Ear Biscuits with Rhett & Link - Ep. 14 Chester See - Ear Biscuits

Episode Date: January 3, 2014

Chester See, who has won the hearts of more than a million teen girls throughout the world with his smooth, soulful voice, extraordinary musical talent, and emotionally drenched original songs featured on his popular YouTube channel, joins Rhett & Link this week to discuss his journey from an energetic Disney Channel host to a shirtless bartender in a Korean club to one of the internet's most famed musicians. The guys also hit on his recent high profile heartbreak, and how a new crush and a thirst for innovation in the new media industry has brought him both personal and professional success. 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. This week's episode of Ear Biscuits is brought to you by Squarespace, the all-in-one platform that makes it fast and easy to create your own professional website or online portfolio. I'm into professional websites. I'm not into amateur websites. I used to be all about amateur websites, but then I started realizing that they weren't effective, and I have moved up to professional websites. It's not even possible to create an amateur website at Squarespace. No, it's not. It is all professional. Even when it's amateur, it's professional. Even if what you do and what you're advertising or displaying on your online portfolio website

is amateur, it'll look professional. That's just kind of how it works. You can try it out for free without even entering your credit card information. And once you're convinced that the site is amateur, it'll look professional. That's just kind of how it works. You can try it out for free without even entering your credit card information. And once you're convinced that the site is great, you can make sure you get 10% off by using the offer code RANDL. That's Randall. That's like Rhett and Link. Get it? R-A-N-D-L. But Rhett

is really tough to spell. It's open to interpretation. And so is Link. We just came up with the code R-A-N-D-L. People use a C in Link all the time for reasons I'm not aware of. Squarespace.com. Offer code R and L. Now it's time for an Ear Biscuit. Welcome to Ear Biscuits.

I'm Link. And I'm Rhett. It's time for another conversation with someone interesting from the internet. This week we have Chester C. We talk to him about his journey from Disney Channel host to shirtless bartender. We also get into his love life from living through the rejection of his first crush to crying on stage at VidCon in the aftermath of his breakup with Taryn Southern, another YouTuber. I mean, it kind of gets gossipy.

A little bit, yeah. We talk about, well, we try to find out who his new crush is because this person does exist. So, yeah, this is a gossipy episode of Ear Biscuits. And you may know, you know, Chester is, he's definitely got a reputation for being a ladies' man. And the thing he's known most for is his music. And to be, just to have a fair clarification there, as a ladies' man,

in terms of being a performer, not like, hey, we as friends with Chester see privately. This dude's known as a ladies' man. No, I mean, you know, I'm not saying a player. I'm saying that, you know, he's a guy who... He writes songs that the ladies love. He writes love songs, yeah.

And, you know, it's interesting because, you know, we're musicians. We write comedy songs. He's a musician. He writes mostly original love songs, very heartfelt love songs. I mean, just like the performance at VidCon. It was incredibly heartfelt. Well, it made me think,

it unlodged a memory of mine. And that was... It shook it loose? Yeah, it was that, I was like, you know,

I thought to myself, you know, I've never written a love song before. But then I was like, oh, I have written a love song. I wrote

a love song to my wife. What? Right after we got married. Like very early. You know what? No, no. We were engaged.

I wrote a song about her. And I will tell you that this is something that I do not know about. You know, people talk about, but it is a question. Well, what's something that you guys don't know about each other? Well, this is one.

And it's this, because I'm the last person you want to tell this to, because it's embarrassing. You would not come to work the next day or at the time hang out with me. Yes, it is. Why haven't you told me? Well, first of all... Hey, man, I wrote a love song to my wife.

Would you like to hear it? Okay, okay. Hold on now. You never told me. Yeah, but to just say that that is by default embarrassing, that shows a gross misunderstanding of love and music, man. I mean, I'm a comedic songwriter, and so it's not typical, but it's not embarrassing. I'm not saying you're embarrassed right now talking about it. I'm saying that there's a reason you did you you kept this information from me this no the reason i kept information from you is because i

kept the information for myself i told you that it was a memory that was lodged in my brain that shook loose why did you bury it no well because the um because the performance of the song, which I'm going to tell you about in a second, is embarrassing in itself. The song, the fact that I had just fallen in love with my wife and I was a musician and I can play guitar and write a song and sing it, all those things made sense. And I still think they make sense. And you know what? I wish, honestly, and I'm sure my wife would agree with this. I wish that again, in the, in the past 12 and a half years of marriage, I would have written another one. And you know, maybe you should be. Yeah, it really begs the question. Maybe you should write one. Maybe you should write a little song

to your wife. Oh, I'll write them all the time. Yeah. I just don't tell you about them because it's embarrassing. Okay. So I wrote a song and I, you know, I honestly do not remember anything about the song except the chord progression. It was, um, I, I had my finger,

it was an, a D, a D fingering. And then like, I've, I played some different things with my pinky and kind of ran down through this, like this D chord.

And it was just kind of folky. So basically Tom Petty's free-falling. No, but it was a different little progression there. But I wrote this song for her, and she loved it, of course. There's a young girl married to me. And so I performed this song for her, and she loved it, and I don't know why. This is the embarrassing part.

I know this is my idea. I told her family, her family, her mom and her dad and her sister. Okay, you told them. No, I told them I wanted to perform the song. I wanted them to listen to me sing the song. What? To her with them there. Oh, man. That is embarrassing.

My face is getting a little red right now. So is mine. This is weird. Because this is, you know me, and this is the kind of thing. Dude, I am so embarrassed for you. I can't believe that you would do this. This is not the kind of thing that I do. I'm so glad I wasn't there. Because I avoid embarrassment like the plague. Why would you do that?

Because I was young. I was in love. You were married, right? No. You were dating. You had to have been dating. You know what? No man who's already married his wife would do this.

We must have been engaged. I don't know. I need to talk to my wife about the specific details. I think you were trying to get engaged is what it must have been. Well, it worked. You know? I've been married for a dozen years. I got two children with this lady engaged is what it must have been. Well, it worked. You know, I've been married for a dozen years. I got two children with this lady. I mean, I hope that you were trying to get engaged.

We need to redeem this. Listen, man, this is, it's about to get more embarrassing. Than this? Yeah, right. Oh, gosh. So, okay, so. I can't believe this.

This is gonna surprise a lot of people who listen because everybody thinks, you know, because, you know, as I am being entertaining and, you know, trying to be funny and, you know, I don't have a, I don't have the reputation as a sensitive person, right? And I'm not really sensitive in the traditional sense of the word. But when it comes to things like, a lot of people wouldn't, if most of the mythical beasts out there had to guess who would cry more in a movie,

they would probably pick you, right? Well, the fact is, is I cry like a baby at movies, and I've never seen you cry at a movie, and I've watched lots of movies. Why are you making this about me? No, but I'm just saying that like, there are certain things that, there are certain things that there

are certain things that i'm really sensitive about i performed this song for my wife's family and i started crying what no i swear to you i can't believe this yeah yeah yeah i cannot be your friend i i first of all i think this is winning a lot of new fans out there, just between me and you. Yeah, this is- I'm not making it. Listen, man, don't show your hand. Don't tell them you're winning fans and you're making this up.

I'm not making it up. So I begin to weep. Not like open weeping, having to stop performing. But- Wow. I wept a little bit, man. But first of all I mean it totally sealed the deal

I mean my in-laws oh now you're now you're sure no my in-laws and it was pre-injury and my sister-in-law was like

you've got to marry this guy a second ago you didn't even remember if it was before you married or not it dude because and now you're trying to redeem it

no it's because I'm very selfless it must just be because I I'm I just it was so must just be because I just, it was so much about my wife and it wasn't. Honestly, I don't know why I don't remember it well, but I do remember.

It's one of those things that you think about and you're like, I mean, first of all, I'm kind of old. We're old, if you haven't noticed. And I've been married for over a decade. There's a lot of memories. My wife and I talk about the early stages of our relationship. She's like, do you remember that?

And I'm like, no, I don't, I'm'm sorry but this is one of those things it was kind of like a dream and then when we started talking about chester and what he does and the love songs it dislodged it's crazy what other kind of embarrassing things i wonder that i can might dislodge during doing this ear biscuits this is like therapy for you huh yeah? Yeah. I think you gained a glimpse into what it's like to be Chester C. Yeah, that's what it was. So let's get to our conversation with the one and only Chester C. And we've already mentioned that this guy sings a lot of songs on the internet and has won the hearts of a lot of teen girls out there.

He's got over a million subscribers on his Chester C YouTube channel. He also stars in and produces Awesomeness TV's hit series Side Effects and is a co-founder of the premium content channel Yum Yum F and joins Grace Helbig, Hannah Hart, and Mamrie Hart in the feature film Camp Dakota. Here it is, our convo with Chester C. with Chester C. So, which part of your name is made up? The C or the Chester?

I kid you not. And honestly, I don't even know why I'm asking that. Something about the last name C to me is like, okay, that's too elegant to be real. I think it was two days ago. Grace needed my full name for something, right? And she had to double check. She texted me.

She's like, hey, seriously, is your last name really C? Not trying to be a dick or anything. Just. Yeah. Just. And here I am doing the same thing. So what part of your name is me? Is it the Chester?

That's a pretty nerdy name. You know my middle name, right? Uh-oh. Oh, it's the man that you have on the mug upstairs. Lionel? Lionel? Yeah. Chester Lionel C. Look over here.

Look, we got a whole shrine to Lionel right there. He's on this mug. Right? He's everywhere. Okay, so hold on. This is big news to us. Yeah, it's big news. How do you have Lionel?

Are you named after Lionel? No, named after my grandpa. Was his name Lionel? Yeah. Okay, didn't that make sense? Lionel, yeah. I would have given anything for that. Yeah, right?

He already left this world before I was born, but he was born in 1899. Isn't that crazy? Really? He fought in World war one world war two and korea apparently as a marine wow that's a weird world i don't know anything about grandpa lionel i wish he was alive so he lived quite a life he's like a mythological being to you like this he fought in these wars you never met him you're yeah he would hate he'd probably hate me because because we're not real men anymore no one one's real. There's no real men.

He comes from the real men era. He'd be confused. You're very feminine. So was his last name C? Was this on your dad's side? Yes. So for the record, C is real? C is real.

But you don't go by Lionel. Yeah, did you ever think about going into an entertainment career that, on, Chester, Lionel, Chester, Lionel. I thought about, I thought about CeCe. I thought, no. There's one of those. You know, Chester and Lionel, I think, are equally, if you're writing a script and you need to make sure one of the characters is a nerd, you can choose either one of those names. I mean, I just think of Lionel Richie. So as a singer. Yeah, but I don't I just think of Lionel Richie. So as a singer.

Yeah, but I don't want to follow in Lionel's footsteps. Right? I want to be. I mean, you do have more of an opportunity for originality. I mean, are there other Chester musicians? There's Chester Bennington, lead singer of Linkin Park. Okay. But, yeah.

I don't know. The cool thing about Chester or Lionel, I could have done this. I could have Madonna'd it. and just taken the last name off because it's unique enough. You know what I mean? You could pull that off. You can't do it with Brad. You can't be like,

I'm just going to go by Brad. Well, this is going to be confusing. If you did that, I think you would have to spell it with an A, not an ER. So it'd be like Chester. I like that, yeah. Yeah.

That could have worked. And it's not too late. You could still do that, yeah. When I was in middle school, I was really upset because this one kid ate a lot of Flamin' Hot Cheetos and he got the nickname Cheeto and I thought it was so cool. But I also really liked Flamin' Hot Cheetos and my name is Chester and I thought I had it, you know.

I was more deserving of the nickname and I still think about that. Cheeto Chester. We can call you Cheeto for the... Yeah, whatever you want, really. Okay, so let's... Where were you born?

Born in Northern California, Fairfield. It's like pretty much between San Francisco and Sacramento on I-80. Not the 80 because it's not LA.

Right. San Francisco or Sacramento. Say the I, yeah. Like back home, it's I-40. It's not the 40. Yeah, we really put some weight on those freeways out here.

So is this like a flat desert area or when you get that far north? Well, the adjacent city is called Vacaville, which is cow town, Dixon. There's a lot of cows. My best friend had a barn raising. Now, it's not like that. I mean, it wasn't like farms, but there were a lot of farm areas. Now, it's not like that. I mean, it wasn't like farms, but there were a lot of farm areas.

And your best friend got his friends over, and they built his barn. His dad, yeah. So my dad went over, and we all went over, and we helped build this barn. He had a goat, ram, llamas. A ram? Yeah. That thing was crazy. In fact, they lived right next to my elementary school, and I distinctly remember more than once an announcement over the PA system that said, you know, Elaine or Trevor, this is his sister, can you please report to the office?

Your sheep are on the grounds again. On the recess field. Yeah, exactly. The sheep are out again. Your cow is running around the field, yeah. So this is a small town, Northern California. Yeah, it's not too small. I mean, it's got a little bit of a population to it,

but it's, you know, it's nothing like LA. Not too big for there not to be sheep. Yeah. At recess. Exactly. That's still happening. Yeah. Yeah.

Do you have any siblings? One older sister. Okay. She's awesome. How much older? She's cool. She is three and a half, three and a half, four years older. Okay.

And your parents, are they still together? Yeah, they're doing it. They're still doing the marriage thing. They're still doing it, huh? Yeah. Lame. What do they do? What do they do?

I don't know what they do. My mom's kind of just chilling now relaxing a little bit my dad still uh uh works uh on radar um uh when he was in the military he was in the navy and he worked on radar when he was in the military so now he works um um as a civilian but still for the military okay um yeah they do a lot of that they live out in palmdale so i get to see them oh Oh, so they moved closer. Being a Navy kid, did that mean moving around as a kid? It didn't for me because he would end up just having to go on these six-month tours.

At one point, he had to leave for Philadelphia for a couple of years. Instead of us moving with him, we actually just kind of made that work. So, yeah, I didn't have to move much. But, yeah, typically a Navy brat is usually running around all parts of the world. Now, your mom is Filipino, right? Is that correct? Mm-hmm. So what was that like growing up in two cultures?

How did they meet? Was it during one of his military? Exactly, yeah. Exactly. So he was in the Philippines, stationed over there, and then they met. how did they meet was it during one of his military exactly yeah exactly so he was in the Philippines he was stationed over there and then they met they got married in about I think they knew each other

for three and a half four months and that's not a long time no and they they've been together for what going I don't know

what 36 37 years now 38 years pretty good yeah pretty good so he brought her up here what was the what was it like growing up in that environment?

Was it two different cultures type of thing? It was, you know, my mom has become so Americanized at this point. I mean, she still has the accent. I was going to try to do a bad Filipino accent. I stopped myself. Yeah, impersonate your mom. The nice thing is because I'm half Filipino, I feel like I have the that's not racist card. If I stick to that race specifically, I can get away with that.

But it's bad. I'm not good at doing the accent. It just comes off like Mrs. Swan or something. It's not even close to a real accent of any sort. But, yeah, I remember a real accent of any sort. I remember eating a lot of weird foods. What's the Filipino stereotype?

I don't know. I think the stereotype is they like karaoke. They love karaoke. Okay, is that true? My mom likes karaoke. There you go. I think this is a good stereotype. I think the Filipinos made this one up,

but they're really good at dance and really good at singing. But you can't have good stereotypes. That's not fair, right? I feel like that's a Filipino-made one. They're really good at things. Well, the self-made stereotypes are good. Those are good. You're more than a half-good singer. those are good. Well, I mean, you're more than a half good singer, so.

Oh, thanks. Yeah, I'm okay. I can move. I'm more of a mover. Yeah. I don't know if it's called dance. So your mom didn't teach you to dance. No.

What was it like growing up? What was the day-to-day? What was it like growing up? I don't know. I'm trying to think here. What did I want to do? I wanted to be a pilot. Because, you know, top gun. So I wanted to be a fighter. And the Navy.

So that was probably... I think when I go back and I look at what do you want to be when you grow up and you go to your childhood documents that your parents keep, it's always F-14 fighter pilot. It switched over to F-18, you know, because of the military. Right, yeah, you were informed.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I wanted to go to Annapolis, and I wanted to do that whole thing. My best buddy did the barn raising. He actually did go to Annapolis. He followed through. Yeah, he followed through. I was like, ah, I don't want to do it anymore. I don't want to do it.

So at what point did that start to shift? I don't want to do it anymore. I don't want to do it. So at what point did that start to shift? When I, well, I ended up going to, I went to UCLA and I studied acting when I was there. UCLA, you said? Okay. And so I fell in love with the arts and I looked into the military.

They didn't have a really good arts program. So there wasn't like a whole lot of opportunity to act in the military. So what made you want to be an actor to get into the— I fell in love with acting just after high school or near the tail end of high school. I don't know. There's just something fun about being something else for a little bit. But did you do the school play thing? No, I was a tennis player in high school. Okay.

Yeah, that was my thing. My love for acting was a tennis player in high school. Okay. Yeah, that was my thing. My love for acting hit like near the end of high school and I got really interested in it. So you were like the jock as much as a tennis player could be a jock. Yeah, I don't know if a tennis player was a jock, but I definitely was the, like I was captain of our team. You were good. I was, no.

We were a division two school. So I was good for Division II school, whatever that means. It means not good in any other Division I school. But yeah, I was that kid that was, you know, an hour early to school, every day practicing serves. I loved tennis.

Tennis was my thing. Now, were you musical already? Or was that something that... Yeah, I've been playing piano since I was six. Okay. Writing songs since I was 10. So music has always been there. It's always been like a release for me, though. My parents never made me... I've never playing piano since I was six. Okay. Writing songs since I was 10. So music has always been there. It's always been like a release for me, though.

My parents never made me. I've never had lessons. My parents have never forced me to. It was never work for me. So for me, it's always been a place to go when I'm stressed. So there was a piano in the house, and you just started twinkling the ivories. Yeah, exactly. Or tickling.

Both. I mean, you can twinkle them if you want. I don't know how you twinkle them, but you can definitely tickle them. Well, that's what it sounds like. I pay for my kids to get lessons. What should I be telling them to teach themselves? What should you tell your kids to teach themselves? Yeah, because I don't want to pay for the...

Oh, how to teach yourself? How do you do it without having to pay for the lessons? Yeah, how did you do that? I don't know. I just kept hitting the... You know what's funny? It seems it's a lot easier than people think. It really, really is.

I think of it this way. You know, you don't have to think much. I assume you can type. Yeah, yes, I can type. But I took a class to learn how to type. Okay, but still, but even still, but you get to the point where your mind

doesn't have to think about where A is your pinky just goes and you can just start going it's the same thing to an extent with the piano

it's just sound just translate your mind thinking of letters and your mind thinking of sounds so I play by ear so for me

I've got a pretty good grasp of what those keys are going to sound like and how I can put them in combinations. This is the most stripped down way of explaining myself. But as a 10-year-old, you were instinctively kind of just going with this. Yeah, I'd be like, oh, wow, if you hit those keys together,

they make this sound. And then you play around. You're like, oh, if you do this, that sounds. And you were writing original songs at 10. Yeah, because I started having crushes on girls. Love songs. And I was like, yeah. And I started having crushes on girls. Love songs. And I was like, yeah. And I remember Bryan Adams,

Everything I Do, I Do It For You was my favorite song. I used to listen to that on replay on my tape player because that's what we had. And I said, I want to write songs like that. I'm sure that guy gets a lot of girls. How does that start?

Look into my eyes. Yeah, you got it. And that's what it sounds like? Yeah. Well, I'd rather hear Chester sing it. Go, Chester. It's so high. No, that's a high one.

I don't want to scream into your mic. Okay, so you're writing songs at age of 10 about other girls. Now, is this like serenading? Like, hey, baby, come over and sit on the piano? Yeah. I've been writing, and I still do. Like, hey, baby, come over and sit on the piano kind of situation? I've been writing, and I still do, if anyone that follows me knows, the majority of my songs are love songs.

And that's what has always been done really well for me. But that's, I don't know. Like Lionel Richie, man, same thing. He writes mostly love songs. Tell us about the first girl that you remember having a crush on. The first girl, I actually remember her name. The first girl I you remember having a crush on. The first girl I actually remember her name. The first girl I remember actually having a crush on was this girl named Stephanie Standen. I'm throwing her name out there.

Stephanie Standen. I'm never going to see or hear from this girl again. It's fifth grade. Fifth grade. She's listening. Yeah, and she definitely didn't like me. I remember that. Well, what was it that attracted you?

Was she beautiful for a... I think she was beautiful for a fifth grade. I got to keep up how I say this, right? Well, you were also in fifth grade. Yeah. Don't take this out of context. Just put yourself back in those fifth grade shoes. What do you remember about her? I don't think I would think she was so pretty today.

It would be different words. Yeah, yeah. No, I'm sure she's still great looking today. Yeah, maybe. She is listening. I am single. That's a good name, though,

to have a crush on. So what do you remember about her? Stephanie Stanton. Come on, I remember my first crush was Jennifer Pearson. She sucked her thumb in kindergarten. So did I.

Well, you started early. And I was like, yeah. Like, we got that in common. That didn't sound right. I. Well, you started early. And I was like, yeah. Like, we got that in common. That didn't sound right. I can see where you, yeah. That's not what I meant by that. We're all thinking it now, though, so thanks a lot. You might not have thought of it until you did that.

She had a speech impediment because she sucked her thumb so much. And that turned you on? I just thought it was really cute. And I remember locking eyes with her one day at nap time. And you put your thumb in your mouth. And you're like, awesome. I mean, so now it's your turn, Chester.

Tell me more about Miss Standen. I remember, you know, I remember fifth grade, fourth or fifth grade. And when you're that age, you think things will impress girls. I still do, irrationally, or it's not logical to think these things, but I still do. You know, I remember thinking, if I can learn how to do a back handspring, she's totally going to like me. Or if I can win the turkey trot, she's totally going to like me. I remember those are two real things I recall, specifically to her. I remember thinking that.

Did you learn any of those things? Or win the turkey trot? I didn't. I do remember she was standing, you know, it took four laps around the field to do this turkey trot. And I remember being very cognizant that she was standing at one area and I would jog, you know, the whole piece, but then sprint by when she, oh yeah, even though it didn't really make sense because I didn't come in her place well. So it was just like, that's weird. Gotta look good by Stephanie.

Yeah. Never, oh, I did learn the backhand spring. I did learn the backhand spring. That didn't do it either? No, no, it was really confused. Was she going with somebody else? No, no. And I do remember, you know, digging into it and trying to find out if she thinks anything of me.

I can't remember if this is true. Yeah, I can't remember if this is true, and I don't want to make it seem like she was a mean fifth grader, but I'm pretty sure she told another friend that I had a big head. Yeah. Like my body, I think it's true. I think when I was in fifth grade, my body hadn't. I think my head started faster than my body. think it's true I think when I was in 5th grade my body hadn't I think my head started like faster than my body

yeah that's common so I think she said something along the lines of like when I was running it looked like I might fall over something like and doing the turkey trot in front of her

probably didn't help no that's when she spotted it yeah I'm like that's not look at the side of the head she's staring at me hey I've got

I've actually I actually am crushing on someone right now and that's all I'll tell you. Well, that's, that's unacceptable. Okay. Okay.

All right. Well, we're going to get to that point. All right. Okay. So you're obviously, we know that you're musically gifted.

We know that that apparently started at a young age, but then it wasn't, hey, I'm going to go off to some school and major in music or I'm going to just

bypass school and be a musician. It was, I'm going to go and study acting. Yeah. So how did, were you thinking, oh, but music is always going to be a part of my life or like, how, how is that working? Yeah. I mean, that's exactly right. I didn't, I didn't know where I would go after college. Um, I knew that I wanted to study acting. I, I, I truly, I really do appreciate acting as a craft, which is not the case

from I would say most actors in LA, if I'm being honest. It's a very, I have a different outlook on acting. I really do enjoy it. And I knew that I wanted to study music. I didn't know what I, I didn't know I would be an actor

or that I would get involved in acting in the traditional sense or even that with music. I wasn't positive what I would do after in acting in the traditional sense or even that with music. I wasn't positive what I would do after college. I just knew at the moment I loved it and I wanted to study it. So and then after college, I ended up landing a gig on the Disney Channel and I was a host for a show called Disney 365 for three years.

And that was. So what kind of show was that with a host? It's interstitial. So basically in between the programming, it would come on and I would interview like Miley Cyrus or Selena Gomez and, you know, the high school musical cast or whatever. So I would go to the red carpet events. It's kind of like a Ryan Seacrest-y kind of thing but in the Disney world. And I had to be very, very, very energetic even though I was already in my 20s. I'd be clean shaved, pretend I was 15, 16.

Okay. And talk with a very high voice. Did they tell you this? It was like, okay, this is who you have to be. Oh, yeah. Yeah, and it was tough. Your voice needs to be higher right now, Chester. It was like, in between takes, like, bring it back up.

Every, yep, every. Wow. In between takes, they'd be like, we need more energy. We need up, up, more energy. It literally, it was ridiculous. Have you ever seen it? I don't know if you've ever seen these things, but they're almost famed for being so ridiculously energetic.

I'll give you a little taste. It's like, hey, everyone, with all the info and all things Disney, 365 days a year, I'm Chester. Like that, that. That's good. And you've got to maintain that that's yeah that's like walking a tight wire yeah I would warn I would always warn the actors too that's wrapped around your testicles or something exactly that's what it felt like um but it was you know it could be jarring for the person you're interviewing so I distinctly remember like uh like I had to interview Zac Efron at one point, and I was like, hey,

I'm about to get really energetic. Just learning you. You're not going to believe how high I'm about to talk. It's all good. Oh, wow. Boom. And you guys ready? I'm like, so Zac! So three

years of this. Three years of that. Three years, and this is pretty much a full-time thing at the time? No, it wasn't full-time, but it definitely supplied me. It was a big portion of my income, and it was my job. I probably did one or two a month. So I was basically the main host for those three years. So you're saying starting in 2006-ish? Yeah, 2006, 2007-ish.

Yeah, 2006, 2009. Yep. Okay. And at what point in that process, because it sounds like you characterize it in a way now that you burned out at some point. Is that what happened? You're like, I can't take any more of this. Well, this is silly. Or your voice just couldn't stay that high. I think it was a few things. I think it was honestly, a part of it was my body. This is so silly. Your body caught up with your head? Well, in 2009, my body finally caught up with my head,

but I got obsessed with just lifting. And I blew up to a good one, I don't know, I was like 170, 180 pounds. I'm not the biggest guy height-wise, so that was pretty big. But it was, you know But I was a gym jerk. Jerk's not the right word. You know what I'm getting at. That guy, for a period of time, really, really loved working out.

So I blew up, and I remember them, it was like two or three in a row. I could tell they were getting kind of upset because they only put me in XXXL shirts because you can't be you're not supposed to be a man I'm supposed to be a 15 year old, a 16 year old you can't be slow

exactly and I think one of the last ones I did was the cruise and they had to put me in a wetsuit so they put me in literally a XXXL because you know those things are supposed to be tight and fitting so it was like a baggy-looking wetsuit. But they're not talking to you about this.

They're just handing you clothes, and you're kind of reading between the lines. Yeah, and then I stopped getting calls for more of those gigs. But, yeah. He's too buff. He out-buffed us. At a certain point. He out-buffed Disney. Yeah, I think that was the case.

But you wanted to move on, or you wanted to just be huge? Yeah, honestly, I don't really enjoy hosting. I enjoy acting in roles, certain roles I love acting in, love music. But hosting for me, it was a job. And yeah, you're right. I mean, after three years of doing it, it's like, okay, I should find something else to be doing here. Are you trying to be a musician at the same time?

Are you getting any traction at that time? At the time, I was doing more songwriting. Actually, you know David Choi, right? Oh, yeah. So David, I knew David before YouTube. How did you know him? Because of songwriting. He was a writer, producer for Warner Chival Publishing.

How did you know him? Because of songwriting. He was a writer-producer for Warner Chappell Publishing. And I, at the time, was working with some A&R over at Warner Brothers, and they paired us up to write songs. And what does that mean exactly, Warner Music Publishing? That's a publishing company. Warner Chappell is a publishing company, a music publishing company.

And so they have the rights to tons of of music and uh he was signed to that company um to write and produce songs for for other for other artists and and whatnot yeah um yeah so so we paired we got together and we were a writing team for a little while we just co-wrote a bunch of songs and while we were doing that that's when he showed me his YouTube channel and he was like if I remember correctly he might have even been top 10

he was definitely up there he was definitely high in the ranks because David Choi had written the YouTube song yeah

the catapult when I wake up in the morning YouTube we were doing our a live broadcast on Ustream

every Thursday night called the Rhett and Link cast and we had a volunteer who would work via Skype her name is I can't remember her name

at this particular moment but I'll remember it in a second it'll be too late Stephanie not Stephanie it was the other girl oh yeah

yeah yeah yeah but yeah, yeah. But anyway, she said, you should get guests on your show. And we were like, okay, we'll try that. And you should get David Choi. And we were like, who's that? He's like, well, YouTube song. So then we, that's how we met David Choi. When was that?

This was... 2008? 2007 or 2008. Wow. And he performed the YouTube song live on our show. Remember that? Yeah, we did that live show for almost two years straight. It's great.

It's like way back then. David's part of the original crew, which I love, by the way. Now, I wasn't excelling in the YouTube platform in 2007. I was much smaller in the ranks than anything, but I was there, and I was watching Dax Flame, and I was uploading. And I love that I was there because a lot of the original YouTube crew is still doing their thing, and it's just kind of cool to see. Some.

I won't say a lot, but I'll say a sum of the original people are still around. Yeah. A lot of people have fallen off. Yeah. I wish Wine Gun was still like popping out. Oh, man. You're going back to like first generation, like the first people. Because David Choi was one of those people.

He was the top back thing. Because he was even earlier than we were, definitely. So does that time out with when you were writing together, he was moving up the ranks of YouTube in 2006 is when you're talking about, 2007. Yeah, I think we met in 2006, 2007, yeah, somewhere around that era. So, but yeah, and that's what got me on YouTube,

was David. David was like, you gotta start a YouTube channel and put your music out there and then see how you get some feedback. And I was like, that's super cool. And then it turned into what it is today. And so what was that process like? What was the first video?

First video was David holding my laptop, basically babying me through this, showing me what to do. Movie HD was the editor. And I don't know if you know this about David, but David was kind of known for putting way too many effects in all his videos via Movie HD. So it was like, what can you add in there now? Snow, lightning, you know, all those, the 20 effects that they had.

And so he hailed my laptop and recorded with a little eye camera and shaky. And I sang one of my songs called God Damn You're Beautiful and put it up. And then, you know, I just kept doing it. Never stopped. Now, we went back and watched that video and I mean, there's some production to that video. It's not just a webcam video.

Oh, wait, no, you're probably thinking of the actual music video. Okay, so that was later. Later, I made a music video for it. Okay. No, no, no. The first video I put up, it is coming out of an old Mac. Yeah.

And he's holding the laptop as a camera. He's holding it. And trying to do some camera work to it, but it's not. That is amazing. Yeah. Yeah. I miss those days. Hey, remember when flip cameras were hot for like a good five months?

Oh, yeah. And then it went, use your computer camera. You got to use flip. And then I was like, use your computer camera you gotta use flip and then I was like gotta use the cannons and now it's just it's over you can't

we never got a flip cam you didn't we skipped that I got involved I thought I was gonna buy 20 of them and start doing

really cool things with flip cameras I thought I was gonna put multiple flips up everywhere like in the matrix like do your version of the matrix shots

yeah jump up in the air and then go around yourself in every music video. Sing a song. Okay, so David got you going with the webcam and then what? Was it just a slow grind kind of thing or did something pop

immediately? How did it work? Slow grind for me. I don't have a viral video. I have a song, God Damn You Beautiful continues to do pretty well for me. I don't have a viral video. I have a song, God Damn You Beautiful continues to do pretty well for me. When I wrote Nice Guys, I wrote a song called Nice Guys,

and I had Ryan and Kev Jumba rap the rap parts. That helped bring some awareness to my channel. I think Ryan was number two at the time. Niga Higa. Did you meet them through And that helped bring some awareness to my channel because those guys were, you know, I think Ryan was number two at the time or something like that.

Yeah. I think I was number one. Niga Higa. So did you meet them through David? Yeah. I met them through, yeah. David is a connector, by the way. David connected a lot of people. And I met him, I met, it was because of a show called Fun Employed or a web series called Fun Employed that Wong Free Productions was doing.

And I played Duke on the show. And that's how I met those guys. Yeah, and I did that. And then the next year I did a song called Bromance with Ryan. And that did pretty well. I think those two are my most viral. They're not on my channel, though. They're on Ryan's.

But those, I mean, I think Nice Guys has over 50 million on just Ryan's channel. So, and then, you know, I'm in it, so that helps. But those are the only videos that I would say went viral. For me, it's just been consistently being on the space. After that first upload, you know, when you're like, okay, I'm going to make a music video for YouTube, I'm assuming that this wasn't like, hey, I'm going to quit my day job at this point.

Like, what were you doing? How were you making money at the time? Oh, how was I making money at the time? What era are we talking about? The partnership program? Like, when you first got started, when you were like... Oh, there was no money, right?

When we first started. Right, so you're kind of, you're working with David, you're co-writing, so he's got a day job at the time. Warner Chapel. Right. He was being paid

because he was actually signed by Warner Chapel. Right. Yeah was being paid because he was actually signed by Warner Chappell. Right. Yeah, for me, I was a shirtless bartender at a Korean club. Oh, shirtless bartender at a Korean club. Is that a euphemism? No, that's a literalism. Okay, so tell us how that works. Well, first you take your shirt off.

Okay, so tell us how that works. Well, first you take your shirt off. Okay, check. And then you serve alcoholic beverages to people from behind a bar. It was really weird because for me, I mean, it was very Korean culture too. I think it was called a booking club. So the guys, the girls get them free, the guys all sit there and there and um The guys pay to get in. The guys pay to get in. They also have to pay, you know, they'll buy tables but they'll pull like a girl over and she has to come down and sit for them for

a certain amount of time. It's kind of a weird scenario. Like an escort? I don't want to use the wrong words here. There are no wrong words. I just want to understand. Yeah, I don't really know. Is escort the wrong word? I don't words. I just want to understand. Yeah, I don't really know. All I know is- Is escort the wrong word?

I don't know. I just, maybe. I'm not sure. Were you an escort? No. Yeah. Are you- No, no, no, no.

I stayed behind the bar. Did you ever have to take your pants off? No, no. Never had to take the pants off. Okay. Was every bartender shirtless? The other guy was a shirtless. Yeah.

The girls worked there, but they weren't shirtless. Right. Did you have like a bow tie on? No, no, no. I wish I did. No, no. You just didn't have a shirt on. And I love that you just said, no, the girls weren't shirtless.

But it's funny how that's when you say topless. Yeah. But for guys, we've been saying shirtless. Shirtless, yeah. Because you didn't want to apply topless to you as the bartender so you're a shirtless bartender but if the women were shirtless they would be topless

but they weren't I just want to take a moment to acknowledge going from hosting Disney 365 to being a shirtless bartender this is quite a transition well the muscles. Did they ask you to talk higher

at the bar? Here's your drink! Yeah, no. It was because I was going to give the traditional acting thing a go. It was for a short period of time. I hate

the way the acting industry is set up. I do. There's just so much red tape and so many politics and so many things that have nothing to do with ambition and talent. It's unfortunate. I was a part of that game for a while. To make sense of being part of that game, you have to find a job that

opens your week up and opens your daytime up. Opens your chest up. Opens your chest up and opens your daytime up. So for me... Opens your chest up. Opens your chest up, opens your heart up, opens... Well, listen, there's no shame in it. There's just a lot of fascination in it for me. Okay, but I know that, you know, as we've gotten to know you just over the past year or so,

we've known that you're more than just a guy who makes YouTube videos. I mean, we've known that you're more than just a guy who makes YouTube videos. I mean, you've gotten involved in the business of YouTube and some innovative things that are happening. So tell us a little bit about, you know, beyond your, you're not just a guy who makes YouTube videos and has some songs on the internet. You're a guy that's, you know, really on the cutting edge of what's happening with this transition in new media in general. So tell us a little bit about how that got started. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So as the tail end of this pursuit of acting sort of came about, I realized that I didn't, I don't want the actual acting career or the music career as much as I thought

I did. I just love music and I just love acting, but I don't want the career. And, and there's a big difference. And I think a lot of people don't realize the difference sometimes. And I was very fortunate to have that epiphany not too long ago. And once I did, it opened up all these fun new opportunities, um, to be a little bit more business savvy and look into the business side of what's going on. And, and then, um, because of what's happening on the internet, that was the really exciting stuff. Because as cliche as it is, it is still the Wild Wild West,

and you can really just try new things. And so as YouTube is figuring out what's going on and you have all these companies pop up, and your instinct is, oh, well, those are such smart businessmen that are controlling this space and controlling these major companies. And you quickly realize they're not nearly as smart as you would assume they are. And they're not making the decisions that are necessarily the right ones. And it's almost shocking when you figure that out and that you can be a player in this and you can actually be a pioneer.

And once I figured that out, I just, I wanted to try and do something myself. So then how did, what were the specific opportunities? How did you start making those connections into that, the business side of it? Well, the first thing that sort of introduced me to the business aspect of what was going on was, me to the business aspect of what was going on was I ended up starting a company with a buddy, Cash Warren, and another buddy, Abdul, and Ryan and Kevin. And we were just brainstorming different ideas how we could take advantage of what was going on on the internet and do something really cool and innovative. Blah, blah, blah.

Fast forward. We were made aware of the funded channels. I'll go through this quickly. We reached out to Justin Lin, and we all came together and created a whole new company, and we ran the Yum Yum F network, which was a funded channel. So being a part of that was a great sort of intro to a lot of stuff that was going on behind the scenes. And how would you characterize that network? the scenes. And how do you, how would you characterize that network? It was, you know,

Asian American centric, Asian American vertical for YouTube. It's interesting because when YouTube launched all those funded channels, I think there was an expectation that, you know, that formula was going to work. Not that it necessarily didn't. I don't want to say any of the channels don't work. A lot of them do. But I think there was a higher expectation for those funny channels to be much, much more successful, let's say. Because, you know, the thought process being, okay, you put the celebrity name.

You get the celebrity names involved. You get the better production. The thought process being, okay, you put the celebrity name. You get the celebrity names involved. You get the better production. And we can help with the viewership by converting that viewership from the preexisting viewership that comes from our YouTube community. The problem is going back to what I said before about the word quality. If it's not what people want to view, it's not what people want to view.

And it doesn't matter that it looks and feels like TV. I think they've learned a lot about long form content and that I think long form content is going to have a place on this space. But my opinion is, is that there's two really, really cool things that are happening right now. One is we're figuring out long form. We're figuring out how to make sense of it. Get the viewer. The viewership is like, is catching up for long form, which is going to exploit the fact that it doesn't matter where you're distributing. And that should, we should see some ad dollars increase because of that. It only makes sense. And hopefully marketing gets involved soon because we haven't seen anything get truly

marketed, not, not in the multimillion dollar budgets that any TV show would get. Right. And that's a part of the formula to make sure that's successful. So you can control that ROI. My television shows will spend as much money on marketing as they will on making the show. When you think about everything that we make on YouTube, there is no marketing.

It's not that there's... Yeah, I know. And I talk about this all the time, but it's so frustrating but also exciting because hopefully it'll happen soon. But imagine the day when someone does spend the $40 million that one of those network television shows gets on marketing,

and they put up the billboards, they put up the advertising, they get it in the magazines, because if that happens, all of a sudden, it is legitimate. You're paying for legitimacy. You've changed perception, it doesn't matter. Now it doesn't matter that it's on YouTube I want to see what happens when you do that

I wish that YouTube would just pick even a YouTube, or pick you guys and say okay let's just get some billboards up on Sunset let's put some real a real marketing camp behind this and let it be distributed on YouTube what should we do in our billboard, Chester?

I think, well this right here got to make that a household symbol. The logo. I love the fused heads. Yes. Okay. Well, I think we would do the business shake. If you put me and you doing the business handshake on billboards across America, I think I could start something.

Yeah, I'm in. I'm in. You guys need a CMO. Okay. We're need a CMO. Okay. We're certainly open to that. Yamyaf, how do you do it? Yamyaf. Yamyaf.

It's an acronym for you offend me, you offend my father, which is a Bruce Lee. Right, right. Okay, and beyond getting that started with those guys, I know that you've been involved with, speaking of long form, what's happening with side effects. Oh, yeah. Yeah know that you've been involved with, speaking of long form, what's happening with Side Effects. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, that's exciting. That's really exciting because if you know what happened with Awesomeness TV and the acquisition in DreamWorks, Jeffrey Katzenberg, actually, I think he said this publicly and I can't remember where it was found,

but someone was telling me he'd actually brought up Side Effects and he seems to be excited about it which obviously is a good thing and then Brian being who Brian is if you know Brian he's just kind of he truly is a pioneer in this space and what he's done with Awesomeness is amazing

so yeah I think that we're in a really interesting opportunity here to do something that with side effects that might not have really been done before. Exploit what I was saying before. Now it's a long form narrative musical series, right? Well, okay. So it's a little tricky, but easy to explain. It's a movie. The first thing is a movie. It's almost two hours of content and we are releasing it in three acts one two three so we just released 40 the first 40

minutes of a movie now it's going we want it to go we it makes most sense to be a series television yeah a 30 minute type show i think so um by releasing it at 40 minutes, that's about almost an hour's worth of programming in the network television world. 42 is what they're... We were able to put up a comparable and say, okay, well, Side Effects, we released it one week, we got 2.1 million views. Well, what does MTV get on Teen Wolf? I don't think it's 2.1 million. And so a lot of these network television programs are hit... That's so a lot of these network television programs are hit shows. That's, for a lot of channels,

that's a hit show if they can get to 2 million in a week. And so we have that direct comparable because of the length of time that we released it. So that was, again, I think that's a testament to how smart Awesomeness TV is and what they're doing.

But, so now we're, you know, we just wrapped the rest of the movie. We'll release it again and we'll release it again. We'll release Act 2 and Act 3 over the next few months. But the big picture here I think for everyone is where our minds are is let's make this a real show. Let's just make a – how many episodes are in a show like that? But let's make a Glee.

Let's make the next Glee. Now, you show up in a lot of places. I mean, you play the older brother slash father figure, basically, in that story because the dad is, that is the story, looking for the dad, basically, right? So you show up there, but then you're behind the scenes from a business standpoint as, I don't know if it's a partner or whatever the word is for that,

but you're involved. I mean, what's your? Executive producer. Okay, executive producer. And then you're appearing in Camp Dakota, which is coming out. Yeah, just as an actor. That's just as an actor there. So what's your strategy?

I mean, show up in a number of places, get your hand in on kind of the executive producing part of it, the business side of it too. It seems like, how would you, I'm interested to know what your strategy is. How would you characterize it? We haven't even talked about what I'm actually most excited about, though, too, in this space.

So we'll get to that next time. No, give it to him. What is it? Factor it in. Well, then, okay, then what I'm actually most excited more than anything else is actually the music industry and how the YouTube is going to that next time. No, give it to him. What is it? Factor it in. Well, then, okay, then what I'm actually most excited more than anything else is actually the music industry and how the YouTube is going to play into that.

And I'm in the middle of building something out for that right now. That's where a lot of my time and energy has been going is I'm looking to start a company that revolves around making sense of distribution for music online given that radio has controlled their business for so long. And if radio declines, it's not really declining at the moment, but I think it's inevitable that it's going to have a decline at some point. Yeah.

And whether or not that's a fast decline or not, you still have to accept the fact that there's distribution channels or there's distribution online like YouTube where I'll give a specific example. Boyce Avenue, for instance, has what, four something million subscribers. They have an engine that can guarantee a certain amount. Here is what I'm really, really excited about is I look at the Miley Cyrus' and the Selena Gomez's and the Demi Lovato's and even the, even the Katy Perry's now. And a lot of those artists now, I'm not saying anything bad about the artists, but the truth is, and I know this for a fact, a lot of the songs, I already heard those songs. I have my friends, I have some friends that wrote their songs. I've heard those

songs with demo singers before they even hit their ears. right? So I know that we call those originals. They're not originals in my mind. Those are covers. Selena's covering a song. Let's be honest. Demi Lovato's covering a song. But they'll never say it that way, and they're going to get the writing credit with quotations, and they're going to play that game.

And that's so that the perception is there for the kids to feel like, oh, that's her. That's Miley's song. She wrote that. That's coming from her no no usually not now that being the case what excites me about that is so what really is the difference between when Demi sings a song in my opinion what I would say is a cover of someone else's song and the next day someone with massive distribution decides to do their own version of that song and releases it there's not a big difference the fact that they are quote-unquote covering it if they're doing it online is just public but she went behind the scenes grabbed somebody else's song and did the same thing now um now she paid for it though she uh a record well here's the other thing is the

record labels also spend a six-figure amount on radio spins, right? Yeah. Also playing that formula where, okay, let's just pump it into the ears of the listeners. And there's only so much radio real estate to be had. So they're really working off of a very specific business model to make sure that these songs are successful. And it costs a lot of money to do so. That's why distribution on the internet is so exciting for the music industry because it's going to democratize music eventually.

Eventually, we are going to have an option of these great hit songs that are written by these amazing songwriters that are given to demis, but they're given to the world, and anyone should be able to create a version that can be the version that is most listened to i think we will soon see scenarios where the boyce avenues and the tyler wards and some of these great musicians that have a you know will do covers quite often you know they're already popping into the top you know singer songwriter charts but it's just getting more and more and more because their distribution is growing and growing and growing. Imagine the day when Demi releases it,

the sales are so-so. They control their own distribution, which is as significant if not more, and they beat out those numbers. Now they're sitting on top of iTunes charts. They're finding more people than Demi. Whose song is it really? So is it a specifically cover-oriented thing as opposed to original songs?

Because that's what you're using as your example. Yeah, I mean, because I wouldn't put Ed Sheeran in this conversation or maybe another better-known singer-songwriter. And there are, you know, I'm not discounting the fact that Taylor Swift and Katy Perry do write original songs. I'm not discounting the fact that Taylor Swift and Katy Perry do write original songs. But a lot, there's a huge amount of songs that are written by songwriters. And then behind the scenes, you know, pitch to different, the Demi Camps and the Selena Camps. And one of those girls picks it up or one of those artists picks it up.

And they're more or less a poster child for that. And is that the best pairing? Is Miley Cyrus the best person to sing whatever hit song she sings next that was written by somebody else? You know, odds probably not. Is she the best from a business standpoint? Maybe with everything that's going on in her world and the amount of people,

the amount of eyes on her. But is that the way we want to pair the singer to a song? I don't think so. I think there's a better version of that song that should be exploited. And I think we're in, we're about to start seeing that more and more and more, which is exciting. Yeah. Very interesting. Okay. So let's bring it back to your YouTube persona for a second. As you know, as we were talking about, i would think that back in the day you had all

these girlfriends you've got now with these songs that you put out you've got you know you've got the young girls swooning a little bit right you've got you you've had some success in relationships and you have expectations you've got stalkers stalker girls right i think so i think i have some stalker stalkers any evidence of that any creepy evidence um the problem is i don't i really want i just want what you guys have it's not fair i want to settle down i want to like just marry a stalker i want it well my wife doesn't listen to this so i i can christy isy was not a stalker. If she would have been, then I think I was the stalker.

I stalked my wife. I'll own that. So you haven't had any weird run-ins with fans? No, not really. When I had a P.O. box, I had a few weird things sent to me. Like what? Like what at Unison? I always resort to this at unison I always

resort to this one thing that I always remember it was an envelope full of dirt and tacks

tacks? like thumb tacks? yeah dirt and tacks? yeah with no explanation either and a box

full of Star Trek old VHS Star Trek tapes were they good? I didn't watch them but I'm assuming they were they were probably dubbed over I didn't watch them, but I'm assuming they were, they were,

they were probably dubbed over, dude. You gotta watch them. Oh, wait a minute. I didn't even think about it. It's not Star Trek.

What is this? Okay, so maybe not with any of these females, but with, you have had success. You said you're single right now.

Yeah, I'm single right now, yeah. But you were dating Taryn for a while, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So let's talk about that. When did you're single right now. Yeah, I am single right now, yeah. But you were dating Taryn for a while, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So let's talk about that. When did you...

Oh, God. You're like, the eyes roll. Because... Well, I mean, dating another internet personality, I think that that's... There haven't been a lot of relationships where each person had a public persona and you keep up with their personal lives.

Was that a marketing decision? Yeah, right. Was that the businessman marketing? Or was that your heart? I love Taryn. And I still love Taryn. I think she's just a wonderful human. And you have to play her romantic

interest in side effects. Yeah, although she dumped me in life and in movie. Okay. yeah. So you were like, she was like breaking up with you, and you were like, wait, wait, wait, is this on script?

Are we rehearsing? Yeah, no, it just didn't work out. Well, let's start with how long did you guys date? I don't know. We had that rocky ending where you go off and on and off and on. I probably, yeah, I mean, I have a lot to, I'm a big part of why that didn't work out, to be honest. Anyway.

No, our point of reference is the VidCon performance yeah where it seemed like oh yeah you saw that huh yeah we were out there we were there

we were in the crowd so you what was the name of the song you were performing who am I to stand in your way who am I to stand in your way and you gave this introduction and I was like

wow this is hold on this is going somewhere I'm kind of perking up I'm listening there was kind of is, hold on, this is going somewhere. I'm kind of perking up, I'm listening. There was kind of a heartfelt introduction to this song about a girl you had lost. You didn't mention anyone.

I assumed that this was Taryn you were talking about. And then you started breaking up. And I'm like, is this, you know, okay. So I'm like, okay, is Chester a master performer? Yeah. Or is he crying up there? Yeah, I was a little bit of crying up there.

Okay. Those are real tears. I was sitting next to my wife and I had to monitor my wife at that moment in the middle of you singing that song. I look over there and my wife is like fixated. I'm like, hey baby, hold on, I'm right here. I'm like, you know, I know he's a good looking guy.

He's got a great voice, but come on now. What was going on? Tell me what was going on up there. You know, I hadn't seen her in so long. She was there. Not in listening, not listening, not there, there, but at VidCon and I bumped into her for the first time in a while.

Since the breakup basically? I'm a baby and I'm trying to deal with a breakup in certain different ways, and we try, okay, maybe we won't talk at all. Let's do that and see if that helps. It's all me with the issues. She's great. I got to give Taryn this. She really was very good at being there for me in the breakups, if that makes any sense.

She's very, she's one of the most rational people I know. And I like to pride myself on being rational too. She helped make that as easy as possible. So if I was like, I can't talk to you for a while because it's too hard, she respected that. Or if I needed to talk to her,

she'd be fine with that too. But again, obviously, I'm the baby in this breakup for sure. So it fueled. I'm cured now though. I am cured. I am 100% good. I'm good. And it's because of that crush thing I said earlier.

So you write songs about a new person now? Yeah, I already wrote a song about this new person, yeah. What's her name? Stephanie Stanton. Stephanie Stanton. I can't say her name. She sent me some Star Trek tapes. But, okay, you can't say her name,

but have you released a song yet that is about her? Yeah, no, here's the thing. Nothing's going to happen with this girl. Nothing's going to happen with this girl. Nothing's going to happen with this girl. It was just not. Unless you tell us who she is and we can help you out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not.

We'll make some calls. Nothing will happen with this girl. There's very concrete. There's a lot of reasons why this will not work, which is fine. One, it's her husband. It's not my wife, is it? It's like, I'm like'm like you think i should just go for it anyway if she's got a husband you know you guys are like you know what yeah if your heart

it's your wife um um yeah but here the point is this though the point is this i i don't even care i mean i i would love a scenario this girl is so cool she's so cool no she's amazing she's awesome uh but the fact that I actually could even feel something like that again, you know, I can be aware of people being cool, but to actually have a feeling and be like, oh my god, you're making me feel that thing that is never

explained properly by anyone. That was the first time since Taryn. And even though nothing will happen with this girl, it was just nice to feel that. I have to know why you're saying nothing will happen with this girl, it was just nice to feel that way. I have to know why you're saying nothing will happen. Is she married? No, she's not married, but... She's in a

relationship. I can't talk about it. With somebody else. I think you're already talking about it. Yeah. You both know her. Oh, that's oh

yeah now I'm just like thinking really I'm so bad at this I'm really good at like pushing people to talk about things but I'm so

I would never see it but here's the thing and this is where it's great um I get to be let's ask yes or no questions let's play that game

oh I cannot leak the... Is she... I can't, I can't. Is she taller than you? Yeah, I can't. No, okay. This is like the game of guess. So she's shorter.

Does she wear glasses? She's shorter than you. I can't give out any more details because you know her. And because I really don't want her to know. I really want this to wash over and get back to her content with friends and be happy that we're friends. And again, I'm just excited that I felt something.

Does that make any sense? I sound like a cheesy dork. Okay, yeah, so there's, okay, even if it's not about her, it's about your feelings for her. Yeah, no, this sounds

absolutely ridiculous. That you can have those feelings. I get that. It's absolutely ridiculous. Yeah, yeah, I'm a little like, ah, that sucks. There's nothing,

more will happen. However, the fact that I could even get there, because after Taryn, I was, for the longest time, I was just kind of like,

I was like nothing. I wanted her. I just wanted her back. Is she a man? Yeah. Yeah, so. It's like, I'm not even going to participate. Link, if you're going to keep being this way,

I'm never going to speak to you again. So we're going to have one of those relationships where we can't talk anymore because I'm being so awkward about this. Or you could just stop now. I promise. That's why I'm here. That's why there's two of us so the conversation can continue. The last one was just a joke.

Unless you want to date guys. But the interesting thing is that you have, you know, you used the breakup. It fueled your creativity. You know, you wrote an amazing song about it. I think like eight. Okay. Eight amazing songs.

Seven or eight songs. Is that how you, I mean, and now you're writing a song about this new crush. So do you ever write a song that isn't true? You know, it's just like. Yes, but I don't like those nearly as much as those take longer to write. Those are from writing sessions with guys or people, whoever, writers.

And those are a little more contrived and you can feel it usually. The songs that come from something, you know, you can pump those. I at least can pump those out. They kind of just spill onto the page. So,

yes, I do write songs that are not about something, but I'd say the majority of my music is all from real things. Yeah. and what's what's next what's on the horizon

I know you've got you've got by the time this is out Camp Dakota will have been released to the world oh yeah

I'm I'm in that I'm in my boxers for a lot of that most of my screen time is in my boxers the funny thing is I'm really really good friends with Chris Riedel and. Most of my screen time is in my boxers in that movie.

The funny thing is, I'm really, really good friends with Chris Riedel and Nick Riedel. I've known them since middle school. Oh, really? I've known them, yeah. I've known them since seventh grade, even though Chris always says sixth, and I get really upset

because I'm like, I didn't know you in sixth grade. And anyway, every single time, like you can't remember. Anyway. Do you put tape on the inside of the boxers to make sure that the hole doesn't open up? No, because that's what I would do.

That'd be funny. You know what I love about being a little older? Did this happen for you guys too? Like, oh no, I hope I never get seen naked. And then it really is that

old man locker mentality. I just don't care. I really like, oh, if something, if a flap opened up, it would be funny to me. It would be embarrassing

for the person who saw it. yeah, but I would be like, me. It would be embarrassing for the person who saw it. Yeah, yeah. But I would be like, that's my penis. Look, I'm looking at it right now. There he is. Yeah, somewhere recently that happened. I was like, yeah, yeah. It is an old guy thing.

Old guys don't care. You lose your shame. Yeah, yeah. You do. You just forget about it. That's funny. What was the question? Oh, what's coming up next?

Yeah, and then more side effects. And then what about in your... Well, producing a movie, actually. Producing a movie in the next few months. We're going to get started. I don't know if I'm allowed to say who the director is yet. So I won't just in case. Is he taller than you?

You know him. Are you dating him? Do you have a crush on him? Yeah, exactly. Is he taller than you? He's such a great guy. Yeah, I know. But the movie's really, really cool.

The movie's really cool. And think of it as this is the end for the YouTube community. Oh, very cool. We got a pretty good budget and a lot of the same cash is involved. And Mark Steinle and John Strauss are involved. Those guys wrote something about Mary. And, again, I don't know if I can list the other players, but I'm sure we'll have an announcement in the next month or two.

Okay. And we're talking YouTube release here? You know, I think it's kind of the same thing that we're doing with Side Effects or Camp Dakota. You make a good-looking feature film, and then you play the distribution game afterwards. You figure out. You don't have to have a distribution plan necessarily before you finish the movie because there will be opportunities. Right, right.

Well, we're excited to see that and everything else that's coming down the pipe. Yeah, and let us know when Miss Standen reaches out to you. Yeah, yeah. We want to hear from you. We're going on a triple date. Let's do it. And there you see it. I tried to make a pun about with his last name,

but then I realized that you're not seeing anything. You're just hearing that ear biscuit with Chester C. Lionel, as I'm going to call him from now on. Yeah. You know, what a missed opportunity. You know, if my middle name was Lionel, you better believe it. That would be what I would be going by.

I seriously considered naming one of my children Lionel because it starts with an L and that's what we did with our children. We named them with L names. It is interesting that, I mean, Lando is a great name, but was it you that made that decision or was it your wife that was like, no, Lionels, we're not gonna do that?

Or were you just like, oh, it just seems too jokey? Well, I preferred Lando. You preferred? Well, don't tell Lionel that. We're never going to get Lionel on this thing if you tell him that you preferred Lando to Lionel. That's true. You should probably retract that immediately. Sir, would you like to retract that?

Yes, I would like to retract that. I do have to say that I had to pull you back today. I had to pull you back from you were really, really pushing to get him to confess his crush. I think you made him feel uncomfortable. I think you might have to call him and apologize. Well, I'm willing to do that. I mean, I guess when you've been married for 13 years, you lose a sensitivity.

Oh, you got a crush on boy. Now, can you tell me? Yeah, to this whole crush thing. I mean, it's like, well, if you like somebody, just say it. You know what? If you want to, you know what? I'm so far removed from that that I just think it's just fun. It was just in good, honest fun.

I wasn't trying to push him. I just thought it was fun, and maybe I should have been a little more sensitive. What I'm saying is that— Did I push him too far on the crush thing? He brought it up. Well, okay. He seemed to want me to tease it out of him. No, no.

Okay, so that's the thing. I guess that's the question beneath the question is, did you really think, like, what did you think the chances, because, like, I'm observing this happen, and I know that there is a 0% chance that he's going to give it up. But in your mind, are you thinking, oh, I'm just having fun. I'll see where this goes. I know he's not going to tell me who his crush is on,

or do you really think that there's a chance that he's gonna just break down and tell you? What motivates you in that moment? One, I'm having fun. Two, I feel like I- One, I'm having fun. Two, I feel like I owe it to Ear Biscuit listeners to try as hard as I can.

If someone says, well, I will say things have changed because I do have a crush now, dot, dot, dot, I owe it to the listeners, Rhett, to see- The biscuteers? To see what the dot, dot, dots can reveal. I agree with that. And I believe that you should have asked him twice. You asked him, I don't know,

I'm gonna go back to the tape, eight to nine, eight to 10 times, maybe a dozen. So I just, at one point I was like, okay, he's obviously not going to go there. You know, we, we pushed him and,

uh, and then I felt like I had to pull you back. I had, it was like, uh, you know, pulling back a dog, like a drug,

a drug dog, a drug dog that's found the drugs. You're like, Oh no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, oh, no, no, no, it's cool. We know that they're in there. We're gonna take care of it now. We're gonna give you your little reward, but you don't get to actually get the drugs in your mouth. Chester Lionel C., I'm sorry for pushing you so hard.

I mean, I actually apologized to him once we stopped recording. I said, hey, man, you know, I hope you'll forgive me. I didn't speak English, first of all. I said, I hope you'll forgive me for making you squirm a little bit, but, and I don't remember what I said. I'm sorry. I wasn't, it's all in good fun. Now you've made it public. One, I had fun. Two, I, no. Okay. Well, we're still friends. He didn't leave upset. No, he didn't.

He hugged us, hugged us both. I'm a little upset. I don't know who his crush is. Yeah, well. I'm freaking upset. Well, I know who it is. Who is it? I'm gonna keep it to myself.

You think you know who it is. No, no, no. When he hugged me at the end, he whispered into my ear. No, you think you know who it is, huh? Don't tell Link. Who do you think it is, Rhett? I'm not going to say.

And you can ask me 12 times, and I'm still not going to tell you. Are they taller than you? Taller than me? Is she taller than you? Yeah, this woman is 6'8". Yeah, that would narrow it down. What if he would have said that? I'm not going to tell you who it is, but she's taller than Rhett.

All right, guys. Thanks for listening to this Ear Biscuit. We're in this together. And we do this every week. I don't care what year it is. I resolve to be here for you and to do these until we stop doing them.

And for those of you who are listening... You're going to leave before I leave, is all I'm going to say. And for those of you who are listening in the distant future, the year 3003, almost a whole millennium from now. Wow. Just in case that happens, just in case you're in the year 3003 and you're listening to this, it's like, wow, don't we sound weird? Hello? Hey, this is what we talk to future people. This is what English sounded like. And we're glad that you listened. That is what this is.

I mean, like we said at the beginning, the inception of this was, it's a time capsule of these interesting people from the internet at this particularly interesting point in entertainment. It's encapsulated for the people of 3003. Yeah, because the world ends in 3004 everybody knows that