like the state of mind that I was in. So, I mean, I apologize that I put you in that place that was like, well, let's make this into work time. No, I don't think it warrants an apology.

I mean, I told you, and then it was just like, I don't think you should apologize for us not being on the same page. So I think you responded when I told you, for the most part, I think. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, you did. Yeah, I'm just like, you know,

another part of it is just like, there was a time before we had what we've built with Mythical where pretty much every day we're just like, well, but also just like you show up at that basement in Lillington and we just sat there all day trying to figure out what we were going to do. That's true. We don't get a lot of that time. We don't do that. We have meetings. We have true. We don't get a lot of that time. We don't do that. You know, we have meetings, we have podcasts, we have GMM, we have all the shit that we have to do. Right.

And so, yeah. It's harder now than it was then in that way. And we're sitting there watching this sketch show, which, you know, it's not what we do. We don't do what Tim Robinson does, but we love what Tim Robinson does. And anytime, you know, like I told you, I was like, I remember.

He does scare me. I'm always scared for the first, like the first 20% of every sketch. This is like, oh my God, I just have this. And I'm just so like excited. Impending. I'm like, what is he going to do? What's going to happen?

Confusion of doom. This is not going to be predictable. But you know, like when I was telling you about Sturgill Simpson talking about listening to Jason Isbell's Southeastern album and how he listened to the first song and he stopped. He was like, I'm never listening to this album because I feel like it will overly influence me because it's so good. And I mean, I'm sure, I know for a fact that Tim Robinson just probably just annoys the hell out of a lot of people. And that's, he's very polarizing. I get it.

I love it. I love everything about it. And I just love how I never know what's gonna happen. And it's just like, he's so unabashedly silly. We're not trying to do what he's trying to do. But it's inspirational, you know, it's tangentially inspirational. And so it's just like, I can't sit there and watch it

without a, especially when I'm in a place where I feel like we're trying to crack a code, I can't watch it without being like, and what are we gonna do? You know, it's like the time we sat there in that hotel room in 2002? Yeah. And stumbled across this HBO special

by these two Kiwis, the Flight of the Conchords. And I was like, these motherfuckuckers i was so mad at them because they were so funny i was like i'll never be that funny i'll never be that funny you know and again yes there is this like competitive achievement wanting to like achieve achieve achieve that's always this stream that i have to kind of like, but there's also this just like, I know what it feels like when we create something and we're like, this is the best that we can do.

Here it is, this is the best that we can do. And the more that we get into that place where it's like, here it is again, the best that we can do. Here it is again, the best that we get into that place where it's like, here it is, again, the best that we can do. Here it is, again, the best that we can do. It may not be as good as fill in the blank, but it's the best that we can do. And when I feel like we're not doing that consistently, I get anxious. So, again, it's like I don't know how to process it because I don't want the fire to go out. Also, I don't want the fire to go out. Also, I don't think the fire is going to go out.

I think I could throw it under the Golden Gate Bridge and it would not go out. Yeah, right. So trying to deal with it in a way that doesn't impact my state of mind and relationships, et cetera. But you have the tool of therapy, but you... And why I talk about it, I talked about it last night. And then they can give you more tools. I mean, maybe you need to up your frequency right now until you come up with an idea, then you feel better.

You know, it was interesting because just last night, like talking about it, sometimes just simply saying like, I'm going to talk about this with a professional. I'm going to talk about the things I'm worried about related to my children. I'm going to talk about the things I'm worried about related to my professional life. And I'm going to get some good perspective on that from someone who can help break that open, give me some tools. And it was actually, in one sense, simply getting it out there and recognizing that it's a pattern, that it's a pattern that I fall into. Then you kind of see yourself falling into a pattern. And when you can step outside of yourself and be like, well, okay, you're doing the thing right now. Like, it's one thing to be, like, creative and ideate,

but it's another thing to think that if you can come up with an idea, you'll be okay. Well, that's not, that's, fine, come up with ideas. But don't come up with ideas so you'll feel okay. Like, that's, you know what I'm saying? That's an unhealthy thing so and breathe you know i go through periods of time where i'm where i'm like doing the very simple like breathing exercises of just like it gets you into your body and like you stop

you breathe you do some box breathing whatever you want to call it and suddenly you feel like it's transformational and it's so easy, but yet I won't do it. Well, I'm going to do that when this is over. Oh, you can breathe right now. No, I don't want to do it right now. Don't be that guy. Let's breathe together. But that is my rec.

Right now. Sometimes I'm that guy. I think you should leave with Tim Robinson. If you know, you know. Or as I call it, I think you should leave now, is what I call it. And, man, you know. Give it a shot. Or don't. If you hate the first one...

Don't keep watching. Don't keep watching. You're gonna hate all of it. But if you love the first one, keep watching. We watched the entire season in one sitting. Just the two of us sitting here. And he didn't come up with anything. Loving every single second of it. Even the parts where it seems like his whole point is to make you cringe. He's like, I'm going to make you feel really uncomfortable right now. Like I told you, I was like, this is like the horror movie version of a cringe fest.

Like a couple of times. Or it's just like, and you know how I feel about horror movies. Like feeling uncomfortable and feeling scared, I kind of like it. And so when somebody is doing their best to make me feel really uncomfortable with comedy, I just, there's so much respect, I take a great joy. There's a whole conversation here, because it makes you think of stuff that we've done

and we're doing, but we can come back to that. All right, so, Make Your Wreck, did you make it? It's on Netflix. Okay. Third season's out. Hashtag Ear Biscuits. Be a part of the conversation, And please leave us a voicemail with how you're responding to our conversation. 1-888-EAR-POD-1.

Thank you for calling us. And thank you for hanging out with us through the highs and lows. You got this. Hey, guys. Listening to your new podcast talking about libraries. Link! Neil!

I am disappointed in you, young man. Libraries are very, very, very important. I just want you to know that and rethink it. You guys are goofballs. Love you. Bye.