Ear Biscuits with Rhett & Link - Ep. 9 Harley Morenstein - Ear Biscuits

Episode Date: November 22, 2013

Harley Morenstein, creator and star of YouTube's "Epic Meal Time," joins Rhett & Link this week to discuss his childhood dedication to summer camp, being a bullied substitute teacher in Montreal, and the calculated success behind one of the internet's most beloved web series. *NOTE: This conversation contains adult themes and language. 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. It's time once again for another candid conversation with someone interesting from the internet. This time we are conversing with the creator of the amazingly successful YouTube channel Epic Mealtime, the sauce boss himself, Harley Morenstein. We talked to him about his very hyperactive childhood and also just how many things he tried before he became a success on YouTube with Epic Meal Time. And also what kind of mindset results

in a successful YouTube series and the relational casualties that are a byproduct of that. Hmm. Hmm. But you know, okay, so I'm excited about you guys hearing this conversation that we had with Harley, but I will say that- We have a chip on our shoulder? We have a, I like to say we have a beef

with Epic Meal Time. Oh, pun. Because I'm very into puns. Yes, you are. And well, okay, it is a little bit more of a chip. Maybe it's like a potato chip on our shoulder to use your- Which is not really an Epic Mealtime pun. Well, no, but this-

It's just food? Okay. Meaning that I'm glad, you know, Harley is a friend, and I'm glad they're successful, and we- What Rhett is trying to say is that he stole our idea. No. For Epic Milton. I am saying that, first of all, I feel like, in one sense, our past,

there's a lot of ideas in our past that we do something, and it kind of doesn't work, and then a couple years later, we see somebody else do it, and they're like, oh, that's how it's supposed to be done. That's how it's supposed to be done and be done successfully. Okay, so you're talking about we made an epic rap battle, and then it turns out you add of history to it,

and it just turns out to be one of the most amazing musical series in the history of the internet, if not V. And if and when we have the opportunity to talk to Nice Peter about that, we'll tell him, we'll talk about that. But in the case of Epic Meal Time, our story is that you go all the way back to, it was probably 2004, 2005, when we made a video called the Burgazebo.

We invented a fake fast food restaurant called Burgas, B-U-R-G-A-Z. Right, and the only item sold at Burgaz was, well, two items, it was the Burgazebo, which was a burger that looked like a gazebo that was held up by edible sticks of some kind. Well, they weren't edible. They were supposed to be edible

in the fake world of the Burgazebo. We made a fake commercial. We showed the gazebo-shaped burger, and then we made some videos where we went the um gazebo shaped burger and then we made some videos where we went out it had a megatator i want to it was the megatator commercial which was a really large french fry it was just one french fry that you would put in a french fry box it was just a huge big old basically a baked potato well a raw potato that was shaved into the shape of a you know a square or whatever may, I mean, not really epic meals, but just kind of ridiculous meals.

But that was the seed to an idea that later happened in 2008. Was that summer of 2008 that we did the Alka-Seltzer Great American Road Trip? Yep. So part of, one of the videos as part of that Great American Road Trip was going to Chicago and doing this idea where we were like, what is the best food?

What is the best food in Chicago? Is it the Italian beef? Is it a deep dish pizza? Or is it the hot dog? Because those are like the three main food offerings from Chicago. And we had this idea, hey, what if we put all these together and we created what we call- One epic meal. The Chicago Z-Bo. We did not use the terms epic or meal. No, we didn't. Or time.

The Chicago Zebo, which was a huge double-decker Italian beef pizza that was held together by, basically, it looked like a gazebo, but the pillars of the gazebo were large hot dogs. I think our problem is we thought the key to this thing was it needed to be shaped like a gazebo. And that doesn't matter at all. It just needs to be epic and mealish. And these videos, I don't know if the Burgazebo videos are still on the internet, but I know the Chicago Zebo is still on our channel.

And you can see that we went on WGN. We went on the WGN morning show. And we sang a jingle. We introduced the Chicago Zebo on the air. Anyway, no one cares about the show. And we sang a jingle. We introduced the Chicago Zeebo on the air. Anyway, no one cares about the video. It hardly has any views. But, you know, it hits me when I think about Epic Mealtime. It's like, you know, what were we doing wrong?

I mean, we had this crazy creation that was a pizza and hot dogs and Italian beef all together in the shape of a gazebo. We even wrote a song about it, but it just didn't work for us. Yeah, all the elements didn't come together. I mean, if you want to know how to do it, look at their first video and every one afterward. Right. everything that led up to him coming up with that idea and then how he was so ready to execute it and pull the trigger once he saw a little bit of success or maybe what at the time was a lot of success so let's get into this conversation with harley uh amazingly successful almost six million subscribers on youtube.com slash epic mealtime and over 600 million views.

Here it is, our ear biscuit. Is it an epic biscuit? I think it's just a regular ear biscuit. Yeah, it's pretty epic. This is about as epic as an ear biscuit as you can have in terms of the meal analogy. Here's our conversation with Harley. Why don't you take us back?

We like to go back to the, not the conception or the inception, but the beginnings of Harley. All right. I got some good stuff. Where are you from? I'm from Montreal, Canada. So it's like 6 hours north of New York it's very French I'm fully English but you speak French?

yeah, they force you you have to learn French we'll drop some French on us I took French no, I hate the way I sound I speak French very ugly. Tu manges les bacon beaucoup. Je suis René. Je suis Lejuan.

Those are good. Those are good accents. Listen, my French, you know, bonjour, mon nom est Harley. J'aime boire leur diet coke avec mes amis et Link. So, in other words, you don't try to cop the French accent at all? No. Oh, no, I can't. Because then it's almost this fake attempt at trying to... Like, I would be acting in my speaking, you know?

Right. Listen, if it's like a role and I gotta embrace it then maybe I would approach it as such but to just talk to you guys like I don't really speak French like that so why would I you know like even you guys did voices when you spoke French you know no no no no that was that's my voice no that's not your French I speak French in a French accent I actually and I think I actually kind of had like an Italian thing going honestly but yeah we both had a horrible thing going it's a beautiful language, very musical. I'm just not a musical or beautiful person,

so I don't really carry the language that well. But are people in Montreal going around speaking French? This is what they speak of there. Yeah, so when you're 16 years old, like I live in the West Island, it's 75% English, that place, but it's in a city that's 75% French. But when you go for a job, you sit down for your interview and he'll start asking you questions.

And then halfway through, he'll just turn to French and you have to turn to French and keep going. And then he'll have a conversation with you in French and English as he's interviewing you. Is that like a test? Yeah, if you don't do the French part, you're like, oh, sorry, can you say that in English? He's like, sorry, you didn't get the job, son.

Really? Yeah, you blew it. You didn't speak French properly. So in grade school, you're learning French. I've experienced that. Or in your house, you're learning French. I mean, you guys can research further, but this is from what I believe,

and it's pretty close to this, or it was like this at one point. I'm not exactly sure if this is how it is now, but if your parents, one of your parents or both of your parents are immigrants, you must learn French. You must be in a French school. So all French.

So that means like everything is French except for English class. And this is, this is what's messed up is because you learn, you know, math a certain way. And then you get to fourth grade now your math is in french and if you're not grasping math the last thing you want to do is learn it in two languages yeah that's french numbers are the same though right yeah the numbers are the same numbers are the same but saying them out loud is you know it's, like, it's, for example, what is it? You know, BEMDAS? BEMDAS?

Brackets, exponents, multiplicators, division. Oh, yes. The order of which you approach something. Order of operations. So this is the time that I'm getting to that in the fourth grade. It's BEMDAS. The associative property.

And then you get to French, and now BEMDAS is something different because all those letters are different words. So, like, that's just an example. Fractions. You want to talk fractions, it's like, you know, two-thirds in French, deux tiers. It's like something completely different.

Right. That's where it gets confusing. So, in fourth grade, your life got turned upside down when it comes to math and language i don't want to brag i'm good i was good okay i was good at french not speaking it but i i can read it i can understand it but i was just kind of speaking just i became a teacher later on in life and i just looked at stuff like that differently like just when i started to see how people teach and stuff like that like that was something that was weird to me because it's like

what's the point of teaching math in French? And, you know, it's the whole French thing. It's cool, but I just remember it being a headache at the time. I don't know if you guys ever read Malcolm Gladwell books. I actually haven't actually read one, but I do know. Tipping point, all this stuff. He has this whole thing of like why, you know, his theory of why Chinese people are better at math.

And it comes down to the basic form, just numbers themselves are shorter and easier to remember. And instead, like, you know, instead of saying something like 11, 12, 13, you say 10, 1, 10, 2, 10, 3. So when you speak it, it makes better sense than when you're like six and you're like, what the fuck is a 12? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10. And then what's a 12?

And then it's 22. It's now 12 is abandoned. 12 is its own word for, you know, 10, 2. But in China, it's like, you know, 2, 10, 2, 3, 10, 2. 100, a word, is 10, 10 in Chinese. You're doing a multiplication as you say it. Yeah, exactly. So he was saying

that, you know, because it's easy to grasp just in a language base, they're more, and when you're good at something, you'll do more of it. So the kids are better at math because they grasp it easier just from the way that they speak. And, you know, then it just, they try harder at it and just trying harder at it makes you better at it later in life. Cause you, you know, follow a certain path. Whereas when you graduate or you drop out of school because you're like math you know so you were good at it in fourth grade cool but but then there's kids you know it's like they're learning french for you know geography like now you know united states you're trying to find where it is on the map, but here's the catch. It is a different name now. Now it's called Etats-Unis.

And so it's like that messes you up. So you're trying to grasp these two languages and life at the same time. But it makes you smarter. Well, it makes you smarter. It makes your brain bigger. And now I'm happy because now I come to L.A. And French is cool to know. You speak French?

And it's like, yeah. And then I say things, you know, say something. And it's Schisberger, Vick, B and it's like, yeah. And then I say things, say something. Schisberger with bacon extra mayo. What does that mean? It just means you need beautiful. But really, I just said cheeseburger with bacon extra mayonnaise and a French accent. But it doesn't matter. Just knowing French is a cool thing now.

And now it's like I download Duolingo on my iPhone. I'm like, I'm going to learn Spanish too. I do it a little bit. I don't really learn anything. But yeah, it's cool. I wish I learned, I wish I learned six languages growing up. You know,

my, my, my brother talks to his kid in like Spanish. They don't even know Spanish, but they throw all these Spanish words at the kid and learn sentences and throw it at the kid. Maybe he's going to pick up some Spanish too, you know? So,

okay. So you were, you were good at that. You were good in school, even over that obstacle of, well, let's bring it back actually for a second. Actually in the first grade, okay?

Mm-hmm. In the first grade, we had our teacher and this other teacher would come, Miss Monroe. And when everyone was doing like the alphabet and math, like she would come and get Harley, Douglas, and Newton. And we would go to roll clay balls. So like when I was like five or six and Miss Monroe would come. Yeah, yeah. Like we'd like play with clay or they'd show us how to hold a pencil and like trace.

Okay. So everyone's like doing like writing and I would stand, I'm like, suckers. I'm going to Miss Monroe. She's so nice and so encouraging. Yeah. And at the end of grade one, I'll never forget this. The teacher did this.

She goes, everyone passed except for Douglas and Newton. And I remember my heart stopped. She didn't say Aunt Harley. And I'll never forget stopped. She didn't say Aunt Harley. And I'll never forget that. She said it in front of the class. She's an old teacher and it's like 91. But still, you say 91, that's like what, 20, 30 years, 20 years ago, right? Yeah.

So like, it's just different time. Announce it in front of the kids. Two kids failed and it wasn't me. And I was happy because redoing all that would have destroyed me if i had to do that um so i went into grade two and that's when i was good at school now but hold on what was this some demented art teacher i was i was retarded in grade one right and the teacher was like yeah harley is uh retarded like douglas newton or mentally slow i don't know the exact word of what I was,

and I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings out there. If we keep going with my life, we'll get to the part where I work with mentally challenged people. So I don't want to throw around the R word. You earned me right. Listen, listen. I don't know how to describe myself as anything else than retarded. So I went with Douglas Newton,

who when I was in grade one, I went with Douglas and Newton who, when I was in grade one, I was like, these guys are weird. You know, Douglas, like Douglas, Douglas didn't speak. Douglas couldn't speak.

And Newton fought everyone. And I swear to God, he was four years older than everyone. He was huge. What do you, why did you get grouped with them? Two reasons or, or theories.

One, I was retarded. Maybe. Or two, my, my mom, like a neurotic Jewish mom, was like, I want to make sure my boy really gets help and he's going to get this extra care. Or, you know, I'm going to make sure my son is – or maybe she was like, my son's a little retarded. You know, who knows? Or maybe I want my son to learn how to roll balls out of clay. It was like –

That's important to us. It was just because I'll never forget because it was like Christmas time and we were like taking clan. She was like, and roll the balls and like smooth out the line so it's perfectly smooth. And I was just like, this is a joke. This is awesome. And I got my buddy, Matt Wilson in there, like writing the alphabet.

You made it in under the wire into second grade. You got it. Second grade comes around. Okay. Subtraction comes into the picture. And just like that addition subtraction, I like, I was literally like, I was like,

I know math. And I swear I was the best at, at math in grade two. I'll never forget. But like, I got like a pluses. You guys, do you guys ever have mad minutes?

A mad minute? Mad minute was the sickest thing ever. We get angry with each other, but no, no mad minute is like, it's the teacher would give you a piece of paper and it's flipped upside down and you have one minute.

It's like, okay, flip it over now. It's your time. And you'd flip over the Mad Minute and it's just like 30 examples. Like, you know, two minus one, three plus four. And you just got to, you do the whole thing.

It's one and seven. One minute. And if the teacher, if you make a mistake on the first one that's where she stops correcting you know and if you get 30 out of 30 you get a sticker

you gotta have a streak and you can't make a mistake if you ever make a mistake that's where she stops and it's cool because you would do it and like and then you would flip it over

when you're done and you would go yes but you would say that loud enough so the other kids knew that you were done so near like the 40 second 55 seconds all these kids were like yes yes yes and you like freak out like i gotta finish the popcorn of yes it's crazy and right at the end and uh when i was i killed those when i was in kindergarten i didn't know understand how the

alphabet translated into looking up words in a dictionary no this couldn't have been kindergarten when you started looking up words in a dictionary and having to write the definition. I mean, what was this? First, second grade? Looking up words, writing the definition. Yeah, that's got to be, that may be third grade. You were learning how to write in first grade. Not like I have kids who I should know this.

Right. I remember not really knowing how to look up words in the dictionary to write the definition, and I got Linwood Campbell to look them up for me. Really? And then I would write down the definition. I did not know. Alphabetical order. Alphabetical order. Yeah. Do you want us to explain it now or do you know it now? I figured it out later thanks to the

author. But how long did it take till you figured it out? I don't know. Maybe by the next year, I think I, I don't remember when I got it, but I do remember the instance when I didn't have it. And I was like, oh, I'm, I'm losing it here. I need, Linwood, you gotta help me, buddy. Okay, so that's what things were like at school. What about home? What kind of home did you grow up in? I have an older brother and

an older sister. My sister's seven years older than me. My brother's nine years older than me. I got a mom and dad. My dad's really pink. Really pink? He's got pink? like he's actually got pink skin he's just like a white ass mouth like a

like a baby pig or something? like he has to wear like a hat in the sun okay you know he's like just like a pink ass

like he's all my buddies call him papa pink so you really? yeah and they're still together your parents

yeah yeah yeah he's got my dad's got a nickname, Dog House Money. That's like his Twitter. Don't go looking at those. Really geeky. So you got this like Jewish family. Are they devout Jewish?

How does that work? They're like, you know, they're like, oh, go to synagogue on Yom Kippur because, you know, Zadie will be sad if you don't. So like guilt tripping me, Jewish guilt tripping me into Jewish holidays. Zadie, be sad if you don't so like guilt tripping me Jewish guilt tripping me into Jewish holidays Zadie were your grandfather grandfather grandfather Bubby Zadie our grandmother grandfather and you know I would go and do like

I would go to some holidays like I would join him at the synagogue like you know go there for a couple hours for that but like I mean you know we did milk and meat bacon and cheese there was no we weren't that Jewish so the whole the the later in life when bacon became a pretty big part of your identity it wasn't like there were Jewish relatives who were like the only thing that happened is on one

episode I put a pig head on a plate and give it to someone in an episode who's wearing a talus and a kippah sounds like a no-no. And he looks at it like sad. And then, yeah, so he was an actor. And so that episode when my parents saw it, they're like, you can't do that. You can't do that. I'm like, what are you talking about? And they're like, the Jewish community will write you off for some bullshit.

No, they're not. I was like, come on, mom. F*** the Jewish community. It didn't matter. Anyways, I ended up doing it. I ended up still being written in, the Jewish community. Like it didn't matter, you know? Anyways, I ended up doing it. Like I ended up still being written in like the combined Jewish magazine, like the next two weeks later. But it's just funny because.

Written up meaning reprimanded? No, no, no. Like interviewed, interviewed. Okay. It's like you're on the blacklist or something. This man. Okay. So you were the youngest child.

Yep. Does that mean you were spoiled as a child uh yeah i was definitely spoiled like uh my brother you know uh my brother got made fun of like when he went to school because you know my parents are driving like a poaz vehicle but by the time i come around 10 years later it's like they're they're more human now my parents what did they both had jobs my dad's a contractor, windows and doors. My mom was a secretary at an accessories place, like belts and stuff like that. She doesn't do that anymore?

No, she doesn't do that anymore. Now she ships t-shirts for Epic Mealtime. She is an employee. Yeah, yeah. Make that bitch work! And that all happens up in Montreal. Yeah, yeah. And whenever, listen, whenever my mom causes problems, I'm like, yo, what's up with the t-shirt orders? And she's like yeah whenever my mom causes problems I'm like yo what's up with the t-shirt orders

I'm like mom there's a lot of other moms out there that would love to work for Epic Mealtime right now so you f***ing shut up and ship these t-shirts you know so that's your MO hire moms you're like it's working I'm going to keep this going it's actually it's funny we had

a relationship with a t-shirt company before that, and they just fell apart. They just didn't expect the demand. When Epic Mealtime first rolled out its shirts, there was just a bacon strip shirt that sold like crazy. And this company, they just, instead of handling it or just saying we can't do it or whatever, they just kind of shut down and

it ended up being this ugly stink and my mom was like well i'm gonna clean up this mess for my boys you know and she just came in and she's been an employee yeah she killed it she just did it yeah but have you added belts because i mean she knows about that kind of thing that's it that's when it comes to buying and purchasing she had already had the experience we don't do the belts though we did have belts at hot topic for a while oh? Yeah, they said bacon strips on it and it was like a Cadillac seat belt. And it said like bacon strips on the belt. Pretty neat. So tell us more

about growing up in that household, being spoiled. Well, you know, like by spoiled, I mean, by comparison to how my brother experienced it, you know. But my brother, like, you know, my brother and sister, like, they still had a Nintendo. Like a Nintendo Entertainment System. You guys, well, you're reborn in 77. So you're my brother and sister, they still had a Nintendo, like a Nintendo Entertainment System. You guys, well, you're reborn in 77.

So you're my brother's age. Was having a Nintendo Entertainment System a big deal? Absolutely. Did you guys have those? Yes. Okay. But that's because you made it a point, right? Like you needed the Nintendo.

My stepdad really wanted it. My brother had a Nintendo. And when I grew up, video games became a big deal to me. I grew up watching my brother beat Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! and then I'm

playing it later. And then shortly after that, Mortal Kombat rolls out. So when Hanukkah was coming around, it was a big deal that I got a Sega Genesis or a Super Nintendo. But I was spoiled in the sense of in the third grade, I had a TV in my room with a Sega Genesis. And that was a big deal. I had a little TV, a Sega Genesis. That's how I was spoiled. When I got to high school, I realized I'm not so spoiled because I had a lot of rich

friends and I couldn't even like roll with them on the weekend because something would like, you know, I'd get, you know, I'd have like 20 bucks for the week basically. Um, and this is at like 14 years old and I'd go and, uh, go hang out with a buddy and be like, yeah, let's, uh, you know, let's get a lunch. Sure. Like, let's get some beers. It's like, yeah, we're going to bad-ass and drink beers. Yeah. That's like, let's go out for dinner. It's like, no, my money's done. It's like, sure, let's get some beers. It's like, yeah, we're going to go to Bad Ass and drink beers, yeah. It's like, let's go out for dinner. It's like, no, my money's done. It's like, well, we're going to party after that

and tomorrow we're going to the water slides. Well, I already used my 20 bucks, so I guess I'm going to roam the streets lighting things on fire. Right. What kind of kid were you? Were you a troublemaker? I think people would want to believe

that you're a hellraiser as a kid. I was very loud. I was like, my parents would go pick me up at my friend's house, and his parents would be like, if Harley's going to come over again in the future, he can't have soda pop and stuff like that because he's very wild, you know? Like, I would do things like throw myself down the stairs. For entertainment. Yeah, and scream and run and scream.

I was the kid, as soon as I was done eating at dinner, I would slide under the table and crawl out and give me the keys to the car. I want to go in the car. I'm going outside. Only at other people's homes. This restaurant. No, just anywhere.

It didn't matter. I was just a loud ass crazy kid. I played football at the time as well and basketball. Why were you like that? You just didn't get spanked enough? No, no. I got socked a bunch of times. My dad, he'd slap.

Yeah, that was cool. Actually, I genuinely thought that was great. My buddies as well, they also would get whacked by their parents if they f***ed around. You said slapped. You mean spanked? No, like a slap. Like on the face? Yeah, like shut the f*** up.

Really? Yeah, yeah. We've definitely, like the car, like I'm going to pull this car right the f*** over if you guys don't shut up back there. It's typically when someone would say that, it would be like in a moment of anguished confession of abuse. But you seem to be saying, this was awesome. I have. I have. Because you know what?

I was a wild kid. You have to imagine this. I'm 10 years old. It's the fourth grade. And I'm 5'9". Right. And I'm insane. I'm 10 years old. It's the fourth grade, and I'm 5'9". Right. And I'm insane. I'm insane.

So I had an older brother. So my brother would beat me up all the time. You get beats from your older brother, his friends, like that. But I was always antagonizing. I was a really big antagonizer. No one ever hurt me. There was never a black eye or anything like that. I've been slapped on the cheek numerous times.

My buddies, their parents would slap them on the cheeks as well. When I grew up, if you f***ed up, your parent was going to slap you. You're going to get a slap. Yeah, that's how it worked. That was good because I had a goofy bunch of friends. We were all crazy.

So it didn't really help. No, but at the time, like case by case, you know, like I'm in the back like yelling, screaming, pulling my sister's hair. My dad reaches back and whack. It's like, you know, now I'm like sitting in the corner like, man, fuck all y'all. But like, you know, it's just the way it was. The amount of times that I thought, is it worth a slap right now?

My buddy, his dad was great. His dad would slap him and give him like an essay. Really? Yeah, like his, like one of my buddies,

my buddy stole from his mom once. Like was stealing like, you know, like $5 bills here and there. Then his dad like marked one and he took the $5 bill and like came home and his dad was like, let me see.

He was like, this is my money. I found it and there was a little mark on it. Whack! I was there for the slap live. When your buddy's getting slapped, you get a little shiver. A little shiver. Like goosebumps on your thigh. That was great! Can't wait to go home and not be getting slapped.

And then he's also slapped with an essay. Yeah, it was intense. Really? Yeah, it was great. It was so good. It was just a great punishment. I remember being young and being like, I'm like 10,

and I'm like, man, f***ing essay. That's crazy. That's crazy. Not even for school or anything, just for dad, because he stole from mom. So did it ever progress to the point where, you know, you're having to get disciplined at school or, I mean, go to jail? No. See, the thing is at school, I was always, um, I did really well, but I, my teachers were always calling my parents like, you know,

Harley's not getting enough attention at home. He keeps making jokes. Like he's always making jokes. That was my thing. Like class clown to the maximum and, and like ridiculous class clown antics as well. Like, uh, um, falling onto the first desk, like when I walk in and like just being loud. And, and it's funny cause when I was a teacher later on in life, it was like, I experienced the karma of that. I sat there and watched some kids and I'm just like, so unfunny,

such like jokes and air and their buddies are laughing and I'm there and I'm like, I deserve this. Like their buddies don't think it's funny, but they're laughing cause it's how it works in high school. And I'm like, and now I get it. Cause now I'm like I deserve this like their buddies don't think it's funny but they're laughing because it's how it works in high school and I'm like and now I get it because now I'm the teacher and like I gotta sit there while like you know there's kids like throwing papers and his buddies are laughing and it's just like it's not funny and I'm like this is what I get it all it all comes back right like closed it off like I remember like in high school i faked a seizure on a teacher's desk while my buddy filmed it like and it was like a whole thing i like i was like oh

mr rose i have a and like i fall on his desk i'm rolling around this is like the time that like tom green's really popular yeah so i'm like just enjoying that type of stuff and uh and we had this awesome video file of me like shaking and like like on the desk and the teacher knows my antics is just sitting there not moving doesn't move muscle and like just lets me like roll off and walk away and like i understand him now back then i was like you see that bitch i'm all up on his desk and he's like he couldn't just sit there can't do you know daps bro daps, bro, daps, bro. And then now as a teacher, like, I understand. You're just like this idiot. This idiot. There is nothing you can do to help this child.

This child is me. Yeah. So I ended up getting it back. My first time teaching ever. I was substituting for my brother and I'm sitting at the desk and this teacher, like these kids come in and I'm kind of setting up in this kid walks in like real slow, like cigarette on his ear. And he looks over me and he goes,

he goes, who's this? Like to everyone. And that's like major offense. Right. So I'm, I'm there and I'm now it's the first, I'm having my first confrontation live in high school.

Me versus unknown 14 year old. Former me. Yeah. He's got a cigarette on his ear and I'm having my first confrontation live in high school. Me versus unknown 14-year-old. Former me. Yeah. He's got a cigarette on his ear, and I'm like got like a pink polo shirt tucked in to like dress pants. And I'm like I – Why did you wear a pink shirt? Because I was just doing it.

Like I just needed something fancy. It was one of the only things I had that a collar on it. That'll do it. And I'm just there, and I'm like, okay, I'm going to pretend like I didn't hear it, and I'm just there and I'm like, okay, I'm going to pretend like I didn't hear it. And I'm just kind of like humming, let that slide. Right. Yeah. I like, yeah. And then, so like, they're just loud kids and stuff like that. And I got, I'm like, you know, trying to get control. No one's controlling. So I was taught in elementary education, not high

school. So I go over and I shut the lights off and cross my arms. Cause that's what you do in elementary school. If you were in high school, there's no windows in the room. The lights are off for like a split second when I'm like, Oh, it's pitch black. Turn back on desks, like four desks got flipped over and like everyone's standing like just instantly. And I'm like, Oh man, I'm blowing it. Anyways, that was just my first encounter at, at school. And that's when I was like, this is going to be like a slow, like balancing of my karma for how I was in high school. And it was, I had like, I had bad, like some bad classes. I love all the kids. They're great. But like, there's just like disturbers and they knew who they were. And I knew I was a disturber and you learn later on, like, you know, you probably could have done so much better with

the girls in high school. If weren't being a shit disturber. I watch that every time. And it, like, the girls, when I watch, like, the female students never are impressed by jackassery of male students. And it's like this weird parading and beating of the chest that I definitely took part in. They're kind of embarrassed. Yeah, it's just they get it. That's how you know they're more mature. They just know it's obnoxious and stuff.

What's your journey with the ladies like? See, here's the thing. I used to go to Jew camp in the summers. Jewish camp is basically so throw it back to the Hitler times. Camps were made to erase Jewish people, basically.

Right. Jewish people made camps to introduce Jews to Jews so Jews will make more Jews. Got it. So like a Jewish camp, you go there for 60 days, it's sleep away, and here's your tent. Are you supposed to mate there? Your tents, well, here, I'll tell you.

Your tents are here. The girl tents are like, you know, 30 feet away and you have counselors that sleep in there but the counselors go out at night and they'll like go in

and be like, hey guys, turn out the lights. Don't go sneaking into the girls' tents. Don't make more Jewish people. Yeah, basically.

Wink, wink. Don't go doing something we wouldn't do and then, you know, they leave you and then you go and, you know, obviously you're like run across and finger, and then they leave you, and then you go, and obviously you run across and finger some girls

because that's Jew camp, and maybe get a little hand job in the woods or something like that. Jew camp. Yeah, you suck on boobies and stuff like that, and maybe you just suck on a pair of boobies at 16, and fast forward eight years, you're still together, and you guys are making Jewish babies now.

So it's like a breeding ground. So the way it works is when I was younger and I would do all that ass shit, sure. But when I would get to Jewish camp and I would like a girl, she's trapped. You can't go anywhere. It's camp. Like if you don't like me today or tomorrow or the next day or in a week from now, like I'm here. And I'm still going to like you. How long is the camp? It's 60 days. That's a lot of time to wear a girl down. Exactly.

So, you know, by the time the 60 days are up, you know, I've put a finger, a girl for each finger, basically, at the end of it. But then, you know, you go to school, and school's a different ballgame. School, like, you know, there was a, I don't know. I didn't really like have the money to kind of play or the freedom with my parents to kind of just, you know, go out and like just hook up with girls or go on dates really. Plus, I never took things seriously.

I was never good at like asking a girl out on a date, not being a goof, but I can only see things in like a, a goofy way. I was very childish. Um, yeah, it only took until, uh, probably my last years of high school that I start realizing, you know, there's an art to this. Right. Then what happened towards the end of high school? Um, towards the end of high school, I mean, I graduated like a jackass while walking to get my diploma. Every year I would get principals on a roll, and I would go get my diploma, and I would fall on purpose.

And, like, the principal, there was almost a different principal each year, would be like, oh, my God, and, like, help me up. And I'd be like, oh, my knees, my knee. And I would, like, grab my diploma and limp off. And it was, like, a thing. So, like, when I graduated, I actually I took a big spill like a huge one and the principal again came but like everyone knew I was gonna fall and they all stood up like you know and started applauding I clapping and I have this like awesome video standing ovation this awesome video like

really bad quality on like my dad's old cell phone of me falling and, and everyone like just standing up and, you know. Did your parents know you were going to do this? They, they knew. My dad knew. I told him. And then what does he say? Does he like shake his head or he's like, that was pretty cool. That was like that culminated. Yeah. My dad thought it was all right. Um, but that culminated and summed up my high school experience. Like here's this big dummy, like just falling on his face and like, you know, just being an idiot and just doing it for like claps. Really? Like what are the claps, you know?

It is time when you kind of developing an idea of what you wanted to do. I was working at summer camp. I went to summer camp every year because, you know, I was always trying to get up. So just pounding lots of summer camp, bringing it back year after year. I went back to staff because when you're staff, you just get that much more Jewish. You know what I mean, Link. I'm learning so much. So I would, I would go back to camp all these years. I'm working with children. I liked it. It was fun. And then, so I decided to go into education because it'll

actually make my mom happy. My dad will be happy. And I am also worried that if I go into filming, I'll waste my time. And it'll just be like, that was stupid. Um, so, and then I went into university and I ended up being in a education there as well. And, uh, McGill university. Is that in Montreal? Yeah, it's in Montreal. It's a, it's a good school. It's a good school. And, um, so I went there and I started doing education. And that was great because there was actually, there were some classes where, I mean, elementary education, there might be 350 people and there's me and a gay black dude

and everyone else is girls. Really? Yeah. Like the program, like I would do group work and it would be me and like six girls. And yeah, I don't know my advice if anyone out there is the type of person like this were some national lampoons script going to education yeah was anything did anything formative come from that the school and before you became a teacher i

hated school i hated it i hated it like because university was modeled to be like, kind of like a elementary or high school atmosphere. So we would go into classes and we would like do counting with like M&Ms and stuff like that. And, you know, everything that like, we would, we would experience lesson plans meant for kids to like, we would teach one another elementary basic stuff. Like that's how we learned. To learn how to think like a child. Almost. In a weird, like, it was like to get you back, like you would do all this learning and then it

was like, okay, now let's bring it back to grade one. What's an interesting thing to teach kids how to do the alphabet and trick them into learning the alphabet without them knowing that they're doing the alphabet. You know, what's something fun? Oh, we could show them how to draw a picture where there's letters as the picture.

There's a million things, but we would come up with lesson plans and do it to each other. And yeah, I didn't, I wasn't a fan of it because teaching wasn't my passion. I was just doing it as a plan B. And like, you know, I go into the first class and it's like, you know, I'm, uh, uh, people would be like, yeah, like, uh, I'm here because my mom was a teacher and my mom's mom was a teacher. And now I get to be a teacher and it's going to affect the children. And they're crying and then it gets to me and it's like, I work with kids and I'm pretty good at it. So I don't give a ****.

Like that's basically it. So already it's like I'm pretty good at it. So I don't give a ****. So already it's like, I'm working with these people. And if you've ever been around something like where everyone's so passionate about and you're just like, whatever, it makes you more whatever. It makes it like, just **** relax about the kids that you're not teaching yet. Like relax, bring it back. And I was always late, but my antics carried over into university to an extent. I was always late. As you guys know, it's something I never figured out.

And as a teacher, I showed up 30 minutes late to this podcast, everyone, by the way, as a teacher, like you can't be late, but you can't show up to class late. They kind of don't teach themselves.

They're 14 and there's 30 of them. You don't leave them for 10 minutes alone because you're late. They're not going to sit for the teacher to come. So in elementary education, like it's like, I show up late to class and all the teachers give you, because it's like, you can't do this. You can't be late. And it's not like a big university class.

For the most part, there were some where you could just show up really late and or not show up. Like they took attendance. And I remember like showing up late and this teacher just being like, you know what? In front of everyone, she's like, you show up like they took attendance um and i remember like showing up late and this teacher just being like you know what in front of everyone she's like you show up late one more time and i'm going to give you an f because as a teacher you have to be on time and you have not come on time to any of these classes so you come back again late you better be focused and be

on time because i'll i'll give you an f i But you made it. Fast forward to the next week. I wake up. I'm running late. Ooh, genius idea. I snatch a red apple. I walk into class, probably 20 minutes late. She's looking at me, and I walk over just like real quiet and pull this shiny red apple out of my jacket and put it on her desk and like go and sit down quietly.

And she just picks it up, and she looks at it, and she looks at me, and she's like, you, you really know how to charm an old elementary school teacher. And she's like, touche Harley, touche. And like, just let me say, and I didn't,

I didn't come late to any other classes after that, but I did get the buy just for being like, kind of like, you know, a little, a little, you don't, you know,

playing the hokey. Yeah. You don't, you don't want to give this guy an F. Right, yeah. He's just a big dummy. You said it was a plan B. So if it was a plan B, like what was, and more specifically, what was plan A?

Plan A was I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to make movies. I'm going to be in movies and I'm going to make them. Were you doing any of that? Yeah. Okay. So in university, this was the best part of elementary education was you would do presentations things like that how can you teach the kids to to do something that's fun and to make it fun so one thing that maybe wouldn't charm the teachers now but sure as hell worked in 2005 was you make a video as your project. Oh yeah.

So if I had a video that would accompany what I'm doing that, like the teachers always love that. I got, I got a hundred percent. Every time we did group projects, I would tell him like, okay, here's the deal. We're going to do a video. I'm going to do the filming. I'm going to do the editing. We're going to be cool.

I'm going to write it. You just got to come meet me at school on this day. We're going to film it. You just play this person, this person, this person. We're going to include everything we need in the video and we're going to be cool. I'm going to write it. You just got to come meet me at school on this day. We're going to film it. You just play this person, this person, this person. We're going to include everything we need in the video, and we're going to let the video play for our presentation. And I always cleared it with the teacher first. And I always made these goofy, silly videos,

and the teachers always loved them. So I was making videos in class to – so by the time I got to my last semester, it was like people were kind of excited about what would be my school project video that I, that I would be. And it was like, you know, like 75% of the time it's like a rap video, you know, like we have to teach like, like I did one like sodium and you, it was like this like hardcore gangster rap video, you know, teaching kids about sodium and, and, and was it, uh, censored with, um, a crow call? No, no, there was just no swearing. It was very, very teacher. Okay. Um, so I was

doing that at the time. And what I was also doing was, um, when I was substituting, I would bring a notebook with me because, and still to this day, there's nothing more amusing than being in a class, at least for me of like 14 year olds, 30, 14 year olds and watching how they interact and speak to each other and everything. It's just so, it's so funny. It's just, we don't act like that anymore. It's just everyone completely uncensored with the mix of people that will just shut out the whole world depending on who the student is and who the students are. You're just looking at intense personalities. You see people on the bus and everyone's just sitting there.

You barely get personality. But in high school and class, it's like, yeah, the next 10 minutes you guys could do what you want. Just keep it at a level. These kids would interact with you and you're getting like 30 personalities, like clear cut. Like you see it. Like quiet kids go over and like start pulling out like magic cards and like talking and like, you know, there's other guys like trying to be cool in front of the girls and being loud and, you know, like, and just like sitting on the desk and like the things that they say and everything like that.

And what the focus is, I just would bring in a notebook and I would like write. So I would write script ideas, like show ideas, things that I thought were good ideas. And then I would go home and on the weekends I would film these. And I made a rap video once and my brother shared it with one of his students who ended up telling all the other students. So when I got to the school once – So he was also a teacher. Yeah, same school. That's how I got into substituting.

I would substitute for his classes. So when I got there, I got to the point where these students had seen my earliest videos before Epic Mealtime or anything. But just like a whole bunch of them. What type of rap videos are we talking about? It's called Poppin' Perrier. It's just me and two buddies. The whole chorus was three straight guys in a Crown Victoria Poppin' Perrier.

We were three dudes sitting in the front bench of a Crown Victoria car pouring bubbly water all over ourselves in slow-mo and rapping with girls shaking their asses. And it was like a weird video. I don't know. We just did it to be like, yeah, look, let's share this on Facebook for our friends. Sounds great.

So you're making rap videos. But when you're talking about wanting to make movies, did you have a vision for, was it like, I'm going to do YouTube stuff because that was already a thing? No, it wasn't like YouTube. It was like 2006. It's like no one's getting paid on YouTube. It's like Time Magazine has the reflective cover that says you are the star, you are man of the year or whatever. You remember that year? Yes. cover that says you are the star you are man of the year or whatever you remember that year yes and uh it's like uh you know they're writing about smosh a million views combined crossed and it's like an all big deal but like to me it was just like i can film something and i could put

it on the internet finally there's a place where i could put it because now i could share it on facebook so no one is uh you, no one has to come over and we have to find a VHS or VCR that'll play this, you know, and we could just share it. Um, so I, I ended up, you know, I would, I would film some stuff and a buddy of mine, um, wrote this script where I would be, uh, I'm like, I'm, I'm big and hairy and I'm just like a big kid and I, I'm going to open up big and hairy and I'm just like a big kid and I'm going to open up a lemonade stand and I open up a lemonade stand

and my mom ends up like taking my money from it. And it's like a funny, like four minute short movie kind of, but it was filmed with an awesome camera. And I kind of saw it and it was the first time I had been in something that looked like professional. It was, my buddy was in this film program and so he had this awesome camera and like lights and there was a director and i got to be in it and like watch

myself after and i was like this is awesome i was like this is like you know i finally got to do something like this so when i started writing stuff i wrote one that was like uh it's this like uh the guy's a gangster and uh it's he's remembering his his accounts of like how he rose to becoming a gangster you know we're only talking about like a 20 year old dude and he's remembering his accounts of like how he rose to becoming a gangster. You know, we're only talking about like a 20-year-old dude. And he's like, it's all like takes place in his apartment. I'm writing this kid's show because I'm like I'm in education. I could leverage being a teacher into making a kid's show. Whenever I used to do that, I used to always talk with my buddy.

I'd always be like, lunchbox money. Like that's what we call the working title for that kids show was called Lunchbox Money because I was like yo dude you know the Wiggles are billionaires. Yeah. I was like yeah dude kids show let's do this. So it was all about a kids show. So I thought it was like that's what was going to be the money maker. I'm going to be a Pee Wee Herman and it's going to be great

and we're always like yo Lunchbox Money. That's what we used to say. We're going to sell lunchboxes. And it's funny because Lunchbox Money ends up being YouTube money on Epic Mealtime. But at the same time, I'm writing things and filming things. And I entered this contest called John Tesh Rock Rap Dribble Dance Contest. And it was John Tesh, the NBA on NBC. And it was taking that... And one minute, that John Tesh sample, you have to rap, dribble, or dance in the video. I thought John Tesh was the guy from Entertainment Tonight.

Same guy. No. Live at Red Rocks, John Tesh. Yes, exactly. Oh, really? Yeah. I saw him in a sushi place about a month ago. Oh, really? Yeah, Sherman Oaks. So sushi place about a month ago. Oh, really?

Yeah, Sherman Oaks. So what did you do? He started Epic Meal Time. What did you do with this video? I should have told him. He did this contest, and I came in first place in the contest, me and a buddy of mine. So the first place prize was $5,000 American. Back then, you say American.

You say $5,000 American. Okay. Because it meant it was 7,500 Canadian. Oh. Now, it You say $5,000 American. Okay. Because it meant it was 7,500 Canadian. Oh. Now, it's like $5,000. Got it. It's just dollars all around. So I got $5,000 American.

So $7,500 by winning first place in this contest, this goofy contest where I'm like rapping and dribbling and dancing with my buddy and it's all just goofy. Dribbling a basketball? Yeah, but like poorly. Okay. The video's on the internet. You can look it up.

Well, you won. I can't argue with that. So we took the money, and we bought this camera, and we were like, we're going to go, and we're going to film rap videos, and now I got into production. Now it's like I'm going to edit, I'm going to learn how to film, and lights, and all that, and I'm got into production now it's like i'm gonna edit i'm gonna learn how to film and lights and all that i'm gonna learn the back the back end of it you know and at the same time i started taking meisner acting classes and uh um i would go to auditions and i go to auditions and they're like you know read these lines and read them they're like you

know what you could play thug number three you're a big dude stand in the corner cross your arms and like that kind of happened. And say nothing. Yeah, it happened numerous times. Plus I live in Montreal, so the acting is in French. There's lots of French productions, not English ones. Because the way it works in Montreal is if you're filming in Montreal, your crew has to be French, 75% of the crew or something like that.

So if you don't speak French, you have to get a translator. So now a lot of people don't work there under those conditions. So a of the the filming is in french so i can't act in french and you know i was getting like just never really getting roles so i was like i'm gonna buy a camera learn how to film and edit i'm gonna make my own show starring me and i'm gonna get all the lines. Okay. So that's what I'm going to do. Yeah. All English. And so I ended up- And you're still a teacher at this point too. Yeah, doing it at the same time. So I got this contest.

Me and my partner, we won. And we started filming like weddings trying to and rap videos and like a show, like a gaming show, which is actually still on the internet. It's called The Game Haters. And it's like actually still there. With one guy that's on Epic Mealtime now, Amir, and another old buddy of mine. And I'm totally behind the camera, like filming it.

I'm just not in front of it. Oh, really? Talking video game? Yeah, it's like reviewing video games. Okay. And like, yeah, it's just like a video game review show. It's just me learning. It was just, and it's just me learning.

It's the first thing that I've ever filmed and edited. So one day we're, we're filming a wedding and just briefly, the camera's under a blanket, but in the middle of the day, like 3 PM on the busy street, someone smashed the window and took the camera. Somebody stole your camera.

So I had it insured though. I had everything insured. And what happened was, it was the time that about the 7D, the Canon 7D came out with an update that lets it film. So when I went back to get a camera, the guy pitched me on the 7D. And when I got it,

it just looked so much better than any other camera I'd ever had at the time. It looked like really official. Right. So that's when I was like, some things are in focus and some things are out of focus. Yeah. It was nuts. It was crazy. That's really what it came down to, right? Yeah. That's it. Um, just there needs to be a lot of light. Yeah. Um, and it's going to be $2,000 for every lens. So yeah, I bought it and I just started filming like crazy and I started filming everything. And then I saw one day, I saw a pizza.

I used to go to this site called thisiswhyyou'refat.com and I saw a pizza and someone put French fries on it and a hamburger and a big stack of money and a gun. And it was just like such a funny picture because it was like just to take french fries and put it on a pizza was just so stupid. But like to put like a burger also, like a Happy Meal. But the idea that there was a gun there

and a stack of money was so like just that whole mix. Like I looked at it and i was like happy meal on a pizza player gangster exactly so i i you know i called up my buddies and i'm like here's the deal look at this picture what we're gonna do is we're gonna go to all the fast food places and we're gonna put it on this pizza. And that's what we did. And I just had my camera and I was like, you know, I had my buddy film it. And, you know, we go and we get all the stuff and put it on.

And I'm just kind of like riffing like, yeah, Mac baby. And I'm just saying shit and doing it. It's just genuine excitement. It's just like a real life like experience. We throw it on. And anyways, I put it on my computer and start focusing on Lunchbox Money because like I'm going to make a kid's show and it's going to be baller dog. We'll be rolling in Lunchbox Money.

Wiggles, where's that? It was all like experiencing learning through like rap and hip hop. was supposed to be like a real you know funky fresh learning experience yo a lot of money in that yeah i thought or it could be um you know it's never too late but you were sitting on this other footage just thinking okay that was fun yeah and i was filming music videos going over like filming local rappers, telling them I'll film their video for $100. They're telling me $20 now, $80 after the video, getting stiffed for $80. Like, you know, just doing all that. And meanwhile, I have this, like, folder on my computer that's just titled Worst Pizza Ever.

And, like, I go back. And at the time, I'm, like, I'm editing it like it's a trailer. Like, it's all, like like I'm editing it just for fun and it's like you know like 2010 two men go on a quest for the most epic pizza of all time and like I'm kind of piecing it together and it's just like it's this seven minute weird trailer there's like a lot of burping footage in it that we all thought was really hilarious these ugly faces that I make as I'm really burping and I just kind of start cutting it up and cutting it up and like i'm just like you vio'd it no no there's no vio there's no vio at all on that one and i'm just kind of like cutting it and cutting and cutting and then i just

like was like you know what like between lunchbox money and everything like i just want to release this video because i think people will like it it's cool and when I cut it down to about like the two minute mark and I watch it, I like watch it again. Like I, I want it to see it again. And I watched it a couple of times and I was like, this is really like good. I'm like, now that it's at two minutes, this is like one of the best things I've ever done. So I, I shortened it more and I threw on a calorie counter by like researching everything that was there. And I was like, when I go on, this is why you're fat. Or when I go looking at food on the internet, like just for fun, because one of the things I look at, like the calories is always interesting to me.

So how many inches is this? And I do the calc, I'm like, whoa, 5,000 calories. This is crazy. So I edit it and I look at it and I'm like this is a great video in my opinion and I think this video will get 10,000 views so I need to think of a name for it so I start like throwing it out at all my buddies like I'm inviting people over I'm going over to my buddies house

a lot of my buddies would meet in a friend's backyard a bunch of guys that are on Epic Mealtime now even and like we're watching this video and like what are we going to call it? What will it be called, you know? Now you called the folder Worst Pizza Ever. The video title was, ended up being put up as the worst pizza ever.

Okay. Because we wanted to say it's something that would be like, oh, I want to see what the worst pizza ever is. Right. Yeah. So we ended up, before it even goes up,

we settled on the name Epic Mealtime. For the channel. For the channel. Meal Time. So for the channel, for the channel, the show. And the whole thing was, if this video does well and gets like 10,000 views, we'll do another one next week. Okay.

Cause I go on, this is why you're fat.com a lot. And there's some there that should be in video form. Right. It's only in pictures. So, um, I put the video up and I,

I, I go to, to Buzzfeed go to BuzzFeed and Reddit. And BuzzFeed and Reddit essentially made the first Epic Meal Time popular. It got 125,000 views. I got an email from BuzzFeed being like, your video is being pushed to the front page because one of the editors likes it. And I look on Reddit and it's like, my buddy tells me it's on the front page because one of the editors likes it. And like I look on Reddit and it's like, my buddy tells me it's like on the front page.

So I'm like crazy and it has 125,000 views. I'm like this is so nuts, you know? But you're also, you're like this is nuts but you're also like this is working. Yeah. Because you were thinking in terms of a show, I'm going to do this again. Yeah. But then when it actually happens, it's different than if it

happens. Oh, it actually is happening's different than if it happens oh it actually is happening yeah so now there's like a like a pressure almost so i go back to like this is why you're fat i see another idea that i want to expand on it was a poutine sandwich between two slices of french toast and it was called the uh the french quebecer and i i thought there, I was like throwing it up to the buddies and everything like, do we come out as Canadian or do we play it like we're, you know, like Americans and yeah, we eat like crazy and just not kind of talk about it. And I ended up just deciding like, you know what, we'll come out as Canadians because the second meal

is going to be a French Canadian idea. And I think we'll kind of bypass the whole obstacle of, yeah, Americans would do this, you know, cause there's always to this day, it's still like, they're Canadians, you idiot. That still is there. So we kind of bypassed that whole obstacle by just being Canadian.

And we came out with the next idea was the angry French Canadian, which was a baguette French toasted with poutine and hot dogs and syrup and bacon. And we made the video and it got 600,000 views. That's a good episode too. Yeah, and it was great. And I was substituting that week.

Like three days after that 600,000 video came out. And I got to school and every single kid had seen the video. Like everyone. It was the second video and everyone's seen it. So the thing about Epic Meal Time is people always are like, oh, yeah, you're lucky because it was popular right away. It's like, you know how many school projects and like video game review shows and music videos I put on YouTube? How many other channels had you created on YouTube up until that point? Trying different stuff.

Five channels before that trying things. But, like, that no one saw. Right. Because they just never got popular. They never got more than, like, 4,000 views. And so, yeah. So, when this one did that, 600,000 views views and the kids were like that in school, I immediately was like, no, done, done.

I'm like this now, this now I'm like, I'm going to, I have like some teaching money. I have like four grand in my bank that I saved just from teaching and I'm going to put it in this. Like we, it's just got to happen every week. I realized like at the after five days after your video goes up you're forgotten like it's the view stop when the video is just done and so that's when i was like it has to happen every tuesday like we can't miss one just got to keep going because right off the bat you quit your job at the second video and then week three

you're like every tuesday i'm doing this yeah and this is 2010 yeah my brother does a lot of the background stuff but everything creatively uh would funnel through me which has now changed because you know we have i trust a lot of the guys now back then i didn't really trust anyone i was taking on too much for myself um and there was a point there was a point where i thought i was in drop dead. Like I thought I was going to die just because I was editing the videos myself, setting up the production for the next one is taking every calls. So I was working like 10 hour days because like, I didn't want to give the editing to someone else. For example, for how long of a period of time? Uh, the first like 85 episodes. Wow. So over a year.

And how crazy did it get for you personally and mentally at that point? If you said you're about to drop dead. It was just because like it was at a time like doing this buyout, like traveling, like to go film in different places, and like breaking up with a girlfriend at the time, and just everything was just like no rest ever. Oh, so you're still going to Jew camp? No, there was no Jew camp.

Jew camp was done after. So, I mean, so specifically. But you had a girlfriend. Oh yeah, a girlfriend outside of Jew camp, yeah. Right, so how did that go down? I mean, in terms of, how did what you were doing in the middle of time get so involved that you couldn't carry on a relationship?

Because it was like, I would be going and editing late night and the guys would be there. But her presence wasn't necessary because she didn't get along with some of the guys. It wasn't necessarily conducive to the creation and the creativity. Was she in some of the early videos? Yeah, she was actually. Because Rhett and I watched the videos and we're like, okay, there's a whole bunch of guys and a whole lot of food. And there's one girl. We're wondering, why isn't there more of the girl? Yeah, she was, actually. Because Rhett and I watched the videos, and we're like, okay, there's a whole bunch of guys and a whole lot of food, and there's one girl. We're wondering, why isn't there more of the girl?

We do remember watching some of the early episodes, and then when the girls would start eating, it was like, well, it's a lot more enjoyable to watch a female, for me, personally, watch a female eat than a male eat. So I was like, well, why don't they do more of this? Well, so early on, it got to the fifth episode, and I was like, well, why don't they do more of this? Well, so like early on, it got to like the fifth episode.

And I was like, this is getting kind of gay. Let's get some girls in here. And that's when even in that episode, like I'm like, I'm like in the camera, you want girls? We got girls. Cause like we had one girl before and people were like more girls. So we made a point of being like more girls. And then we went through this whole point where it was like girls. So we made a point of being like more girls. And then we went through this whole point where it was like girls.

And like, we did like videos with like 16 girls eating Mac and cheese and like 40 girls eating sausages and the sausage fest. And it was like such a thing. And then we got kind of, uh, like we still love girls on it, but we stopped doing like girls for the sake of just being like, yeah,

you know, like, I mean, there's plenty of places you can go off on the internet. You don't need to watch every mealtime to off. So we just kind of like, just when it, when it, when it, when it comes to, you know, when, when something is like, you know, like, uh, we're, we're not like, we never, we, and we always thought about it, but we never went down the path of just having like, you know, girls in bikinis just cooking every week just to be doing it. You didn't want to detach the personality of you and the crew away from this thing. We thought it was very funny that there wasn't girls in the kitchen. It's like dudes cooking.

Girls cooking, it kind of ruined it for us in a way. I understand that. We got to do it. We like the idea of ruined it for us in a way because it's like we got to do it we like the idea of us cooking for girls ultimately but you know girls but it stayed a theme throughout like we still have females on episodes but we just never you know we have specials

like we did meat cake it has like we have like nine girls in that episode that came out in February right so 85 episodes in meat cake it has like we have like nine girls in that episode that came out in february right um so it's 85 episodes and you're doing this thing essentially single-handedly and it's it's all you can commit your time to sticking its toe you're putting all your energy into this thing first on that relationship now was that just because you put her in the video and then oh you broke up or was it because you were not in the video it's like so like like i would edit i would be editing until 3am and

like where are you like i'm working you're not working you're hanging out with your friends well that's the tricky thing is i kind of have this awesome show where my work is hanging out with my friends you know and that's like so we would you know we'd like kick it me and my buddies and we're editing like i'm editing but i would have it hooked up to a big screen and that's like, so we would, you know, we'd like kick it, me and my buddies, and we're editing, like, and I'm editing, but I would have it hooked up to a big screen. And everyone's like, you know, laughing, and we're all part of it, and like, you know, watching it. People, early Epic Mealtime, like, people would come over and like watch the editing. It was, you know, I'd have like five people there, and we're editing, and like, you know, do this, do that. People suggesting it was fun, like having some drinks, it was cool.

So she wasn't good in those scenarios cause how much longer? And like, that sucks when you're trying to be funny and stuff like that. Um, but, uh, yeah, that just eventually got to the point where it couldn't, just couldn't happen anymore. It was just, wasn't good. We were out once and, uh, and, uh, like I got rushed by some fans, one wearing a T-shirt, a big mealtime T-shirt, but they were female. And she didn't like that. And so it turned into an ugly situation.

But I kind of, like, was torn between the fact that, you know, no matter what, this person, they support what I'm doing. Like, because that person bought a shirt, like, I don't, maybe don't have to go teach one more day, you know, and I could continue doing this, something that's fun, so when, when that started to be compromised, like, basically, after that point, like, anyone who kind of got to the point where they were compromising the show, or anything like that, like, that, that would just be the end of it, and so she got to the point where she started to compromise it and then so it just ended you know and uh and that carried on like same thing with like the chef who kind of overstepped his boundaries like you're with my here and you know before epic meal time

happened like i sat down and read it was just by chance but it's it's so funny because like i sat down and read the secret and i read these Malcolm Gladwell books like Tipping Point and have you ever read Who Moved My Cheese? I'm familiar with it but I haven't read it. Who Moved My Cheese is a good one. It's basically saying these mice are stuck in a lab and there's a big pile of cheese. It's like 60 pages, this book.

There's a big pile of cheese and they're there and they're eating the cheese and they split up because one is like, you know, this cheese isn't going to be here forever. I want to find more cheese. And it's like, but we have so much cheese here. And it's like, yeah, but that cheese isn't forever. So let's go find something else. And they all split up and you know, the mouse ends up finding, you know, a lot more cheese, like infinite cheese, essentially from what I remember. And the whole point, like know, a lot more cheese, like infinite cheese, essentially, from what I remember. And the whole point, like being like, if that cheese was like my teaching job,

leaving it on the second week to go find more cheese, which would be, you know, production and stuff that I love, then that would be the equivalent of it. And then, you know, you read the secret where it's all like positive thing. It's basically mumbo jumbo, like, you know, just visualize and laws of attraction. But like, you read The Seeker where it's all like positive thing. It's basically mumbo jumbo, like, you know, just visualize and laws of attraction. But like, I just got caught up reading it because it was just, you know, this is, I

like to be positive and I want to be positive and reading this makes me feel like that's positive. And then reading something like, uh, Tipping Point where it's like, you know, how this and that makes something popular. And then I read, um, Outliers. Outliers was interesting because when I because when I read Outliers, it's saying how certain people are good at certain things, like how in hockey, people born in January, February, March make up most of the NHL. Now, why is that so? That's

because when you're born in January, February, March, people born in January and people born in December, let's say, are both five years old. So they're on the five-year year old team. But someone who's born in January is still a year older than someone born in December. And at five years old, that's a big difference mentally and physically. That kid is a much better human than the other one. So he's good at hockey. So now that kid, because he's good at hockey at five years old, he makes the AAA team. December kid makes the AA team. Just so happened, AAA, because it's AAA, they practice five times a week. December kid makes the double a team. Just so happened triple a, because it's triple a, they practice five times a week. The double a kid only practices three times a week

because it's double a, it's not as big a deal. So then that kid keeps going. And years later, this self-fulfilling prophecy of the kid being born in January. Oh, he's better. Well, no, he's just 12, 11 months older.

He's not better. Let the other kid grow for 11 months. That continues as he practices more and plays more. So now he's not better. Let the other kid grow for 11 months that continues as he practices more and plays more. So now he actually is better. Um, and that goes into this whole thing of him talking about 10,000 hours to be great at something. And so I sat and I looked at YouTube and I was looking at the top YouTubers and everything, and I'm looking at them and I was just like, you know, they're the top 20 at the time. They were all male and they were all born from like, you know, 1980 to 1988.

And I was just like, I fall in that. And it's this time where it's like, I'm not too old that I can't grasp something like uploading a video and editing on software and installing software and working on a computer and uploading. But I'm also not too young that I grew up, uh, in elementary school playing call of duty online and being on Facebook. I was a human and I went outside and played. So I'm like, in my head,

I'm like, I think I'm an outlier in this respect that I can, I I'm tech savvy enough to go on in front of a camera, but I'm not, you know, socially awkward having only played battle, uh, call of duty online or anything like I'm, I'm a human being. I could probably go and be relatable. And that's when I kind of went to YouTube and that went to Epic Mealtime and I just kind of followed this flow of the books at the time. But, you know, it gave me like a drive

and, you know, Epic Mealtime and everything we do is something that I got really protective over. That whole cheese analogy is something that will always apply in life. So how does it apply at this point? If you ever stop and look at your cheese and be like, hmm, like then that's when you know that, you know, you should chase the next one. And before, you know, before Epic Mealtime views now are at like 30% of what they used

to be before that even happened. I just took one look at YouTube and was like, my whole business relies on another company. Like another business controls my business. If at any moment they're like, Oh, no more videos. It's it's over. Or like, you know, it's happened before a change on YouTube can affect some people in certain ways and other people in other ways, but not just them, their entire business. So right from the beginning, YouTube was just a cheese that needed to be moved from. And Epic Mealtime itself is also a cheese that doesn't necessarily need to be moved from, but there is other cheese out there. So Epic Mealtime is something that, you know, when it first started, when Epic Mealtime first, first started and it started to roll and

you know, it was getting like, uh, at the time, 2 million views in a week. I looked at it and I was like, this will go on for five years. It will be five years, this show. Um, and there was just a number I had now we're like at year three and I'm like, like, maybe I was wrong. Maybe YouTube isn't even around for that five years that I was talking about, you know, can Epic Mealtime be around for two years? Can, can YouTube be around for two years? Are we all going to be watching videos on our phones and stuff still? Is it still like the right thing? Is it still the right business? Like, you know, what is it? Uh, at the end of the day, I'm happy that, you know, I kind of went out there, performed, got to do that. I have the experience.

I have a full on production company. Um, I can go and I can go and make a movie like I always wanted to do right now. Yeah. I mean, it's, I think we'd all agree. It's a privilege to do what we're able to do for a living. And, you know, I'll say it's also a privilege to talk to you and to get to know your mindset. And so we, And so we look forward to more from you, sir. And thanks for the ear biscuit. Thanks so much for having me, by the way. Yeah, you've got to sign the table. I know.

I'm looking at it. I'm like, I've been trying to figure out where I'm going to sign it. Grab that Sharpie up there. Make it official. Hell yeah. Do I get to sign it while talking to you guys? Yeah. Can I do 3D block letters?

You can do anything you want. That's encouraged, actually. Well, that was our Ear Biscuit with Harley Mortenstein. I think that we have a more complete, if not complete picture of the sauce boss. You know, he was a teacher for a while, but I think the thing that I'm kind of coming away from the conversation with is that he was a teacher for a while, but I think the thing that I'm kind of coming away from the conversation with is that he was a student. You know, a student of the students that he was teaching, you know, and the students of YouTube. He was a student of YouTube and how to make that a success.

Extremely committed to that, reading books, being influenced as a calculated businessman. Very impressive. Right, so for those of you out there who are like, you know what? I want to be a YouTuber for a living. That's what I want to do. I think maybe that was a little profile

in this isn't just, okay, I've got one idea and just somebody's got to give me the chance to do it. We're talking about a guy that saw success in his sixth YouTube channel. But then he was totally ready. I mean, released two videos within the span of two weeks, then quit his job and was totally ready to do it every single week after that.

There was no second guessing. It was just like, he was like, this is it. I'm cleaning out the bank account and I'm going for it. And well, it worked. And a guy like that who has so many different ambitions and he's trying so many different things and he's always busy trying to work on another idea. You know, I'm excited.

When somebody has a mentality like that, it's changing so much. I would just like to be able to fast forward like 10 years and be like, all right, what happened in the next decade? But I can't do that. Because we feel that way about ourselves and what we hope to accomplish and where things are going.

There's so many question marks. Right. And so much of our thoughts are similar to his. I mean, it was encouraging talking to him, especially with such a positive outlook and a confident outlook on things. So thanks to Harley, and thank you for listening to this Ear Biscuit. Again, hey, we do this every week, and we can handle more people if you want to invite them to listen to Ear Biscuits along with you or through their own stream. We encourage you to do that. We encourage you to share the biscuits. They have the ability to be divided infinitely and taste is good to everyone else.

Thank you. Listen to us next week.