Ear Biscuits with Rhett & Link - Ep. 76 Wassabi Productions - Ear Biscuits

Episode Date: July 3, 2015

Roi Fabito and Alex Burriss, creators of the popular YouTube channel, Wassabi Productions, join Rhett & Link this week to discuss their experience growing up as Filipinos in North Carolina, the inspiration behind their most popular characters Richard and Rolanda, and how Roi recently decided they should move into separate places, but never actually explained to Alex why he wanted to do this… until now. Get our latest album, Song Biscuits Vol. 1, here: https://goo.gl/bW8I5P To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This, this, this, this is Mythical. Welcome to Ear Biscuits, I'm Link. And I'm Rhett. Joining us today at the round table of dim lighting are Roy, Fabito, and Alex Burris, creators of the popular YouTube channel, The Wasabi Bros. If you don't already know, the Wasabi brothers aren't actually brothers.

Hate to burst your bubble there. Oh, really? They're best friends. We found a lot of parallels between the Wasabis, that's what I'm gonna call them, the Wasabis. Okay, that makes it even more like they're brothers, but okay. Yeah, it's not their last name.

You said their last name. I did. That wasn't it. It wasn't Wasabi. I didn't say Wasabi at all. Wasabi is misspelled, so that's even more interesting. And we did talk about that. But there's a lot of parallels between us and them. And we find a lot of those through our conversation, like what it takes to be best friends

and business partners at the same time. And these guys are successful business partners. I mean, the Wasabi Bros YouTube channel, Wasabi Productions has 3.4 million subscribers. They recently reached 1 billion video views. The channel really took off back in 2012 when they created the characters Rolanda and Richard for a parody of the Carly Rae Jepsen music video,

Call Me Maybe, you may have heard that song. In that video, Roy, who plays Rolanda, is wearing a skirt and a wig and has a huge unibrow. Alex plays himself and also a character called Richard, who's kind of an awkward guy who also has a unibrow, this one drawn on with an obvious marker. Yeah. If this sounds like something that would work

on the internet, you are right, it did and it has because it has currently racked up 95 million views. Here's a clip. Hi, my name's Rolanda. You're such a hottie. Can I kiss you? I want your body. Ew, you're so ugly.

You're gross and smelly. Can I kiss you? I want your body. Why? You don't like me. I so pretty. Can I kiss you? I want your body. Ew, your face is crooked

No symmetry Please get away now Don't call me baby Now Rolanda and Richard appeared in several videos after this one And all of them are hugely successful But beyond Richard and Rolanda The Wasabi Bros make other sketches Also vlogs and challenge videos

They eat a lot of crazy stuff Like we also do on GMM. All of their videos have this sort of high school friends or college roommates vibe to them. So you can go back to their original videos from seven years ago and you'll see a very similar feel to their most recent videos. And we discussed the reasoning behind that.

We also talked about their backstory meeting in Durham, North Carolina, North Carolina, another parallel between us and them. How they started using Roy's dad's camera to make videos. That sounds familiar if you know our story. We didn't steal Roy's dad's camera. Yeah, that's right, we stole my dad's camera. But the thing that I'm most excited about you guys hearing

is the conversation we had with them towards the end of the podcast, which was more, we got more counselor-ish and more therapeutic than we probably ever gotten. And I think it had to do with the fact that we're two best friends who run a business together and run a YouTube channel together. We know how difficult it can be relationally.

Yeah. And so when we find out that they've decided to move into different places, that Alex is gonna move out. Right. And that it was Roy's idea. And they hadn't really talked about it. They actually talked about that for the first time really

on this Ear Biscuit. Yeah. I mean, we of course loved it. We love it when that kind of thing happens on an Ear Biscuit. Yeah. I mean, we of course loved it. We love it when that kind of thing happens on an Ear Biscuit. So, I mean, you tell us what you think as you listen to that, but we really did have a great time

talking with the Wasabi Bros, and we know that you'll enjoy listening to that. But first, we gotta give a little quick plug to our Song Biscuit album, y'all. Buy that on iTunes or Amazon. Yes, and first of all, if you haven't done it yet, come on, guys. I mean, sure, the songs are there on YouTube,

but you gotta carry the YouTube around with you all the time. You gotta get them from the iTunes or the Amazon so you can put them, when you go in the subway tunnel and you lose all internet, but you want to have a Song Bisc biscuit in your ear, the only way you can do that is by getting the song on iTunes or Amazon, so please do that.

Here's a clip from one of the songs, the Bubbles Bullets song featuring Lee Newton. If bubbles were bullets, I'd blow you away. I'd pop the champagne and make a clean getaway. If bubbles were bullets, I that if you so please. And now, on with the biscuit. How many sound effects do you have? I have just the water drop mostly.

Hit it a few more times. Wow. Roy's adding a beat. Very nice. That was good. That was good. Okay. Were you waiting for us to say that was good too?

No, we thought you were going to join in. We thought usually when we do that. No, I just enjoyed just. We were just watching. Just watching, yeah. Wow. Have you ever done that? Where one of you make a beat

and then the other one adds a sound and another sound and another sound and it sounds cool? We haven't really done that. Really, we do it all the time. Let's do it real quick. Maybe we should. Here's the thing, here's the thing.

This is why we're not gonna do it. Oh really? Because they won't know who's doing it so you can't take credit for it? No, I think, and this is something maybe we'll explore over the course of this conversation, but Rhett and I are such good friends.

I know you guys are great friends. You go way back to like middle school, right? Yeah. And we'll talk about that, but Rhett and I are such good friends since first grades, we got you beat. Ooh. We always will. That there's certain things we're not comfortable doing

that like best friends do. Like, oh, if you're gonna do a sound effect, I'm gonna add this. Here's the analogy. Because it starts to get a little embarrassing. Here's the analogy. Because people know how good of friends we are. I wouldn't do that with my wife.

And my relationship with Link is kind of like my other marriage. Oh, you're saying he's your wife. Okay. and my relationship with Link is kind of like my other marriage. So you're the wife. You're saying he's your wife. Okay. You know, we are, we're like an old crotchety married couple and would an old crotchety married couple

start a beatbox and then, I mean, you know what? The other one's like, just shut up, you're embarrassing me. I mean, maybe, because we've just known each other for so long and we spend so much time together, which we want to talk about that too

because I always love it each other for so long and we spend so much time together, which we wanna talk about that too because I always love it when, there's so many parallels with you guys. But. You know, just from where you're from and all that. And I think some of the insights that we have into the way that we carry out this whole business partnership,

I love kind of seeing where somebody else is and how, so get ready to talk about yourselves. Let's start with this one though. Do you ever get embarrassed by your friendship-edness? Like, oh that's too best friendishness. We gotta, not that you talk about it but. I don't think so. No, this is normal to us.

Yeah, it's the same, I think same as you guys. We have a question. What would you guys substitute for the beatbox? What would we do instead of the beatbox? If we were to do it. Yeah, you guys don't do that at all. Even though we just said we would never do it, if we were to do it, what would we do? No, no, like what would your substitute be?

I think it's usually Link saying, what's that smell? Popcorn? And then I'm like, it's not me. And then we just run around the room trying to find the source of the smell. That is our beatboxing. And then he's like,

why are you always so concerned about the smell? Tracking down the smell. It's bickering. Ours is better. It's not. Yours is definitely better. Yeah, it's a lot better. It's not a beatbox.

It's more just like a sound. So I'll be like... And then you add another sound. We can't do it. I know you want us to do it. You can say anything. No, no, I can... We can do it.

I'm ready to beat it because this isn't about... This is about the four of us right now. All right, we'll do it. And I'm going with the bass line. So Alex, you'll start. So Alex, you'll start. Roy, you'll come in with that...

thing again. Okay, okay. I'm going bass line because that's my role. I know my role. I'm getting to the bass line. So Alex, you'll start. So Alex, you'll start. Roy, you'll come in with that thing again. Okay, okay. I'm going bass line because that's my role. I know my role. I'm getting to the back of all the pictures and always bringing the bass. I'm actually doing this, guys. All right, here we are. We are going to do it because you guys are here.

The two of us wouldn't do it, but the four of us can. Right, exactly. Okay, ready? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I'm really trying guys Let's do this Best friends forever Best friends forever

We met in middle school We're best friends forever Let's make a YouTube Channel and get millions of views Why did he turn into you? See now we're gonna I'm the lead singer of this band He didn't get the singer

He can only be It's like you were supposed to add a noise And you added the noise that is your voice If you guys wanna be my band I'm all for that Yeah that's You just saw That works

You just saw like our week play out right here at the table. Okay. Let's talk about the challenge. The challenge? The challenge that they did that we really like and we wanna steal that idea from them. The single bite thing. One bite challenge.

How'd you come up with that? Go ahead, that's you. We were actually at dinner with a friend and he was like uh we i was eating and i was like i couldn't finish i had a little bit left and he was like yo one bite and i was like what he's like i bet you can't eat that one bite and i was like oh one bite challenge and then we just thought i was like oh we could put do like a whole lemon we could do a whole tomato, we could do some other things like sausage. When I saw the name of it,

when I saw the video title, I was like, okay, well this is gonna be like, you just put a bunch of nasty stuff into one bite or whatever. But then when I saw that it was no, I'm gonna pull this corn dog out and try to eat a corn dog in one bite. That was great.

I gotta say, I was actually a little, like when you got the pickle in your mouth, I was like, he is going to die. He had to help me. On YouTube. Because it was totally sideways. It was. It was like a cartoon. Yeah. The way it was. I could not get, it was, the worst part is like when you bit into the tomato

or the pickle or whatever it was, it would squirt out because it's just so much in your mouth. It's got nowhere to go. Yeah, it has nowhere to go. It's got to go out. Well, but the thing that we do have in common, the challenge that we've, you guys kind of took it a different way.

You tried the Carolina Reaper with Furious P, but you went straight for the seeds. Tell us about that. It was hot. Well, why did you go with seeds and not with the pepper? Could you not get the pepper? Oh, it's my fault. It's because I ordered it on Amazon,

and I was like, oh, cool, seeds. I mean, actual pepper. I was like, okay. And then I came in, and they were just seeds. I'm like, oh, crap, what are we gonna do? Well, you know, the only reason we got a hold of one is because we did the original ghost pepper challenge, and then a lot of people were saying,

you guys should do the Carolina Reaper, and then a guy in North Carolina... I'm familiar. ...shipped it to us. He shipped us three. Three of them. Oh my gosh. What?

And they smell. Like death. Yeah, I mean you only had the seed. Did the seed smell? No. They didn't have any smell. I thought, I was like maybe the seeds won't be as hot, but they're still pretty hot.

They weren't as hot as I assume the pepper is, but did you see the last? Yeah, we posted something today. Oh my gosh. Okay, I wanted to talk to you about this because I saw your vlog about the nine million Scoville sauce of death or whatever, so you pushed that video out today.

Yeah, we have it if you guys wanna try it. I mean, we don't have it on us. Okay, so I've actually kind of already drawn the line. First of all, Link says he's not doing any more peppers that are hotter than the Carolina Reaper, like when they come out with that. And I'm basically saying, okay, I'll do it, even though I'm not looking forward to it.

But I'm drawing the line. I'm not doing any of that extract sauce stuff. Yeah, that's three times hotter than the Carolina Reaper, what we did. So how are you still here? It was a dropper? No, we had, we were supposed to get toothpicks, but we didn't have toothpicks.

So we got this dry spaghetti noodle and touched it to it and put it in our mouths and we both died. It was instant pain. I mean, I was like waterfall. His like snot was running out. It was gross.

So like a drop basically. No, not even a drop. Less than a drop. It was just a touch to the sauce and it's a solid sauce. It's like, it's like a candle wax consistency. Ooh, really?

Yeah, it's not good. So what was the reaction? Oh, man, I couldn't even talk. Oh, dude. Like, he was trying to talk, and I couldn't talk at all. You had it worse because you had the spaghetti noodle, and then he actually ate the whole spaghetti noodle, so the actual extract got on his throat.

The throat is the worst. That's what I tell everybody, the throat is, when I did both the ghost pepper. Every stage is the worst. Every stage is going through it. But the reason, There are many stages. The final stage was horrible for Link because he didn't eat bananas.

Yeah. That's the secret. You eat bananas before and after. I had like eight bananas. No way. Wait, what does that do? Does it help the heat or helps the aftermath? It absorbs the stuff in your stomach and counteracts it a little bit. Oh, we should do that.

Well, we don't have any more. We already did the nine million. There's nothing harder than that, right? There will be. There will be. So that was the hottest sauce in the world. I mean, I assume so. Hot sauce, yeah.

I'm not doing that. You guys can take that crown. I'm not interested. Let me ask this. Are you guys instinctively this adventurous as just people? Or is it you're willing to do things that then you wanna produce great episodes and great content that's gonna perform well?

So would you have done that without cameras rolling? No. No. I mean, I would have like, not that. I would have maybe tried a pepper if my friends wanted to do it, but I wouldn't be like in my room alone and be like, I'm gonna eat this pepper right now

and just eat it. I would at least tweet it. Like, I just ate this pepper. I think about the past few years of our lives, you just, we don't have crazy things that we've done intentionally that haven't been part of a video. I think about the past few years of our lives, we don't have crazy things that we've done intentionally that haven't been part of a video. Because you're like, whoa, if I'm gonna tell that story or I'm gonna do that, that's gonna be for views.

You guys are kinda living that same thing. Probably even more than we are, because we do the Will It or the Weird Food or the Hot Pepper, but it's less regular than you guys are doing it. Yeah we just I don't know they just really like that stuff so we do it and then our favorite thing to do is sketches

but they like that so we're like okay we'll torture ourselves a little bit but he is better at it because I always do it after him even though we're like same time it's like I can't I don't know why I just stop but there's one thing that we will never do and it's because of him okay oh he is he has a big can we yes yeah go ahead it's something he's really scared of but is it is it okay so it's animal related oh you know what no oh it could be is it food related no i think it's not animal

something that you're scared of this is to give you an idea of the kind of research that we do for your business. You're scared of being shocked. Oh, he got it, he got it. How did you, what? You guys are. No, you don't have anything that shocks me here, no. Actually, we do have a shock cane.

We have a cane, we have a shock cane that's a stun gun. We have both been shocked by it. So hold on, so you're afraid to be shocked? I'm not afraid of anything. Is that because you have been shocked? Yeah, when I was like five, I was, I don't know, my uncle had like this gadget or this little generator, battery generator, and I just touched it,

and it shocked me for straight like three seconds. Oh no. Oh gosh, you seized up. It like grabbed hold of you, and you couldn't get away from it. You were glued to it. Yep. for like three seconds, like. Oh no. Oh gosh, you seized up. It like grabbed hold of you. Yeah, basically. You couldn't get away from it. You were glued to it. Yep.

Oh man. And then my uncle saw me and just pulled me away from it. So how does the fear of being shocked impact you beyond not making a video about being shocked? I mean, there's not a lot of shock risk from day to day, right? Like you don't plug things in? I do, I do.

I mean, the actual just physical touch of electricity. But when you're plugging things in, you're very conscious of like, I'm not gonna get my hand on the inside of the prong. It's not a neurosis. No. That's good. It's just, I'm not gonna make that video.

Yeah, yeah. I've tried to get him to do it. I'm like, come on, man, it'd be cool, because you're so scared of it. The reaction will be awesome. And he's like, no. Like, serious. Like, never.

You know, this one time in seventh grade, one of my classmates, he had like one of those electric shocky pens. And he's like, hey, can I borrow a pencil or a pen? And I was like, okay. And I actually touched it. I screamed so loud. Oh, my gosh. I'm like, ah!

And the teacher looked at me like, what's wrong? I was like, I got shocked. I put a key in an outlet one time. How did that turn out? Well, my brother did it first, and then he said it hurt, so I wanted to check, and it did hurt. Did you unlock something? No, nothing.

I've been shocked by just like a wall outlet before. It's not pleasant. Now, back when you were five, getting shocked, that was in the Philippines. You grew up in the Philippines. No, no, no. I was there. I grew up there for like two years when I was like five and six.

Five and six. Yeah. So where were you before? Here. You were here, then you moved there. No, I was born there, then I moved here when I was two, then went back there when I was five. Came back here when I was six or seven, and then I live there now.

Okay. So your parents are Filipino. Yeah. And where are you from, Alex? I'm a half Filipino. You're half Filipino but you never lived there? No I just went there for the first time this year. Yeah this year for a friend's wedding. Okay. And it was on my top place to go so. So where did you grow up? I was born in Montana. Montana. And when I was like one, we moved to Kentucky. And then when I was 10, we moved to North Carolina. And then when I was 24, I moved here.

Okay. Is that right? Yeah, and so we got the North Carolina connection. So when you were 10, you moved to North Carolina where you already were. Yeah. And that was when you guys met? We met like three years, like when I was like 13, I think. We met in middle school but he doesn't remember.

I thought it was high school until he told me it was middle school and I was like, oh well. But you lived close to each other, right? Yeah, the same street. And you lived there for a few years without really knowing each other? No, no, we knew each other because our family, like Filipinos just are drawn together.

Was it like a Filipino community? Yeah. There's a Filipino community, Filipinos are drawn together. Was it like a Filipino community? Yeah. There's a Filipino community. Filipinos are really close. In the neighborhood? Yeah, oh no, not in our neighborhood, but there was a lot of Filipino families in our neighborhood. And this is in Durham, North Carolina, right?

Yeah. Okay. So not far from where we grew up. Where was you at? Buies Creek, so like 40 miles south of Raleigh. So from, you know, we might have been an hour and a half from Durham. Maybe an hour.

And you all three went to NC State, right? Yeah. You said all three, who's the third one? You three. Oh, Roy's with us now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're by yourself now. Yeah, so let's talk about this.

So you guys meet middle school, high school, whatever one, middle school, that's correct. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And what was that, is there an epic first meeting story? Apparently not since you don't remember. No, no, there is. No, I remember. He remembers. I was waiting in middle school

and waiting for my parents to get me and this guy comes out of nowhere with a car. It's like, hey man, you wanna try some magic tricks? I'm like, all right, cool. I'm like, here you go. And he just ran away. I'm like, oh. That was our I'm like, here you go. And he just ran away. And that was our first encounter. He doesn't remember that.

That was a spot on Alex. My voice was really high in middle school. And it's still high now, but it was really high in middle school. Yeah, I wasn't going to say that. I know, everybody says that. Before it changed to what it is now. My nickname was Mickey Mouse in middle school. And it was bad.

What was the magic trick? I don't remember. I don't know. I was probably just trying to impress a girl or something and i was like hey i'm gonna go get that filipino guy to do this trick and i ran over there you saw him in half or something no it's just some trick i don't even remember i don't remember either i know his cards and you made one disappear i don't know was it cool i was like oh okay I want to go home now it was cool so what was Durham North Carolina

growing up what was that like for you guys I don't know I just kind of got used to it super chill a lot of trees tobacco you got tobacco warehouses yeah there's like big for tobacco like downtown durham we did that we went to the woods a lot because we would uh in our neighborhood there's

like this trail that led to the woods and we would like build a fort now durham is has kind of a dichotomy that you've got like the nice durham and then you've got like the dangerous durham like the crime durham yeah So where did you fall on that? You got the Duke University Durham and then you got the like drive-by Durham. Oh, we're like in the middle. Yeah, it's like mixed some places we went to. You're like 10 minutes away from the hospital.

I went to Northern High School. Do you guys know? Oh, not. Northern Durham. Yeah, yeah. But it was Northern High School and it was like, it was the school that is like,

oh, there's like, I remember we were were riverside which is the better new school and then we moved a little bit farther so we went to northern and when i went to northern there was i think there was like 27 fights in the first month dude it was like borderline ghetto borderline like rednecks and yeah and so after all of them got expelled then there's no more fights because all the fighters got expelled but then there was a more fights because all the fighters got expelled. But then there was a bomb threat called one time. Oh, that was incredible. And they made all the students go into the field, into the football field.

And then it turned – and then everybody – apparently there's just all these fights. Everybody's bringing out fights. We're like, what's going on? And a gang called the school, called a bomb threat to get everybody outside so they can fight, like fight them. And then people were like heat strokes. Cops are trying to get people outside so they can fight, like, fight them. And then people were, like, heat strokes, cops are trying to get people, everybody's trying to juke them, and then other kids are, like, running for the cars, and the teacher's like, don't go

anywhere, even though there's fights everywhere, and I was protecting my girlfriend at the time, and I was, like, getting punched in the back by random people. It was crazy. It was a free-for-all. Yeah, so we're really, we're pretty gangster. Sounds like it. What was the dynamic Yeah, so we're really, we're pretty gangster. Sounds like it. Yeah.

What was the dynamic in being Filipino and how did that play out? Was that a thing or was it like, that's not a thing, you know? I mean, was... Because we're from North Carolina. We know. Yeah.

We know how it is. Right. There is a tendency to point out everyone's differences very early on I don't know I just adapted to the lifestyle I didn't really think about that stuff I'm like oh I mean every now and then

they'll be like hey it's our family Asian I'm like hey what's up man we're the neighborhood Asians it wasn't a thing you wouldn't call it a struggle no there's probably like I was probably like one out of every, there were like probably one to three Asians in all my class, so I was usually the Asian guy in the class. And that's it.

Like, it wasn't, nobody ever said, hey, Asian guy. I was like, hey, what's up, man? And were you, either of you, both of you can speak to this, were you kind of becoming the class clown, the entertainer? Oh, yeah, I did. I was in detention all the time. I was getting in trouble all the time. But the teachers, I was like really good friends with the teachers.

Like all the teachers got along. Like I wasn't very good in grades, but I never failed because the teachers were like, oh, it's just Alex. We'll let him pass. I was like, okay. Thank you. I was more of like the calm guy, following the it's just Alex. We'll let him pass. I was like, okay. Thank you. I was more of like the calm guy, following the rules and stuff like that.

You were studious. Yes. So then when did things start to develop? You know, what was percolating that led to being YouTubers? How did that start to happen? Oh, okay. In eighth grade, parents got a camera they would never use, so I took it,

and then I just made some random, like, back in the day, it was like lip sync videos, dance videos. This was pre-YouTube. Yeah, yeah. Like the first day of YouTube. Five or four. So you made lip sync videos, and for who?

Just for fun. Not for the internet. No, not at the time. I was just bored. I was like, yo, I have a camera, and then I have a Windows Movie Maker. Maybe I can make something out of it. That was my mindset. I made some random videos, and then YouTube was there. It was just a platform for videos at the day. We saw it more like a storage space.

It's like so he could show his family and friends if he puts it on there, and be like, oh, you can just go here and watch it. And that's why the YouTube channel is actually called Hoy It's Roy. Yeah. Because it was just your idea, you're gonna start this YouTube channel.

Yeah. You guys weren't collaborating. Not at the time. What was the, what were you doing at the time? You were, is lip sync videos just you? No, there's like eight, right? I just got a whole bunch of my friends like, yo, you want to make a video with me? They're like, all right.

And then later on he came, probably like, I don't know, like a year after. He got into it and then he like saw it as like a hobby, a passion of his, because he like teaches himself everything. So he taught himself guitar, piano, drums, editing, and all this stuff. And then everybody else kind of fell off. And they just, they're kids. They got bored and whatever. And then he was like, hey Alex, come make a video. And I lived down

the street and I was like, okay. So Alex was like the second string of Wasabi Productions? I was second string. Was it called Wasabi Productions? No, it was just What's Right at the Time. Wasabi came when I watched Jackass the just what it's right at the time. Okay. Wasabi came when I watched Jackass the movie, when Steve-O snorted wasabi.

And I have never heard the word wasabi before. I was like, oh, that's a cool word. And then I misspelled it. I was like, oh, crap. So it's not a play on ass. No, no. But it's cool. No, it is.

It turned out that way. Yeah. It's just wasabi misspelled. We're wasabi with extra ass. It way. Yeah. It's just Wasabi misspelled. We're Wasabi with extra S. So you- It works. Yeah. So you brought Alex in on what you were doing whenever all your other true friends abandoned you.

Yeah, they're like, oh, we're busy, we can't do it. I was recruited. So then you, cause how old are you guys now? 23. 25. Okay, so you kind of experienced high school and YouTube success all at the same time. Yeah, it was weird,

because we went to different high schools, but we lived near each other. And then I moved next to him, but for one more year we stayed at the high school I was at. And then I moved to his, and when I went to his, we were already making videos for like a year, and everybody at the high school knew me, and it was weird for me, and I was like, whoa.

Yeah, well, I think you guys might be the first people that we've talked to that experienced that success while in high school. I mean, that's a, what is that like? It was just weird, like everybody just knows you. Smosh too, it was kind of the same thing and at the same time. Yeah, yeah, that's true.

Yeah. So, I mean, yeah. But people liked the videos, it wasn't like, oh, you guys are weird for doing that. It's like, oh no, it's like, all right, yeah. Yeah, people like wanted to be a part of it. They're like, can we make videos too? Or, and we're like, oh, you guys are weird for doing that. It's like, oh no, it's like, all right. Yeah, people wanted to be a part of it. They're like, can we make videos too? Or, and we're like, oh, I don't know.

And what'd you think, I mean, at that time, did you have some kind of sense that like, yeah, this is pretty cool, this might go somewhere? Did you guys have a, did either of you have more of a business mindset towards like, this could become something, or is it just like, this is cool, I don't know what I'm gonna do with it? Yeah, it was more of that business mindset towards like this could become something or is it just like this is cool, I don't know what I'm gonna do with it.

Yeah, it's more of that one. It's basically like a hobby, like oh, okay, let's keep making videos or whatever. Because we didn't make any like money off of it, so it was like oh, this is people's thing. Yeah, at the beginning, it wasn't for money, we didn't know. But you did, but it was called Wasabi Productions.

I mean, it sounded like a company. Yeah, it sounded cool. And you put it on the front of the videos even back then. Yeah. So there was a little bit of that mindset that like, were you emulating anyone else or was it just, we wanna seem legitimate or it would just be fun to call ourselves something productions.

Yeah, it's either productions or films. I'm like, yeah, I have productions on School League. So it was aspirational. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you gave it up to go to college. You kinda had to get real. Yeah, for like I should have done School League. So it was aspirational. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you gave it up to go to college. You kind of had to get real. Yeah, for like 10 months we stopped. What was that decision point like

when you graduated from high school? You're big on YouTube, right? Yeah, but we still didn't like, it wasn't like a big revenue source or like anything. We were just making videos for fun and then we were like, oh, time to grow up up and then eventually we were like man we missed it so we just came back and then uh then it blew up again and we're like whoa so you went to you went to nc state um to to study what uh computer engineering computer engineering uh it's our

alma mater and what what did where did you go what did you do um i went to the university of youtube so you didn't so you didn't no i i went i i was uh like i said i was a class clown so i wasn't very good in school and i went to community college for a couple years but it wasn't for me even in community college i was still the class clown i I didn't wanna be, it's just part of me. Just making people laugh. So you kinda had to wait for Roy to come back around to the YouTube idea, is that what happened? I mean we just both stopped, I went to work,

I was working two jobs and then he was in school and then we just like, hey let's just make videos again just for fun whenever we have time. Like in the summer or something? No, I don't remember. You were still in summer or something uh you were still in well whenever he had time he would text me like hey you want to make a video i'm like yeah and then i would drive from durham to raleigh oh i remember one time uh i don't know what caused me to think like yo let's make videos again but i had like a ipod touch at the time i was like oh dude i should sell this for a just like a decently nice camera so i sold it this for a, just like a decently nice camera. So I sold it and used the money to buy

a decently nice camera, along with like the money I got from work. And that's when we started back up again. Okay, so you got the camera and then what did you make? Was it a decision to just start it back up, more lip sync videos or sketches or was it that? We did sketches, yeah. And was, did something really blow up then or was it just more of,

oh, just pick up right where you left off? At first, we just did sketches for a bit and then we heard about the old like partnership program. So we deleted all the videos and just posted every like once, probably like once a month. Yeah. And then. We got more serious.

Yeah. Then he would drive all the way to Raleigh from Durham like every like week. And then we would just film this random stuff. Yeah. And then it wasn't until the whole Rolanda Richard thing. Yeah. That kind of just blew us up a little bit. Yeah.

They love those characters. Yeah. And so how did those characters come about? Rolanda and Richard? Was it for the Call Me Maybe video? Yeah. Yeah. He came to me with a script and I was like, hey.

Or I was like, we were in Florida and I think, and when the Call Me Maybe song came out and I was like, dude, listen to this song, this is crazy. And then like a week later he was like, hey, by the way, I wrote a parody for that song. And I was like, oh, okay. And then we started making the parody and then we're like, oh, he had these two, we had these characters and we're

like okay and then we brought them to life like he became rolanda and i became richard and we decided like to draw on our faces and make it like really out there yeah rolanda rolanda was born because back in middle school um i used to i guess be a girl for like halloween one of those like middle school Halloween parties. So I would just show up with a- You guess you did. Yeah, I guess so. So I came, went over there with a skirt,

and I had two balloons in my chest area. And a unibrow? Not a unibrow. Okay. But I don't know how the unibrow came alive. We knew she was gross. We knew she was like, Alex was the heartthrob, and we needed somebody gross and disgusting.

Yeah. And that's where Rolanda came from. And then we needed somebody even worse to be Rolanda's stalker. So we're like, okay, Richard. And now that's like- Well, that worked. Yeah, it did. So when you put it, did the Rolanda voice happen

after you saw yourself in the mirror? Oh, I have no idea. Like, give us the voice. Hi! Hi, Rolanda! Like that? Yeah, that just, how much development went into that? I don't know.

I think, yeah, right in front of the mirror, like, yo. I remember I asked you, I was like, hey, how should this character sound? So I just tried different voices. It was like, gross. Oh, yeah, he did. I remember. You were like, hey, how's this? And then I was like, how should this character sound? So I just tried different voices. It was like gross. Oh, yeah, he did. I remember. You were like, hey, how's this? And then I was like, how about this?

And then with Richard, actually, something happened. Because he's got a weird voice, too. Yeah, he does. We were going. Give us a little Richard. Oh, Richard. Ew, Richard. Ew.

She wants me. I'm a talkster as well. So that voice came from because we were in the middle of filming, She wants me. He kind of talks to his mom. So that voice came from because we were in the middle of filming and then he had to go home for something. He's like, oh, I got to run home. And it was like five miles away. And then when he came back, I took a nap. And when he woke me up, he's like, let's go.

And I was really tired. And I was like, okay. And he's like, just do some crazy voice. And I was like, oh. And I was just really tired, like super tired. And then it just. So tired that you couldn't talk through your mouth. Yeah, and then it just really tired like super tired and then it just and then so tired that you couldn't talk through your mouth yeah and then it just sounded cool and then um eventually like you couldn't really understand what he was saying so i had to clear it up a

little bit but it was really it was like you couldn't even understand at the beginning and that video almost has 100 million views now. It does? Like all these years later, like 95 million. People just go back and comment and it's like, I watched this when I was a kid and it's still hilarious now. That's like what the comments are and I'm sure they're still kids, you know, in one sense. But the thing that, you know,

for that video to blow up so huge, my assumption was, oh, that was just out of nowhere. But what I didn't realize was that, I mean, now when I look back, the preceding videos on your channel were still getting millions of views. Yeah, but that one blew those up. But yeah, so yeah, so the ones, the earlier ones blew up because that one blew up.

I mean, they were big, but they weren't as big. But they were still big. Yeah, yeah. So when that happened, you're in school, and you're kinda like, let's make this a thing. Like, what was that conversation like? And what happened with school? You ended up finishing, right? Oh yeah, I changed my major.

I was like, oh, we blew up. Let's try to change it to something. And change it to what? Film studies. Oh, so you didn't drop out, you just. Film studies. His parents actually said, they were like, oh, we blew up. That's probably change it to something. Film studies. Oh, so you didn't drop out. You just, film studies. His parents actually said, they were like, hey, we know that your business

is kind of booming right now, and if you wanna move to LA, which we feel is the right thing, then we won't be mad at you for not finishing. He was like, no, I'm gonna finish for you. But what did you have to say about this i was like i'll wait i'm not gonna leave no my mom my mom actually just said finish school oh really yeah i thought you told me that they said it's fine if you wanted to no that's your parents oh my

i wasn't even in school you guys get confused about his parents we've been friends for a long time it's hard to start you start to take his stories as well. I know, we understand that. But what, so for the record, your mom was like, you gotta get a degree. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, that's what she said. You can wear that unibrow and get, you know,

tens of millions of views, and probably shout outs from Carly Rae Jepsen. Did she shout you out? I don't know, I wanna meet you. I wanna meet you, call me maybe. What? Is this a role play? I got lost.

No, no, no. She's listening right now. Oh, she is? You're talking to her. I'm talking to her. She's a big, big fan of your biscuits. You never had a conversation. But she said, you gotta get that degree.

Did you get the degree? I did, I did, yeah. I just did it for her, because her dream was for all her kids to get a degree. It meant something for you guys to go to college and finish, and you're like, I'm gonna make that happen. But you're in the midst of this success, and by that point, with the partner program,

I'm assuming some financial success, you're like, okay, we could do this, we can afford to move to LA. And by this point, cause I wanna kind of track the evolution of it kind of being this Hoy It's Roy thing to being Wasabi Productions. Like when did this become a thing where it was like,

this is a business partnership. This is our friendship, but it's also a business partnership. And this is gonna be our thing. Like you were you guys thinking that in college uh yeah actually probably like a month after the whole carly or the call me maybe video blew up and then we saw like the uh i guess our paycheck we're like whoa yeah and it just became like the same every single month and then that's when we like talked to each other like yo we gotta do something about this so yeah it freaked us out because the first time we actually got a big like paycheck from what we're doing we've already been doing it for like years and

then we went to florida to see some friends and um i was probably making like two thousand dollars a month and then we i was like we went there and then, and then on the way back, we stopped to eat. And I was like, man, I was stressing out. And I was like, man, I should not have spent that much money. What am I going to do? I don't know. I was just stressing out. And he was like, let me check Wasabi and see maybe there's something.

And then he was like, whoa. And then he showed me. I was like, come on, man, stop playing. I'm really stressed out. And he's like, no, this is real. This isn't fake. And I was like, what? And then he showed me. I was like, come on, man, stop playing. I'm really stressed out. He's like, no, this is real. This isn't fake. And I was like, what? And then we just like, I don't know.

We just started pacing the Zaxby's we were in in Georgia. We're like, oh my gosh, no. I want one of everything on a Zaxby's. I'm going to do it. That was crazy. 40,000 chicken things. And so what was that conversation like? What was the conversation was like?

We got to get serious. Was it like, we didn't know if it was like going to keep happening. We thought it was like a one time thing and the next month it was the same thing

and the next month it was even more and we're like, whoa. And then we got a financial advisor. Yeah. And then he actually suggested that we should just like

start a business and then we just went from there. Yeah. And then he actually suggested that we should just like start a business and then we just went from there. Yeah, and then we got, now we got like retirement funds and we're in like stocks and all like investing and everything. Because it wasn't just that one video. You kept making videos. Like the very next video, you brought back those two characters. That's got 20 million views. Then Richard was back in the next video you brought back those two characters, that's got 20 million views,

then Richard was back in the next video. I mean it was like every few weeks you kinda, once that worked you laid into it, right? And that one's got almost 14 million. Which is really smart, you know, a lot of, I mean because you weren't new to the game, you were totally ready to capitalize on it. And then you started, it seems like you started

to break out music in real life too you know that and then people were going back getting the older videos and we actually music my life we didn't know any other youtubers or anything but we saw steve's thing and like we're good friends with him now steve cardinal yeah steve cardinal and we um we saw him we're like oh that's a cool idea but you know like how people do um challenges now and then everybody does a challenge so we saw it like that that, we're like, wow, he's really funny, let's make a video like him. We didn't think of it as like, oh, we're taking his stuff. And then I didn't realize that until like,

we've already made like three, and then he actually tweeted at me, and he was a little upset, and I was like, oh, dude, I am so sorry, I thought you would be happy, yeah, I thought you would like it. And then we didn't know it was gonna blow up like, oh, dude, I am so sorry. I thought you would be happy. I thought you would like it. And then we didn't know it was going to blow up like it did, so I could see how he could be upset about it. But we're like, we are so sorry.

He's like, we're not going to make it anymore, okay? And then he's like, okay. But now you're friends. Yeah, and then I saw him in person, and as soon as I saw him, he was like, dude, I'm so sorry. I was having a bad day that day. I just needed somebody to get mad at and he just happened to be there.

And I was like, oh, okay. And now he's really cool. Now, the interesting thing is that your videos still have a certain vibe to them. It's kind of the, they still have the, hey, my parents found, I got my parents' camera and we're having fun making a video, right?

Well, how would you describe it? Happy. Yeah, I would describe it as we were kids when we started and we never left that kind of theme. So even though we got older, we kept the same kids. You're right. So is that, that is my question, was that calculated to be like, this is our vibe?

Yeah, we definitely stuck with it, and we got, we learned how to like master that vibe, so like kids love it, and we know how to make kids laugh, and our fan base is like three to like 18-year-olds, and they just, a lot of times, parents come up to us because the kids are too young, and they're scared to say hi, and the parents recognize us,

or the kids are like, oh, da-da-da-da-da-da-da, and then they're like oh and so so how has so this kind of two two-part question is who do you picture like when you think of a fan who do you picture like you guys have somebody in mind when you're making a video and then how is the fact that your fans are are younger how's that impacted like the content and how far you go and that kind of thing well Well, we stay mostly PG and family friendly because of our fan base and because like brand friendly. I would think of like someone like Shay Carl's kids.

Yeah. Yeah, they're really big fans. Yeah, they came up to us. They're like fans. I always imagine them. Yeah. Yeah. So they're really cool.

As long as we cater our like content towards them then. Yeah, something that like we wouldn't want parents to not let their kids watch. Right, you keep that in mind. And has that been, I mean, we do a similar thing. I think that the stuff that we create, we think of, okay, we'd like a family to be able to sit down and enjoy this.

We may not have a kid in mind when we develop it, but we'd like a family to be able to sit down and enjoy this we may not have a kid in mind when we develop it but you know we'd like a family to to to be able to enjoy it i mean has that been a frustration for you not really i don't think so um because i don't know we're not really like there's not a lot of youtubers like us like family friendly and actually aim for the younger we're like the disney channel of youtube yeah because a lot I have a lot of friends they do pranks or they like cuss or they do vlogs and like other people are saying things that we wouldn't usually say and I guess over time you need to get used to just the content you produce yeah and that's what we we do like a lot of slapstick like we slap

each other yeah and hurt each other. Literally slap each other. Yeah. He punched me in the stomach one time. Oh, dude, there was like this one take I remember. You couldn't get the slap right, so you kept slapping me like 10 times, remember? I don't know. I flipped him one time. I think he like sprained his ankle. Remember that one where I tried to get you to go over my back or like this,

and then you like did it like 10 times, and then at one you're like, oh, no, no. Oh, yeah, yeah. And I was like, what? You're like, I can't, I can't, my leg. Stuff like that we then you like did it like 10 times and then at one you're like oh no no oh yeah and i was like what you're like i can't i can't my leg and stuff like that we know yeah because it doesn't i mean it's just pain it's fine it's just pain pain is okay that will that will change it's just it's just a pain that will not go away is what will start to happen trust me um you guys live together too yeah okay so like The couches that you guys Are perched on When you're

Doing different challenges Or like In the In the patio area This is like Where you actually live Where you shoot Yeah

You shoot where you live You know We live where we shoot Yeah It's kind of like your videos I don't know why I'm laughing But I definitely am It sounded like Well the way you said it sounded like,

you live where you shoot, or like you were expecting somebody to finish, and you shoot where you live. I was thinking about this, I was like, I'm unintentionally making it sound like the don't crap where you eat thing. Don't crap where you eat. Or eat where you crap.

Yeah, now finish my sentence. Don't shoot where you crap. So I mentioned a couple of things. First of all, just the creative approach for you guys. And then the intersection between your friendship and your lives and being business partners. The thing that I think Rhett alluded to earlier. So first, let's just explore the creative approach.

You have a schedule. So first let's just explore the creative approach. You have a schedule, it's like every Wednesday you gotta come out with a video. And you're very consistent with that, which is pretty key. Everyone who's successful says that, I'm sure you guys would say that too. How challenging is it to keep it going when you know, when you've got that weekly thing? Are you in a, what's the creative process? Well, since we moved to LA, we have a team now.

Like we used to do all our stuff all around. Now we have two guys that help us out with everything, lighting, camera, editing, so that. Do they live with you too? No. Oh, one of them does. One of them does. Okay, because I get that vibe.

It's like, okay, now they're perched on the back of the couch in this video where they come in. Because you're putting them in the videos too. Yeah, yeah. Kyle and Will. Will. Yeah. Okay.

And they're YouTubers, and we met them when we came out here because we were looking for people to help us out. And then it turns out, like, when we started hanging out with them a lot, and we became really good friends, that's a team what in terms of the how do you guys divide up the creative process is there like a division of labor here uh yeah you used to do a lot of editing but now that we have a team editing now we both write and um we'll throw scripts back and forth and now we have we actually have them see what they think about it.

Usually we film in bulk. So we film like seven videos in two weeks. And then we just release it. And after that, we take like a month off just to like think of ideas and write because we need that time to think. Yeah. Because sometimes we get like, you know, writer's block or whatever. Yeah. And it's really or whatever. Yeah.

And it's really just, it sucks. Well, there's an interesting dynamic too, because I know Roy, you have a daily vlog. You're doing basically a daily video. Oh yeah, I just started. And you've got Snapchat. And Alex, you don't kind of have that, you've got your Twitter and that kind of thing.

No, I Snapchat a lot. You're doing Snapchat too. Yeah. But the daily, see like, are you doing the daily vlog and editing that too, or are you getting some of the team to edit that? No, I edit all of it. So like, how is, like, the way that we work together,

there's this like, if one of us, when one of us wouldn't decide to do a daily vlog because we would have a conversation about it before we did it and we'd be like, you can't do that because you won't be able to do this. You know what I'm saying? Like, how does that work with you guys? Is it just like, no, I'm gonna do this

and it's not gonna get in the way. You guys have a conversation before you decide to do something like that? How does that work? He just started. Oh, you haven't had a conversation about it. Yeah, I just got bored. I didn't know until I saw it and I was like, oh.

But I'm not upset about anything, like, it's fine. It used to be a gaming channel, I told you. I started a gaming channel and I was like oh but I'm not upset about anything it's fine. It used to be a gaming channel I told you I started a gaming channel and you were like oh crap yeah I have no time for games so I'm just gonna change it to a vlogging channel. But is that something indicative about your personality that you're kind of like a starter like I'm gonna go I'm gonna do this I'm gonna start the channel I'm gonna start the daily vlog.

Yeah I just like to be predictive. Yeah he's definitely a self start like everything he likes to learn on his. I just like to be predictive. Yeah, he's definitely a self-start. Like, everything he likes to learn on his own. Like, just, like, all the instruments. Like, everything is self-taught with him. And then I like having, like, direction. Like, I like having being taught. He likes

learning by himself. I guess also just the fact that we're here in LA now. Just get the vibe. Just, you know, just to do something. So, I just try to do as much as I can. Alex, is there a motivation issue here with you? No. Do we?

What? Come on. Actually, my brother's moving out here in September. We're moving into separate places, and my brother's moving out to move in with me, and we're going to start a brother vlog. It'll be like a little twist to just Alex, and now it'll be like, oh, he has a brother so because your brother already youtube's yeah yeah he has a youtube

channel and so we're gonna do it together it's gonna be cool so yeah so how does that work you know you're you you guys have different side projects that you that you're working on and it's still is it is it totally side project or is it still something within wasabi productions how you guys work that i don't know for me it's more like a hobby it still something within Wasabi Productions? How do you guys work that? I don't know, for me it's more like a hobby. It's just something to do every single day. But I kinda get the impression that if you go off and do something like that and you're like,

he didn't, we didn't really talk about it. He just kinda did it. How often do you guys have like, all right, let's talk about Wasabi Productions. Let's talk about where we're at, where we're going. Or is it kind of just like, this is kind of, you're kind of going, you're kind of making up as you go along and like this works.

Yeah, well, we're kind of going with the flow, but like the reason I feel like it's okay that he started it was because he did spend a lot of time editing because I never edited. I did mostly writing and then he did all the editing then uh now that we have a team doing editing he had so much free time or we both have a lot of free time so i travel a lot and then he does the vlogs and um that's just what we started doing with our time extra time and now i'm going to start doing the daily vlogs and travel what so yeah, and travel. So what's behind the separation?

You guys are separated now. You're going to be separated. You're moving out. Yeah. What's behind that? I don't know. Why are we separated? Because I hear things.

Oh, no. I hear things. Well, the first time I heard about it is he came to me and I was like, hey, I think we should, we just moved, or we moved, we lived together in Raleigh once we started getting bigger. I was like, it just makes sense. Like, we'll film together at the same place. And then we moved here, and a couple months after we moved in,

he was like, hey, I think we should separate when the lease is up. And I was like, why? And he said, our lifestyles are different. And I was like, oh, okay think we should separate when the lease is up. And I was like, why? And he said, our lifestyles are different. And I was like, oh, okay. And then, I don't know. I never asked for explanation. I just agreed, so. Well, let's talk about it now.

Yeah, let's talk about it now. Let's do it. Wait, I don't know what he's gonna say. I'm scared. I'll ask for explanation. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What's different about your lifestyles? I don't know.

Well, I don't know um well I don't think I Roy I'm asking Roy are you asking me now okay go ahead alright our lifestyles are different

cause uh he's looking Roy's looking at Alex welcome to ear biscuits guys they found the you guys found the controversy

yeah Roy you're so much pressure I know we don't really talk about our feelings You guys found the controversy. Roy? You're so much pressure. I know. We don't really talk about our feelings. This is your idea, you know? You do today.

Uh-oh. There's a diplomatic, I don't know. There's a diplomatic way to approach it. Or maybe not. He basically said our lifestyles are different. He does things I don't do. I do things he doesn't do. Oh, wow.

Yeah, there you go. Yeah, it's kind of hard to like synergize. Yeah. So how does that impact you guys, your creative collaboration? Are you saying that this is also a creative separation no i think well he said well he said that we our lives are different but he wants to grow as an individual and that makes sense because we've been together for so long and we've always been like right next door or like a short drive away and um so separating it would i mean i i could see how it could be good i mean i like i don't

i don't i like living with you but i mean it doesn't matter like i mean i don't we don't like butt heads it's just we um i do do some stuff that he doesn't do and he does some stuff i don't do okay but from a creative you're not gonna mention specifically yeah we can't do that but but well apparently one of them can be heard well creatively i think it's a good thing he's not bad we'll just have like another house to But apparently one of them can be heard. Yeah. Well, creatively, I think it's a good thing. He's not bad. We'll just have another house to film in,

and then we can always switch off. Right, well, that's the kind of, is it, I think this would be better, ultimately, for Wasabi Productions if we did not live together. Is that part of it? I don't know. I feel like we'll still see each other this time. Yeah.

I don't know. This is like, it's unventured territory. We've never been separate. So we're going to see what it's like. Yeah. But Roy, this being your idea. Okay, go ahead. Was, I think what Rhett's asking is,

was it a personal decision or a business decision? And it sounds like it was just a personal decision. Oh yeah, I think it was personal. And then from a business decision? And it sounds like it was just a personal decision. Oh yeah, I think it was personal. And then from a business standpoint or a YouTube channel or a content standpoint, that didn't play into the decision. You just assumed that the plan is for publicly, in terms of your content, nothing's gonna change.

Yeah, I don't think it's gonna affect how we work together at all. Because we're still gonna be close to each other. we already talked about we're gonna be either in the same community or like really close so we don't have to drive far to work yeah yeah so and you're gonna keep the schedule intact oh yeah for sure yeah because i mean you guys know is one of the things that we've experienced over the years is that one of the reasons that we've been so consistent with content at least with like gM being able to do that for a few years, it's the two of us.

I mean, it's like, it'd be so difficult to do this by yourself. No, yeah. Well, daily vlogs are like kind of a one person thing, I think. But I'm just saying like, Oh, no, I mean, I'm talking about. But I'm saying like, you know,

Wasabi Productions continuing and continuing to evolve and you guys growing that and growing that. It's kind of the thing that in order for it to be successful you kind of gotta. Work together? You gotta do it, you gotta do it together. Yeah, I don't think we're ever gonna separate. No.

Like it's never gonna be like, hey, I'm leaving and you're on your own. We're always gonna be together. It's just we're moving into our houses. Yeah. We just gotta grow up a little. Yeah, growing up, it's part of growing up to see what it's like. Okay, and now. Are we okay guys? Okay. I got a little grow up a little. Yeah, growing up, it's part of growing up, just see what it's like.

Okay, and now. Are we okay, guys? Okay. I got a wound. You got a wound. You have anything else you wanna talk about? To each other? I don't think so. You can talk to each other.

Do you have anything you wanna say? This is a safe space. I do. This is a safe space. I don't wanna take my life no more. Or I'll put it to you this way. You know, we'll gladly be a resource for comedic duo YouTuber advice

if you have any questions for us related to that. We'd love to be of assistance to patch things up because clearly, just kidding. Well, you know, here's the thing I will say is that we talked to Smosh, asked them similar questions and I think we got, it was interesting, I think we got a pretty similar response. And I think it might just be the fact

that we're almost 40 years old. And like we've, you know, like we were married with kids, separate families, before this whole YouTube thing started, and it was so, it had to work as a business, and there was so much like, and we're super analytical and there's just these constant conversations that go back and forth. When we were talking to Ian and Anthony about things, it was kind of like, well, we haven't really,

like they ended up having these moments during the podcast where they were talking to each other in a way that you could tell they never talked to each other. Yeah. You know, that's a plug for going back and listening to this Mosh podcast. But I kind of see the same thing happening with you guys. Is he right?

Was it Roy had this idea that you guys should live separately and you were just like, well, okay. Yeah, it was a surprise. And then you really didn't discuss it. I was surprised. I was like, oh, I thought I did something wrong, but I didn't, we're not really like, we don't really talk straightforward, like, hey, stop doing that, or I don't know.

So we're kind of passive aggressive towards each other. So he was like, hey, stop doing that. Or I don't know. So we're kind of passive aggressive towards each other. So he was like, hey, we need to do this. And I was like, I didn't ask like why or did I do something? I was just like, okay. And so that's it. But we're working on it. We're trying to, we had a talk. How would you get it?

You did have a talk? Yeah, we kind of had a serious talk. Oh yeah, I talked to you like last week. Yeah, yeah. I was like, hey man, I got to talk to you. After like 10 years. Listen, those serious, I mean, most of the time the serious talks with us happen

in the midst of like a argument. Yeah. It isn't like, hey, let's have a discussion. It's like. We've never had an argument. I'm mad at you right now. And then it turns into, let's talk about our relationship. This is really why I'm mad. And then it becomes like a relationship check-in.

Yeah. We would, we could, we would not still be working together without those check-ins. So I should do that. Is that what you're saying? Roy, you said, I actually didn't see who said it, just then when you said, we've actually never had a fight.

Yeah, that's me. I don't think we ever had like a straightforward argument where he was like, I'm mad at you, and I was like, I'm mad at you. Do you think that's a problem? Well, I don't really ever get mad. Me neither. Yeah, we both don't really get mad.

No, because I think Rhett and I, our stance is that's a sign of a problem. Yeah, that's what people say. So we should get mad more often? Yeah, I mean, it's just hard to- You should vocalize what you're actually feeling when you are mad because you're human and when you work this close with somebody,

there's got to be some conflict. I mean, it's a lot like a marriage. I mean, we were kind of joking, but when you work together as closely as we do, as you guys have to, to be as successful as you are, and then when you become as successful as you are, it's a complicated relationship. I mean, there's money involved,

there's friendship involved, there's, and name all other things. There's kids involved. You can't do anything. You can't do anything, ultimately, that doesn't affect the partnership to some degree. Oh, man. My heart feels

so warm right now. Is there anything you want? Any problems you ever had? No, I talked to you last week. Yeah, and the only the only thing i ever was like i was like because sometimes i feel like you were mad at me and i didn't know why and then but we don't talk so i was just like dang it so i would try to figure it out on my own and then like it would i never like fixed it and i was like dang it i don't i don't know what it is oh i just like always felt like you were annoyed by me for a while. And I was like, oh, maybe it's a phase, but it was for a while.

And then we just never talked about it. So you just channeled it into the sketch called Annoying John. So Annoying. So Annoying. Is that what happened? He wrote that. So Roy, you wrote So Annoying, the sketch. And is that a passive-aggressive way to address? Oh, no, it was not actually.

You guys are like YouTube therapists. I know. It was actually like a sketch, like a renewal sketch from our old videos that we deleted. So, I was made new. Okay. Good guess, though. Okay. All right.

We're not going to make it. You guys can just talk About your relationship later On your own time You don't have to do it On our podcast We'll just call you If you have problems We'll call you for round two

On podcast One interesting dynamic Listen to this back And the answers are all there Okay Yeah it's true Yeah Are you guys seeing things

That you're not saying That you're like I know exactly what it is We have seen everything We've said everything Were you guys there When we talked Like Oh yeah We know what to seen everything. What? We've said everything. Were you guys there when we talked? Like, oh yeah, we know what to talk about.

We've bugged you for the past three years. Yeah. Now, there's another interesting dynamic, and that is the ladies. Alex, you've kind of struck a chord with the ladies. What do you mean? How do you know? Anytime you take your shirt off in a video,

it's like there's a social media buzz. Well that's for the video, so that will happen. And that's my question is, does that become something that's like, all right, there's gonna be a topless moment in this video. No, usually it's like in it, I'm like, hey, I can take my shirt off for that, cool. And then I do, like just,

it's not because I'm like cockier, I'm like look shirt off for that. Cool. And then I do. It's not because I'm cockier. I'm like, look at my body. It's because it's for the videos. So it is calculated, though, to add a little sex appeal. A little bit. But Roy, are you writing it into sketches? Me? No.

And here you take a shot. I don't think I wrote that. That all started, actually, because of the Call Me Maybe. I became like the heartthrob because he wrote me as the heartthrob and then from there, I just became like typecast as the heartthrob. You're just playing a role now.

Yeah, now I'm just like in that role forever because of the bit it was. No, I mean Rolanda, that's it. Like Rolanda loves Alex and then Richard loves Rolanda so Alex has to be the heartthrob that Rolanda wants and then it just makes Rolanda, that's it, like Rolanda loves Alex and then Richard loves Rolanda, so Alex has to be the heartthrob that Rolanda wants and then it just makes Rolanda that much grosser. You know what, maybe there is some truth,

maybe something about the love triangle that you guys have created between the two of you on YouTube, maybe that could be therapeutic somehow. Just talk through that. If you can work through the love triangle of Richard, Rolanda, and Alex, you can solve all kinds of problems. So what you're saying is we should talk about our feelings as Richard and Rolanda.

That's it. I'm mad at you. Hey, listen, that might be the key. It's like sock puppet therapy. It's like, yeah, let my puppet talk to your puppet. That's not a bad idea at all. Oh, no. You're not mad at me right now, right?

I've never been mad at you. I just always felt like you were mad at me, and you wouldn't tell me. This is good. I don't know. I just felt like you were mad at me a lot of times, and I would never know what it is. And then I would get an idea of it,

so the one thing that we're not going to talk about, that I tried to contain it. And then the other stuff, I tried to contain everything that I think bothers you that you don't tell me bothers you. Why don't you just go up to me and be like, hey, are you mad at me? I could, but I'm just scared. I'm scared.

And what would you tell him? What? Would you be straight up with him? Yeah. All right, let me think about this for a second. And then, I'm mad at you because... I'm mad at you because... That makes it easier.

But I'm scared like you're not mad and then you're like, I'm not even mad. I'm like, I don't know. I don't know what I'm scared about. I don't know. We got some stuff we got to work on. But this has helped you guys. I feel like it is.

Actually after that talk, like last week, I feel like our relationship has gotten better just in this last week. But we never like, you guys making us seem like we hate each other, okay? No, no, but listen, man. I think it's normal to deal with it. It's totally normal when you work together.

Yeah. You know, every duo we've talked to, and when we talked to Corridor Digital, they had this whole thing where they had to develop a signal on set for when they got into an argument so that that person, it was a flash, it's a flash, what do they call it, flash card? They play the card.

Wild card. Wild card, yeah. When you play the card. Wild card. Wild card, yeah. When you play the wild card, which is just like saying wild card, you get your way and you get one of those per day so that they wouldn't butt heads. They would fight on shoots in front of people and they would embarrass themselves.

So I think everybody, I mean, this applies to people who are in relationships in general, but we kind of got over the self-consciousness a long time ago of talking about our friendship and our creative partnership as if it was a relationship. Because I mean, let's face it, that's what it is. It's not a romantic relationship, but it is a relationship. And so, and when you spend that much time with somebody,

I spend as much time with him as I spend with my wife. I'm with my wife during the evening and we're asleep for most of that. If you don't count sleeping time. Right, and so you're gonna have to apply the same kind of things. You're not gonna stay married for 20 years unless you. Have a pact.

Yeah, and you're not gonna work together forever. It's not that we sense that you guys are like, there's problems, it's just. It's a given. We are curious about how you handle those things and so when we started asking about it you're like i don't know well you told me you told me to move out i know and then you guys seemed excited though you're like we smell blood in the water sometimes and we want to get to something juicy i mean that's

this is an ear biscuit yeah you right. We came here for a reason. It's destiny. From now on, I will bring it up. I will be like, hey, I'm checking if you're mad. All right, just shoot me a wild card. Yeah, yeah. All right, cool. Yeah, that's what your guy's wild card is, yeah. Yeah.

All right, there's a commitment, and that is healthy. And now we'll move on. This is emotionally draining. You need to take a nap? Wake you up in 10 minutes? No, I got my coffee, my mythical coffee. I'm good. So what, are there any

plans? Can you give us a scoop on anything like creative? Should we expect more of the same? Is there something else? We were actually just talking about that on the way here. Give it to us. We were talking about doing like maybe a series or a movie. That's a big step because Uh oh Give it to us We're talking about Doing like

Maybe a series Or a movie That's a big step Cause like We got so Comfortable In what we do now And like

We're doing good At what we do now So But you see like Smosh Smosh has got the movie Does that apply Some pressure

We should do that Yeah man Yeah Oh you don't know about it I don't know Maybe you'll watch the movie. Does that apply some pressure? It's like, oh, we should do that. Yeah, man. Oh, you don't know about it. I don't know. Maybe you'll watch the Smosh movie trailer and it'll apply some pressure for you guys. When is that coming out? July 22nd. I just happened to remember that because I saw it on the end

of the trailer. Isn't that right? I haven't watched any YouTuber movies. Really? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Neither have I. There's like Shane Dawson had one and then Camp Dakota. Yeah, all those and then now Bad Weather Films is making one with Casper Lee and KSI and then. But I mean

I say Smosh because in terms of tone, it's, I mean it's not, you guys aren't the same tone or the same audience I guess, but there is some overlap in just kind of like the crazy, it's over the top like the tone you know so but what we were talking about is

the movie is not like our net or what we usually do we're thinking of doing like something more serious so I don't know how it's gonna vibe more like a romantic yeah like a romantic comedy but usually it's just straight comedy like over the top slapstick kind of stuff so it's kind of scary because like over-the-top, slap-stick kind of stuff.

So it's kind of scary because we've never done anything like this, so we don't know how they're going to feel about it. Me neither. Yeah. Only way to find out is to try it. Yeah. But you might want to try it in a smaller form before the movie. Yeah, yeah, that's what we're doing.

That's why we're talking about the series, like a well-produced, high-quality series first, just to see how we do it. And then actually somebody was talking about directing. Hey! I don't know how to, but I'll try. You got to try. I can figure it out.

You just got to start doing it. That'd be cool. Well, fellas, thanks for diving in the deep end with us. Now assign this table of dim lighting. Here's the marker. Thanks, fellas. And there you have it, our biscuit with Alex and Roy. Yeah, I had a good time where that one went, you know,

kind of, yeah, counselor mode. Yeah. But I one went, you know, kind of a counselor mode. Yeah. But I think it's coming from a place of- Well, first of all, let them know. I want people to let them know how they appreciate them being open because when people come into an Ear Biscuit situation, I think they do know they're gonna talk about

some intimate things potentially. Yeah, they told us that Olga Kay told them that she cried. Right, and they didn't cry, they didn't cry. They were a little, I think they were, they had their guard up or I don't know how they would put it but they were warned. But if you could just thank them for that,

you can do that via their Twitter, that's at Alex Wasabi and at Roy Wasabi, of course Roy is R-O-I, not R-O-I. And Wasabi is so. It's two S's, W-A-S- Roy is R-O-I, not R-O-Y. And Wasabi is so. It's two S's, W-A-S-S-A-B-I, hashtag Ear Biscuits. Let them know what you thought. And also, we also appreciate you leaving a review on iTunes. That helps a lot.

And you can comment along with the conversation on SoundCloud. But I hope this came through in terms of their experience that it's not like we were trying to get something out of them to create a great Ear Biscuit. I think by that point in the conversation, there was so much resonance in kind of knowing two guys, friends, business partners, I mean, we're there. We've been there a lot longer than they have.

So we just kind of know it's key. Communication is key. I mean, to get through this, you got to get through these relational things in order to not overcomplicate how to run a business. Communication is key. Or vice versa. Communication is key and conflict is guaranteed.

That's what I would say. I think one of the interesting things, we haven't really talked about this before, anywhere I don't think, but well, maybe a little bit. One of the things that we have seen repeatedly in the comments on Good Mythical Morning is people like to point out, oh, there seems like there's some tension between you guys.

I think behind the scenes Rhett and Link really hate each other. Or sometimes there might be a moment when we're being really authentic in Good Mythical More where one of us kind of pisses the other off or something like that. Yeah. I think the thing that I have observed

in the younger generation of like teenagers who watch our show and are the most vocal commenters is that I think that they expect that their friendships shouldn't be conflict free. So if you have conflict with somebody, therefore you can't be a friend with them. And first of all, most of that tension that people are perceiving is their perception, it's not really there.

But when it is there, when we legitimately are getting on each other's nerves, or we legitimately have a disagreement that kind of makes its way out into our entertainment. That's expected. If you have any valuable friendship with somebody, you're gonna have that. I think it's almost like there's a reaction

from the commenting segment of the GMM fan base that they fear that like, we're gonna break up or something. You know, like their parents are gonna get a divorce. Like, oh, the parents are fighting, Rhett and Link are fighting, that means my show is gonna go away. No, you're gonna have conflict. I mean, even with my kids, sure, there's certain times

where Christy and I get, we have conflict because we're humans and we're in a relationship. Even with my kids, sure, there's certain times where Christy and I get, we have conflict because we're humans and we're in a relationship. And a lot of times that's in front of the kids. Now we're not having like a yelling match in front of the kids, but we're having a disagreement. And- And it's how you handle that conflict and reconcile that means a lot more to those kids

than never having the conflict in front of them to begin with. Right, and so like I come out and say to the kids sometimes like, I can see concern on their faces when we're disagreeing. And so I'll say to them, I'll explain to them, this is part of it. This is part of a relationship

is that there's gonna be conflict. And you just, the alarm shouldn't go off, it's how you handle it is where you have to hit pay dirt. And when I hear that there's somebody who is, it applies in relationships, romantic relationships, but also friendships. When I hear that there's a couple that's getting married and they're like, we never fight, I'm like, okay,

well you are going to and it's gonna be bad. Yeah. But I think that with friendships. Or you're lying to me. When I meet somebody who's been, who friendships, like Smosh was an example of this. And I think the Wasabi Bros kind of mirrored this a little bit.

It's like the same thing happened, like we mentioned on the Ear Biscuit, that Smosh didn't seem like they had talked a whole lot about their feelings before. But I think that me and you didn't do a lot of that until our 30s. No, you're right. I mean, we've been over 30 for quite some time now.

Most of our career has happened since then. Yeah, I think it's a product of being married. I think, you know, being committed to making a marriage work, it's all about the relationship and it's not complicated by like, well, it's just a friendship and you're gonna, it'll blow over, like two guys who are just best friends and college roommates, it's like, yeah, you take each other off and it just blows over.

But I quickly learned in a marriage that when you're that close to each other, you gotta resolve that stuff. When something's at stake and you're building something together. You know, a friendship where there's nothing at stake and it's just an acquaintance or it's like, oh, I just enjoy hanging out with this person.

Okay, I could see how there might not be conflict. But when you start building something together, whether that's a marriage or whether that like, oh, I just enjoy hanging out with this person. Okay, I could see how there might not be conflict. But when you start building something together, whether that's a marriage or whether that's a business, there's things at stake. Children. There's people's desires. Internet show. You know, you have to start taking other people's will

into account. There's going to be conflict. Yeah, so I think we started to apply what we were learning in our marriages to each other because we started coming up against that level of conflict. And it's still not the type of, it's not not awkward to have that conversation. You know, whenever we have to have those

conflict resolution moments, most of the time, it's still something that we stumble into. Like we'll be having a creative conversation or a creative disagreement. And we've learned to pick up on- It will get personal. When there's something under the surface that is the real problem. When it gets personal.

Right. And so what will happen is we'll be having a creative disagreement, but one of us or both of us are disproportionately angry about it. And then one of us will break the seal on personal honesty. Now I'm gonna make this personal.

You hurt my feelings when you said that because I felt like it was condescending or you think I'm gonna make this personal. You hurt my feelings when you said that because I felt like you, it was condescending or you think I'm an idiot or something. Right. And I'll say something like that. And then we'll end up having an hour and a half conversation sometimes in front of a team member that like makes them feel really awkward.

It did. We don't do that anymore. Yeah, that hasn't happened recently. We did that back in North Carolina when we had. Well, we did that when we were. Derek working for us. And we did that when we were in the one, in the garage with Jason, because there's no place to go.

Yeah, I remember Good Morning Chia Lincoln, we were having, and doing that show where it was unedited, that was something that really brought it to the surface and we started having these knock down drag out fights and like he would be sitting there like just waiting to get the footage so you get edited. Yeah and again, I think that I can even almost feel it in the perspective of some of our younger listeners

that they're like, I don't get it. I don't understand. But I think it's just because you probably haven't built something with someone else to the degree that a marriage or a business requires. So, you know, it's coming and I'm just letting you know, it's expected. You know, communication is key and conflict is guaranteed.

Maybe it should go the other way. Conflict is guaranteed and communication is key. Put that on a t-shirt or a bumper sticker or both. And I know we've talked for a long time about this and the music playing, because we're coming in for a landing and when this thing is wrapping up, but I don't know how helpful this is to hear our perspective,

but hey, if it is helpful, then you're rewarded for sticking around to the end of this ear biscuit, because I get a feeling that not everybody does that. They might bail a little bit early. Yeah, sure. If you bailed, well, we're not listening. We just saved your friendship and your partnership

or your marriage or whatever you've got. We just saved it. We take full credit for that. You're welcome. But you did hurt my feelings recently and I'm talking to you, listener, not you, Rhett. Okay, that's gonna be awkward.