Ear Biscuits with Rhett & Link - Link Takes Over a Pie Party (And Contest) | Ear Biscuits Ep. 404

Episode Date: November 27, 2023

A Pie Party.. and contest? Sign us up! In this episode, Link talks about a new kind of party he is obsessed with, Rhett discusses his moment of fanning out over an improv person at Vulture Fest, and the duo give their opinions about the new AI Pin – said to be the replacement for the smartphone. Is it really all it’s cracked up to be? 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. With Uber Reserve, you can book your Uber ride in advance. 90 days in advance. Perfect for all you forward thinkers and planning gurus. Reserve your Uber ride up to 90 days in advance. Uber Reserve. See Uber app for details. Welcome to Ear Biscuits, where two lifelong friends talk about life for a long time. I'm Link.

Is it not a podcast anymore? I knew I wasn't saying something right. Welcome to Ear Biscuits, a podcast? I mean, typically it's a podcast. If you want to change it, I'm open. I mean, do we really need to say that? I mean, if you need to be told this is a podcast... Let's draw a podcast.

I don't know if... Let's go with it. Let's roll with it. If you're invited. And I'm Rhett! This week at the Roundtable of Dim Lighting, I'm going to be telling you about a little experience I had, unexpected experience that I had this weekend that I was fond of. Okay.

Recounting that to you, and also talking a little bit about this new piece of technology that I don't know how to feel about yet. We can process that together. Okay. And I have the best party idea for you. The best party idea.

I experienced a certain type of party, and I want to certain type of party. Uh-huh. And I want to tell you about it. Shall we go there? Okay, sure. You want to go to a party? I think I know what you did. The way that things come to me through your wife to my wife to me.

Yeah. Sometimes I know what you're doing based on what your wife tells my wife. Mm-hmm. It's better that way. It's like fourth-hand information about you. Yeah. What did she tell you that we went to a... Pie-eating...

Pie-eating and contest party. Yeah, yeah. Well, it wasn't a pie-eating contest, right? No, it was a pie-eating and contest. That's different than a pie-eating contest. Pie-eating contest is how fast you can eat the most amount of pie. Ha! That's not my idea of a good party. But nobody did that.

Nobody did that. So it was a pie baking contest. Rhett, I've told you, and I'll tell you again. Pie eating and contest? It was a pie eating and contest. Okay, so people were eating the pies. Yep. And then it was a contest.

Yes. But it wasn't how much can you eat. Right. So pie eating and contest is literally what they put on the RSVP. They called it a pie eating and contest? I think that's what I've called it. Not to give notes this early, but that's confusing. I've called it that.

Like a pie making contest. A pie contest. It was a pie eating and contest party. Okay. So that I have arrived at being the best title for what it was. Because we all showed up to eat pie, which there was a contest about what was the best pie across two different categories. Savory, and you guessed it, sweet.

Wow, savory pies. That's exciting. Uh huh. Because no one ate dinner. You get dinner and you get dessert all in one go. That's right. Very smart.. Because no one ate dinner. You get dinner and you get dessert all in one go. That's right. Very smart. And then it's a party. So how many pies did you make for it? I made a grand total of two pies.

Are you taking responsibility for the pies that your family made? My family brought two pies. Okay. All right. And you know what? Here's what I actually contributed. Okay. I brought Cool Whip and Ready Whip. Okay. To give people options? No, to go on the pie that Christy made. She had Ready Whip and Cool Whip?

Well, she worked all day. Her and Lando worked all day on their pies. What'd you do while they were working on the pies? Christy had an entry. I took a nap. And then I woke up and I said, you know what? I'll go to Ralph's and get the ready whip. You don't have to do that. You've worked so hard on this pie all day. I'm going to swoop over and get the ready whip.

And then I was like, you know what? Maybe I should get cool whip. That's the original. Oh, you got it just in case. That's a smart thing. When you've done nothing to contribute to the item itself, and you've been sent to the store... Just go bonkers with options. You don't want to be the guy that leaves anybody hanging. Right. And, um, Christy made a chocolate chest pie.

Mm-hmm. Which was a Southern specialty. Now, if you eat it Gus's... She made this before you? She had never made it before. It was not a signature of hers. If you eat it, Gus's Fried Chicken here in town, which I highly recommend. That's a great thing. They have this amazing chocolate chess pie.

And do you know what makes it a chess pie? Um... Because I just always call it chocolate pie, and then people say, it's a Chocolate Chess Pie, and I'm like, am I supposed to be playing the game with it? No, I don't think it has anything to do with the game. The top of the pie gets a little... Turns into a checkerboard? The chocolate gets a little harder. Like, chess gets harder when you actually try

to play it. Okay. The top of the chocolate... That's where it comes from. A chocolate pie, in my mind, is just chocolate pie with meringue on top. No crust on top. Well, no. There's no crust on top of a chocolate chest pie. Am I not describing this well?

Oh. It's crusty. Yeah. It gets a little harder on top. It's almost as if it's been flambéed. A little bit, yeah. Yeah. It tastes good. That's almost as if it's been flambéed. A little bit, yeah, yeah. It tastes good.

That's all I know. Oh, gosh. It tastes so good. And then Lando made an apple pie with a bacon cheddar crust. Oh. So what category is that in? Right. This is cross-category. I noticed that he entered it into the savory, which was a brilliant idea

because there were only three other pies in savory. Oh, very smart. There was shepherd's pie, and then there was his pie, and then there was some sort of asparagus quiche thing. It was a risky move to go to the savory category. Right. I think it was the right move. Yep. But I think that if I'm voting in that and I get to the apple pie,

I'm kind of like, ah, is this within the category? And so then I'm hesitant to put it first. Right. So you probably got second place in that. And Christy had a lot more competition in the sweet. There was all types of pumpkin pie. There was even a pumpkin-flavored cheesecake and cheesecake cake. Okay.

Pie. As long as it ends with pie. Yeah. What makes a pie a pie? It was cheesecake, which is a pie. Yeah. There was no other apple pie even in the sweet, so I think he would have been alright in sweet.

Oh, okay, that's tough. But there was also no other chocolate pie besides the one that Christy made. No chocolate pie? How many pies are we talking? I would say there was 11, there were like 18 pies total, but four of them were savory. So that leaves 14. Any healthy pies?

No. Because, you know, just got to be honest with you. I know. LA, it can happen. Sometimes that happens in Los Angeles. Right. And I venture to say that any time a Southerner enters into a cooking contest of any kind in the Los Angeles area,

they come in with a super high advantage because they're willing to put butter, sugar, anything that can cause a heart attack on the spot before you finish. Bacon and cheddar. We're totally willing to do it without reservation. That's right. And so we come in with a distinct advantage. Maybe Midwesterners are like right behind us on that. I don't want to, you know, shout out to the Midwest.

You guys know how to put butter in something too, but not quite like we do in the South. I'm going to tell you what happened at this party, and then I want to open it up a little bit to just talk about it, the nature of it as a party. Okay. Everybody was eating, and it's fun because you take like this little sliver of pie. You take like the smallest slice you can get because you want to taste 18 pies.

Right. And that's so much fun to just get a little sliver of pie and then go over here and get another sliver of pie. You're like remaking a pie on your plate from slivers of other pies. How many pies did you guys bring? One pie per entry? Yeah. Wow, that's a thin... And how many people at the party? Um... I would say there might have been 22.

Okay. Wow. So we're talking little slices. Probably more than that. No seconds. There were kids. Yeah. Not everybody did every pie. Not everybody did every pie. Not everybody was fully committed. Yep. I honestly didn't taste every every pie. Not everybody did every pie. Not everybody was fully committed. Yep. I honestly didn't taste every single pie.

There were a few that I knew that weren't vying for my vote. Because you did vote in the sweet category. You would write your number down and you'd put it in that cup. And then you'd put your other vote in the savory cup. And I pulled the host aside and I said, no, I'm going to help you out here. I don't know how you did this pie contest before Christy and I came to the neighborhood. This is pre-pandemic.

But now that we're here, I have a little, if I may, I'd like to help you out. I'd like to help produce the results of this pie. Now, what I didn't say was I'm going to host the reading of the votes or anything. That's your thing. I'm going to be your apprentice is what I told her. And I said, whenever it's time to tally the results, we need to sequester ourselves with the votes, and I'll tell you what we need to do.

This is a PricewaterhouseCoopers type thing, where the guy at the Grammys has the suitcase, and it's the part of the Grammys that nobody listens to where they're certifying the votes or something. It was Oscars, too. And did you feel that this advice was welcome? Yeah, yeah, yeah. She was open to it.

She didn't know quite what was going on. And so we go back there, and I'm like, all right, I'm taking savory, you take sweet, and you're just going to lay out all the votes and then stack all the votes by collective. Were there any rules about not voting for your own family's pie? No.

Well, because what about people with a lot of children? That probably didn't happen. Right, right. Well, there's got to be a benefit to having a lot of children, and this can be it. Right. That and like if you work on a farm. Okay. You know? Pie eating contest or pie tasting contest and farm work is the only reason to have a lot of children. Pie eating and contest party. Yeah, I'm having trouble accepting that, even though I wasn't there, because you've. Pie eating and contest party. Yeah, I'm having trouble accepting that, even though I wasn't there. Because you've got pie eating and contest so close,

like pie eating and then contest is so close to each other that if you say it too fast, or I've had a couple of drinks, next thing you know, I'm eating all the pie thinking that that's what we're doing. That's why you weren't invited. Yeah, right. That's what I'm just saying.

So yeah, I was like, and then when he, okay, she was like, now we know who's in contention for this thing in both categories. And you need to pick up a straggler vote here, a straggler vote there. And then when, and then you need to pick up the top vote, the second vote getter, top vote getter, and you need to engineer the order with which you are revealing the answer. I've watched enough Survivor to know that there is a best way to do this. So I got her to do it, and then I did it for the saver, and I gave him, and we put him back in the cup. Because you wanted to do a live vote counting. Faced up. Yeah.

Because what I had heard was that in the pre-pandemic version of the party that we weren't invited to because we weren't friends with these people at the time. They just said, well, the winner is so-and-so. And I was like, come on. Come on. We got to make Jeff Prok proud. Did they even do third place, second place kind of thing? Nope. Nope.

Nope. And I don't believe in that. Second place is the first loser. Oh, okay. So we went out there, and I started playing some dramatic music. Were you DJing this party? I was playing some music, yeah. They let me control the music at their house.

Okay. It wasn't at my house. So just so I can understand the complete setting here. Yeah. At what point when you showed up did you take over the music? Well, he wasn't playing music. Okay. He knows that I like to play music.

Okay. He was like, what music should we play today? Okay, so he invited this. And I made a couple of suggestions, and then he was like hooking up to his Bluetooth, and I was like, you just want me to do it? Okay. And I gave him the, he could have said no, but he said yes. And then I used that to my advantage when it was time,

I, like, I played some dramatic music, and I got everybody's attention, and then I introduced Tara, the host, in both senses of the word. And then she comes out with the two cups. Now, this feels like a lot of added pressure for her, introduced Tara, the host, in both senses of the word. And then she comes out with the two cups. Now, this feels like a lot of added pressure for her, because she probably wasn't expecting, she was like, we're gonna do it the way we've always done it,

I'm gonna read the person. She was totally... But she was ready? She was totally on board. She was willing, okay. Yep, yep. She passed the test of friendship. Like, I mean, these people are good friends of ours.

It's like, you know, with a great idea like this, if you pitch it to somebody and they're like, well, I don't want to, it's like, man, okay, yeah, we're not friends anymore. I mean, it's just like. That's a risk you're willing to take. Well, we're at that point in our friendship, honestly, you know. You knew it would be well-received. Yeah, I knew it would be well-received, but it's also like, you know,

that's part of what makes friendship fun is being willing to step up and be a host. Push the limits a little bit. Yeah. Test the friendship. Yeah. Yeah. She did a great job, you know, and everybody was super into it.

And what could have been like just an announcement that lasted a second and then everyone was cheering and it was over maybe a couple of pictures were taken this is a dramatic reading of votes the first vote goes to pie number 12. who's pie number 12 and then oh everybody's looking at the person with pie number 12 and then we're like okay um this is the shepherd's pie who is that and it was the it was the father in the back. And then, oh, and now we've got this one.

Who is this? And it was Lando's. So the savory came down to she would read one of the guy with the shepherd's pie, and then she'd read one that was Lando's pie. Okay. And it kept going back and forth between these two, and everybody was so into it. So there's sort of the opposite or like one thing, one caveat to this technique is that the person's pie who got no votes or very little votes, we now know exactly how many votes they didn't get. Right.

Exactly. So like we don't only know who was first. Everyone else is shame. We know who's last. Yep. If you want to think about it. And who got zero votes? Right.

So I'm assuming that somebody in the savory got zero votes, and that person... One vote. One vote. Yep. Okay. So even better, because they got identified with the pie publicly, and then we made sure that they got no more votes mentioned. Right.

And you remember that next time you participate. Okay. Yeah, because shame is a good motivator sometimes. There you go. To make better pies. There you go. How did that person respond, and what was their pie? Was it the quiche?

Actually, it was another that I don't even remember. It was a brown pie. You're saying it lost a quiche? Yeah. Wow. Okay. All right. I don't know what to say about that. It came down to it. You're saying it lost to quiche? Yeah. Wow. Whew. Okay, all right. And um.

I don't know what to say about that. It came down to it and. You're losing to quiche in a pie contest. Lando actually won. He did? Yeah. He did. He paid off his decision to go into savory.

And I said, you know what? He beat Shepherd's Pie. Shepherd's Pie didn't have any garden peas in it. Oh. It didn't have, he went pea-less. Oh, you can't go pea-less with a Shepherd's Pie. His wife, and that's what I was telling, he went peeless. Oh, you can't go peeless with a shepherd's pie. His wife, and that's what I was telling everybody. I was like, listen, you can't vote for this.

There's no peas in the pie. And the wife was like, well, I told him I think he could go peeless. And I was like, well, that was your mistake. Yeah, that's not a shepherd's pie. That's somebody else's pie. Right. I don't know whose it is. Exactly.

But a shepherd ain't going to touch that with a 10-foot hook, whatever they have. Staff it is. Exactly. But a shepherd ain't going to touch that with a 10-foot hook, whatever they have. Staff. Staff. Yeah. Yeah. So, and I was basically doing a smear campaign against this shepherd's pie beforehand because I was trying to help Lando win.

Of course, I didn't tell anybody that Lando's was the other pie. Oh, so you were saying, what do you think about the What do you think about the Pea-less Shepherd's Pie? Yeah, I just kind of... That's something you can say, isn't it? It was a hard smear campaign. So if it doesn't have peas in it, it's just got meat and potatoes in it? And carrots.

Oh, you could do carrots and not peas? I know. You gotta have peas to balance out carrots. And the carrots was a whole... It was a whole, like, souffle of carrot. Like, it wasn't pieces of carrot. It was like a whole... Oh, it was ground...

It was a layer... Puree? Puree. It was a carrot layer. It was a filet of carrot. Like, it wasn't pieces of carrot. It was like a whole... Oh, it was ground... It was a layer... Puree? Puree. It was a carrot layer. It was very good, but it needed some green. It needed some green. Yeah. And, of course, he added the pie crust because he was like,

I think I'd be disqualified if I didn't put it in a pie crust. Yeah. Which I was like, you're right about that. So he got so close, but he lost to my son. And then we move on to the sweet. And it came down to Christy's chocolate pie, and then the wife of the husband with the no peas, the one who said no peas... Well, this is a pie family.

She had a frozen... what's that tangy green pie? A key lime pie. A key lime. One of your favorites. It might be the best kind of pie. But it was frozen-ish on purpose. If you can get a key lime to the top of a pie contest, that's a good key lime. Because key lime can be a little bit polarizing. Yeah. I didn't love it. And of course I was lobbying hard against it.

I was like, it's so frozen, it's so green. Okay. I mean, first of all, I think you did a couple of good things here. I think ultimately you made this, from what I can tell, I mean, hearing it from you, you made this a better experience than it would have been otherwise. I did. I do take issue with the way that you got yourself involved in trying to sway the vote.

Right. So I feel like you've disqualified yourself from ever being like a polling station worker or anything like that. Good. Because you just can't be telling people, this guy never pees. I don't know what the political equivalent of not putting peas into your pie is. A smear, you know. Christy got second place.

So it really came down to these two families. Yeah, really came down to these two families. Yeah, it came down to these two families, which we hate each other now. Well, it feels like that's the real story here. Christy leaned over. These two pie families. She said, if I would have voted for myself, I would have won. She didn't vote for herself? Or it would have been tied, I guess.

Why didn't she vote for herself? Exactly, that's what I said. You got to vote for... She should have said it in the... Did she vote for someone else? I was like, yes. She voted for someone else? I was like, yes. She voted for someone else? I was like, did you think your pie was the best? She was like, well, yeah.

I just didn't feel like I could vote for brown pie. You don't even have to think your pie's the best to vote for it. I'm sure... You know what? Brown pie voted for themselves. That's where their one vote came from. I like it. I like the brown pie. It's very good. I made it. You know brown pie voted for brown pie. Why else would there be a vote?

And there were so many votes, it was going back and forth. It was very dramatic. And then I hid into some We Are The Champions, and I took some photos, and then it was just basking in the glory of everybody having pie. There's no real losers at a pie eating and contest party. Okay. Other than we got to work on the name. It's a great idea for a party. You're right about that. Everybody bring a pie.

It's a contest that nobody really loses. And within the category of pie, you've got a meal and you've got a dessert. And we were telling him, dude, thank you for bringing the shepherd's pie. You kind of saved us because you actually gave us dinner. I just don't think there was enough savory pies. I think that we've got to work on that. Yep.

I think some people got to step up. I think next year more people will step up to savory because there's more opportunity to take the win. Especially if people are not eating dinner. I mean, come on. give us some savory stuff. But that's a good idea for a party. Well, first of all, I love themed parties. I know you do. And we've been talking about how I want to start doing more of these at my house

to replace game night, which we had for years. Everybody brings a pie. I don't think I can take this specific idea, though. I don't know if I can take pie contests. The only overlapping friends is me and Christy. I don't think you can go to two pie contests in a year. Well, I think Christy and Lando might be going into the pie circuit. So this would just be stop number two

of just winning pie eating and contest parties all around. be like going into the pie circuit. So this would just be stop number two of just winning pie eating and contest parties all around town. You know? Well, I mean, I'm having trouble coming up with another thing better than pie because you got savory and sweet. Is there any food that goes across savory and sweet that everybody can have freedom of expression. And because it's a canvas, it's not like everybody make the best cannoli or something and then you're just, I'm eating so many cannolis. It's basically the same thing. Oh, this guy put peas in his cannoli.

Right. Like the quiche just goes to show you how far it can go. I wouldn't have put asparagus in it, but it wasn't my pie. Yeah, I do. I mean, we went to a party, I remember, early on being out here, and it was the chili eating. It was a chili contest. Yep, that happens a lot. That's fun.

The chili contest is fun because, you know, and again, you're going to have some dessert that's not part of the contest, but you're going to eat a lot of different chili, and you can eat 20 different chilies. So it's a close second. You know something that was floated around in our friend group, but we never really nailed it. We never actually did it, And there was a lot.

There was a groundswell of support for this, and we never followed through with it. Casserole night. Remember that? Remember the talk of that? Yeah. A casserole party. Because casseroles are like, it can be pretty broad.

It's pretty close to a pie. I don't think it's close to a pie, but it's more on the savory side. Like, I would venture to guess that you could unlock a whole type of savory pie by just putting a casserole in a pie container. But... There's a lot of crossover. To go the other way, to have a casserole party, I don't know if... Are there sweet casseroles?

There can be. I mean... Like, if you put monkey bread or... A sheet cake is in... I feel like we're getting into a hot dog is a sandwich territory here. No, no, no. But, like, if you had, like, monkey bread in a casserole dish, as long as it's contained in a casserole dish, there's lots of desserts that are casserole dished.

Yeah, yeah. There's probably a whole bunch of stuff we're not thinking about right now. Why don't you take that one? Uh, casserole... We gotta come up with a good name, though. After everyone gets there, you have the casserole call? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But there's gotta be a play on words with casserole call? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But there's got to be a play on words with casserole and... Casserole-ing? No.

Casserole-ers. We'll come up with it. Casserole eating in contest mode. Yeah, there you go. That was it. That was on the tip of my tongue. Yeah, so that was it for me. That's how I kicked off my last weekend.

And then like Saturday and Sunday was just recovering. Just lots of naps and thinking about the pies. Even though you did say you were napping while the pies were being made. Yeah. Okay. I'm going to tell you about something unexpected that happened to me this weekend. Okay, I'm going to tell you about something unexpected that happened to me this weekend. But first, we're going to tell you about the Cyber Monday sale that is happening at mythical.com.

It's happening right now. If you're listening to this on the day it's releasing, it's Cyber Monday. If you get it fresh, if you get your ear biscuits real fresh, you can know that 25% off site-wide at mythical.com. I mean, just let me be clear. Everything at mythical.com is 25% off. That's crazy. That's a quarter off. So run over there right now if it's the day and get that thing, get the 2,500th commemorative tee.

Yeah, because the day that you, if you're, again, if this is a fresh air biscuit for you, today's GMM is the 2500th episode of Good Mythical Morning. We have a whole celebration that we're doing over there. And we've got a t-shirt, I was going to say a teleshirt.

Not yet. We'll talk about that later. A teleshirt? A t-shirt that is available for 25 hours only. Okay? Lots of things happening over at mythical.com. do rise to it and reward your good financial habits with the new BMO eclipse rise visa card the credit card that takes you from bill payer to reward slayer get rewarded for paying your

credit card bill in full and on time every month terms and conditions apply click the banner or So, as is not uncommon, the weekend rolls around. Yeah. And we just haven't made plans. I'll be honest with you. I really enjoy just kind of being at home. Yeah. You know, like- Just vegging out, giving yourself permission to...

We were supposed to go out... Check out. ...with some friends on Friday night, but Friday, I started feeling the tingle of a sore throat. Oh, you backed out. And then in the afternoon, I started... Well, I had a headache on Thursday night. I remember telling you that.

Thursday night, headache. Yeah. And then, like, you kind kinda feel your eyes sort of like, something starts happening to your eyes. At least this is what happens to me. I'm like, is this an allergy? It could've just been allergies. I think it's called introversion.

But it, no, I enjoy hanging out with people, but I started feeling myself get sick, and so we kinda pulled the plug on, it was a last minute dinner that had been planned the night before, so it wasn't like, oh, we've been waiting to see... You know, it was friends that we see very often. I bet you they were relieved, too.

And so... But then, you know, I rebounded. Because, first of all, I went to bed at 9.30, which is your bedtime. There you go. On a Friday night. Damn. I slept for, like, 11 hours or something. It was just a full reset. I woke up like 11 hours or something. It was just a full reset.

It did the trick? I woke up feeling like a million bucks. Well, you made the right call then. And Jessie was like, well, you want to do something tonight? And I was like, yeah, but sometimes, and this is, we are spoiled in being in a big city because there's always something going on. But sometimes you just feel like, well, you want to go eat dinner? You want to go to a movie?

You still kind of default to these very common things that people do, right? Because a lot of things like, oh, I want to go to a museum or something, they all close at like 5 p.m. And if you didn't make plans, you know what I'm saying? Like a lot of stuff closes. I'm talking about the nighttime. What do you do in the nighttime? We're not club people. We don't club. And if you didn't make plans, it's, you know what I'm saying? Like, a lot of stuff closes. I'm talking about the nighttime. What do you do in the nighttime? We don't go to,

we're not club, people. We don't club. No, you're not. And Jesse's like, um, Vulture Fest. Like the online magazine, Vulture?

She's like, oh, there's lots of interesting things happening in it. Vulture Fest. Okay. I mean, it's just, this is the kind of thing that we might go to that, like, oh, there's lots of interesting things happening at Vulture Fest. Okay. This is the kind of thing that we might go to that comes through like a PR-related thing. Yeah, like make an appearance at Vulture Fest. Do you want to go to this?

And so we don't typically do this kind of thing. This is starting to make sense. Lincoln, you know, you said that you learned from Jesse who talked to Christy what we were doing over the weekend. Well, I got a text from Lincoln asking about a party that you went to, and he wanted to know if I was there. All of a sudden, Lincoln, off at college, was very interested in your weekend. So you succeeded at piquing the interest of the collegiate-minded boy.

Oh. You know, man, guy. Yes, you're some, which will make sense in a second. So I've actually – I think I've actually recommended this particular guy on the podcast many years ago, Brian Jordan Alvarez is an actor. And he had a bunch of like really, not like really well-produced YouTube sketches back in the day that I found very funny. Like he was really throwing himself in a YouTube sketch.

Okay. And we watched a couple of them. You would remember if I showed them to you and like, he's very funny. And then he's gone on to, you know, he was, like, he was on Will and, like, the reboot of Will and Grace, and he was in that Megan. He was in the movie that we watched at my birthday party, the Megan movie. He plays, like, the assistant to the person, the woman developing the robot.

He's in a number of scenes. Okay. Not, like, a starring role, but... Again, don't tell me how it ended because I don't want you to spoil it. Did you walk out? No, I just don't remember. Oh.

I remember you being in the hot tub the whole time. So I... That's the last thing I remember, too. I didn't remember you getting up. So, he did this thing during the pandemic where, of course, you know, he wasn't really working as much, where he's this incredible character, actor, and can do all these different voices, and he created this guy called TJ Mack.

And I'm just going to play, like, the... I think this might be the original video. With the filter face. He puts a filter face on it and... And Lincoln loves this guy and talks like an artist. He's created a whole universe of multiple characters, but the main two characters are this guy TJ Mack and then TJ Mack's wife. So this is the introductory video so yesterday I go to the TJ Mac and this is the first time I'm finding this place available in my city and I see all the deal I see a Gucci

underwear Calvin Klein underwear and I said I've never been able to buy this for $30. So I go to different clients and they tell me, actually, this is half off. It's not even $30. It's $15 for three pair of Calvin Klein underwear. You ever heard of a better deal than that? So I'm going to go to Marshall tomorrow. Okay, that's it.

And so he started to be known as TJ Mac because that's how he says TJ Maxx. But he's got the wife, he's got... The wife is played by him. They're all him. He plays everybody. And sometimes he uses a filter, but then he also has this rich southern mom, which is just him in a wig, but then he has an Australian weightlifter, he has this exchange student, and there's these ongoing stories for each one, like hundreds of videos, depending on the

character. I love it. And just so you know, because people might be like, oh, he's using this accent. I didn't meet, but I saw his mother at this event, and his mother kind of talks like TJ Maxx. So this is like, he's getting these accents from his, like, this is his family. This is his background, if there's any question about that. Okay. All right, Mama Alvarez sounds like that.

So, but, okay, so then he does this thing where he starts, he just, he's improv-ing all this stuff. He improvs this song that's about sitting. Play that for you. Sitting, sitting is the opposite of standing. Sitting is the opposite of running around. Sitting is a wonderful thing to do because you're sitting. Sitting is the opposite of standing on your head. Sitting is the opposite of hanging from a bar

But sitting is a wonderful thing to do I got one thing to say I think that sitting is something that people say it is bad But you know that sitting is actually good Because you deserve to relax It's kinda like a nap, It's kind of like something else, but it is actually just sitting. Sitting is the opposite of standing. Okay, okay. Okay.

He very clearly just puts the filter on and just makes the stuff up. Just goes for it. It's great. So he's been getting popular for this. But this one in particular, like, if you just go on TikTok, and if you know you know, and we're late to the party, if you know, right? But, like, this guy and that song got redone by so many people. They were like, you know, you see those videos where it's like a chorus teacher with, like, a big room of people in there? They sing that song.

Like, all these professional musicians, like, remaking musicians remaking it, and then this guy did this version of it. Okay. So many remixes. How many views? That only has 168,000. Well, this is just, this is on YouTube. On TikTok, this has millions. I'm just, this is just the YouTube clip that came up. I love that. And then, and now he's like writing his own, like first of all, he was like. That makes me so happy.

They had him on like, he was in like Time Magazine brought him to like the headquarters and he did this whole thing and he's been on a couple of morning shows and he's just constantly talking about this and now he's writing songs that are like really well produced but still very, very funny. Like you know how sometimes people find something and they get popular for something and then they just, like the guy who made that video, a few months ago there was this thing going around, and it was this homage to Euro pop music, and it was a guy and a girl, and it went really big,

and then the guy kept trying to redo it, and it got cringier and cringier each time. That's not what Brian is doing. What he's doing is he's so naturally funny, and he knows why these things are funny. He hasn't had one as big as sitting again. Well, anyway, back to Vulture Fest. Jesse's like, Brian Jordan Alvarez in conversation with TJ Mack and his wife.

What? Live. And I was like, yes, I want to go to that. It was like 4.30 in the afternoon on a Saturday. You were sitting at the time. And I was like, yes I wanna go to that. You know, we never take advantage of all these things that happen in the city. And then we started looking at the other

things that were happening. City! All these things were sold out. Weird Al had something that he was doing right after it, and then the Please Don't Destroy guys, the three guys that got picked up by SNL, the sketch guys from YouTube, they've got a new movie that's got Conan in it. There was a special screening of that. I was like, let's go to... They were all sold out.

Everything else was sold out, but this was not sold out. You had to buy an individual ticket? Individual ticket. It was like 17 bucks. And we go to this thing, and you know, it's like down there at the NYA Studios in Hollywood. We've been to something there before. So there's kind of like this grassy, fake grass area where there's like some vendors. Shout out to Holy Grail Donuts, I think it is. Well, I'll

confirm that. Just make sure that's right. Fans who came up and gave me and Jesse some free donuts. They're fans of the show. And, you know, some vendor selling stuff and drink tickets and that kind of thing. I'm like, oh, we're at a festival. We never do this as authentic, just people in Los Angeles. And then we go into... Were you fitting in with the demo? Oh, yeah. Okay. Yeah, yeah. What did you expect? I mean, I was probably older than most people, if that's what you're asking.

But it wasn't... It wasn't just a TikTok festival. No, no. It was very much sort of like a curation of things that are actually funny. Okay. As determined by the LA crowd. You know what I mean? Like that, which is a good place to be.

Okay. I mean, they're not going to call me and you if that's what you're asking. I mean, I think we're funny, but I'm just saying. Oh, come on now. I think we're funny, but you know what I'm saying. Need to use those TikTok filters. So we go in there and sit down, and it's like 150 people. Yeah.

And I'll show you a video of what he did. Because this is the first time he's ever done this. So this is what I posted on my story. But he was on stage. And he's just facing the other way doing it. He's just facing the other way doing it. He's just facing the other way. So he's projecting his phone onto the thing behind him. Yes.

And then he's got like, let's see. This is like this. This is an exchange student. Okay. It's kind of like he was doing a good job. This is an exchange student. Okay, so... And he's taking... It sounded like he was doing a good job. He's taking questions from the audience, and so it's all impromptu. And there's...

And he's always... His back is always to the audience. Yeah, so what he did, he came out and he sits down with the moderator. Because he didn't have... As himself. By the way, he didn't have to face away from the audience. Yes he did. Because... It was the right choice.

It was the right choice, but he didn't have to for technical reasons. He did it for comedic reasons. Well, because you don't want to see... So he comes out... Because his phone's captured and he's looking at his phone, he's not looking at the screen. Okay, so he comes out, he sits down as Brian with the moderator. And the bit is that he's the manager of TJ Mac and everyone. Okay.

He's been kind of working with them. And he's doing it super tongue-in-cheek, right? And he's kind of explaining, like, we haven't done this before, whatever. Right. And he's like, oh, he's ready. He's backstage. He's ready to go. And so he leaves, and then he takes his phone, and then he comes out with his phone facing the other way. And then people, the crowd of people who were there were so, they're like me and

Jesse, people who just sit there together in bed and watch him do all these characters, right? Yeah. And the joy on people's faces when he came out. It just makes me so happy to watch this guy. It was so niche. Even though he's gotten really popular, it's so side-splittingly funny. And then he starts singing the songs, and everybody knows the words.

Yeah. And then he's like, you want to talk to my wife? And he brings the wife out. And he's like, you want to talk to anybody else? And they're like, exchange student! And so he leaves, and he comes back. And some of them he leaves and he comes back and some of them he has wigs on and some of them he doesn't. It's just a filter. And then there's one that he comes back out and he's about to do it and he realizes that it's a voice filter.

He's like, oh, I realized I can't do that because this one requires a voice filter. He says, ah, let me see if I can do it anyway. And he like made a joke about how it was really hoarse. So it was like an hour, the whole show? Yeah, yeah. And so he was like, listen, he was really hoarse. So it was like an hour, the whole show? Yeah, yeah. And so he was like, listen, this is the first time, and then kind of acted, and he's like, this is the first time we've done this.

DM me and let me know if you have any feedback. Because he's like workshopping this thing. That's cool. And people are like, what do you think about the fact that this is the thing that you've gotten really popular for when you've got this serious acting career? And he was like, I love the fact that this is the thing that I've gotten popular for. This is, you know, wonderful.

That's great. Anyway, I don't know. I believe in this internet thing. And this is the reason why. Well, it was funny because one of the things that happened for me was I was like, was I was like, oh, not, this is what it must feel like if you're a big fan of like Good Mythical Morning, as an example, and then you go to a live show, and we do something that only the people who are in this world, this mythical world, can really appreciate it.

Yeah. And like I haven't been in a, I've been to concerts and stuff like that, but being in a thing where it's just like, oh, everybody knows why this thing is funny

and this is something that I can tell my friends about and they might know about it but they probably don't. Mm-hmm. It was a good feeling. It made me think, oh,

we need to do that again. Yeah. It's, man, I think it's, it's good to be, to experience that from the other side because like we're, like we've talked about before, it's um i think it's it's good to be on to experience that from the other side because like we're like we've talked about before it's like we weren't like we're not really contributing

members of fandoms right you know so we don't we don't have the community the online community interactive experience that like you actually you actually found yourself a part of. You going to join his fan club? Did you DM him? I do want to DM him to tell him what I thought about it, but I kind of just did. I have some ideas for how, because he was, you know, first of all, I love the facing away from the crowd

because you're seeing it and he's dancing and you're like, that's the guy doing it, but I'm interacting with the screen. And then there's a couple of times where the character sees himself on the screen and kind of looks at himself and smiles. He was discovering all this in the moment because he's very quick like that.

But I have a few ideas for how to blow it up even bigger. Okay. You want to... No, I'm just... You're going to DM him? I'll DM him. Okay.

Lincoln was impressed, man. Lincoln was impressed. Well, the thing Jesse and I said as we left... It's like he's got that inside joke with his roommates. Oh, so the fact that they're into it. Yeah. He was like, me and this guy, we're really close friends now because we always use this guy's voice when we talk to each other.

Okay, yeah. You know, it's like... That's why I said you're some, because that's what he talked about his wife in some. But the thing I told Jesse, I was like, listen, I'm not great at planning, doing things, but we live in a place where there's always something to do. And I'm always, I'm going to tell you, if you plan it, I'm going to be up for it.

Because, you know, we met. Why not? We met some people. There was a number of GMM fans that I met, but I connected with them, not as them being a fan of GMM, but them being a fan of this thing that we're both fans of. And that was a cool way to connect with people versus just somebody who's just a fan of what we do. Yeah. And I was like, oh, this is a cool way to meet people, people of common interest.

I know it sounds ridiculous. Okay. That's ridiculous. But I'm just saying if like, if you go to, because it was more niche than like going to a concert. Like, oh yeah, we all love Jason Isbell. Yeah, okay, yeah.

All 15,000 of us here, the Greek or whatever, is different than this thing. This episode is brought to you by Lego Fortnite. Lego Fortnite is the ultimate survival crafting game found within Fortnite. It's not just Fortnite Battle Royale with minifigures. It's an entirely new experience that combines the best of Lego play and Fortnite. Created to give players of all ages, including kids and families, a safe digital space to play in. Download Fortnite on consoles, PC, cloud services, or Android and play Lego Fortnite for free. Bumble knows it's hard to start conversations.

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With opening moves, you simply choose a question to be automatically sent to your matches. Then sit back and let your matches start the chat. Download Bumble and try it for yourself. Let's talk about this AI pen thing. Okay, you want to talk about it? I want to talk about it because you teased it and I don't know what I think about it. What's it called? It's called the AI pen.

That's by Humane is the company. So you probably have heard about this thing. It looks like an iPod shuffle that's just attached to your hoodie or wherever you'd want to pin an iPod shuffle on your person. It looks like that. And if you have the time. And kind of like a miniature calculator with no buttons. Almost like a miniature scale that you would step on. Yeah, it's like a weight scale.

If you have the time, I would encourage you to go and watch the 10-minute presentation that this company put together for the thing because it's strange. It is so strange. The way that they chose to go about doing it. I guess it's like the creators or creator and upper marketing executive or some sort of type of executive, and it's like – there's no pomp and circumstance to it. It's almost like a rehearsal for how to talk about it

it's very low energy very low energy but in like a mesmerizing way that you're like and I again one of those things

definitely not trying too hard I don't know if this was intentional I don't know if they're like lulling lulling me into something I mean at one point I was wondering if they were AI

I wonder if AI wrote the script. But the idea behind this thing, just in general, is that this is supposed to replace your phone, right? So it is this little pen that you can interact with via voice, but also it projects a laser sort of interface onto your hand, just like a little projector. Like, if you could imagine it was a little projector and, like, very, like, just a few colors.

I guess they could probably do video, but everything was sort of like a digital display of a clock or whatever. It was, like, monochromatic. It was blue text. Yeah. On your hand. And then while it's on your hand, you make these little gestures to like, oh, if you're listening to music, you can change the volume

or go to the next track or you can do little things with your fingers to change what app you are accessing because it's all these integrated... It's not really apps. It's just kind of all integrated AI that's using AI as a platform for you to be able to access all kinds of information. To be like, hold a book up in front of it, and it's like, oh, where can I get this book? How much is this book online? $28. Buy this book, and it'll just buy it. Right. I mean, there's nothing from the demonstration that really shook me up

that was like, oh, this is amazing. But what was the one thing we were like, oh, we could use that? It was more of like a business, like keeping, was it keeping notes? I can't remember. There was one part where we perked up. Oh, it was, tell me what, give me a summary of my emails. Oh, yeah, yeah. And you know-

Or a summary of my texts or whatever, yeah. Give me a summary of everything from my inbox, basically. And it was as if someone had read your entire inbox and they just said, well, Jimmy sent in the proposal and Tammy followed up with the opportunities for your dinner later this week. Yeah, Mark wants to get sushi or whatever. And so it was like you, an assistant, just kind of taking you through your day, just kind of combing through all of the crap that people sent you like overnight. That seemed pretty smart.

And I really like the idea Of, like I said I'm getting rid of Like having a laptop or ever typing I like the idea of getting rid of a phone Entirely too But I don't know about this Getting rid of the screen And then I've got the screen on my hand as a projection

Well And I think this is where the question of What actually can you do Well, there's a number of things running through my mind First of all, I have to imagine that the general response is negative, right? I just think that we're in a phase right now where I mean, first of all, they couldn't get those glasses Google Glasses? glasses. Google Glass?

Not the Google Glasses, but more recently, the Meta Glasses that are like the Ray-Ban Meta partnership, which is like a cool-looking pair of glasses, but it's like a video camera. Yeah. And the main reason is privacy, right? That's the main thing people have responded to, is this is a privacy issue because you're constantly recording everything. And it says that you're not, it's not constantly listening like a Siri or Alexa. But if it's voice activated, it has to be at least somewhat listening. I mean, how could you do voice activated if it wasn't listening?

It's got to be listening. And then it, to me, it is like a wearable. It's like a body cam. And then to me it is like a wearable – It's like a body cam. Siri plus a body cam. And then whenever you interact with it, it is – depending on your task, it's interfacing with a certain – like the version of AI that is most pertinent to help is what I was under the impression. It's not just like, okay, it only interacts with ChatGPT. I think it uses ChatGPT as its framework, but ChatGPT with the right plugins can go into all kinds of applications. I think the most significant part of this is that, right?

Because if you think about what happened with ChatGPT, the average person, of course, knew about it. And maybe the average person, maybe not the average person, like the slightly more interested person actually signed up for it and like used it, right? I'm in that category. Like I have ChatGPT. I've used it for a number of things to summarize text. I've asked it different questions that I could probably have just done a Google search on.

But I haven't done the thing. It's not been convenient enough for me to do that. It hasn't gone the next step to be integrated into these other things, right? And the thing about it, unless the interface is severely simplified and people don't have to think about it and make these connections themselves, it'll never actually be integrated into society. So this is like an effort to be like, hey, you're not really thinking about how this is working. You're just asking it questions and showing it things, telling it to remember things. You're just asking it questions and showing it things, telling it to remember things. And then it's supposed to also, oh, you're in this part of town.

I know you like this kind of food. Oh, you're 200 yards from that sushi place you like. And it's that time of day. You haven't had lunch yet because another thing they show on the video is it like telling it – like he holds up almonds in front of it and it's like how much protein is in this? And it's like 12 grams. Right. almonds in front of it and it's like how much protein is in this and it's like 12 grams right you know so but so there's definitely this dystopian weirdness that i think people are going to be super wary of right but is it just inevitable is it is it inevitable that it's all going to get integrated in some way or are we just going to basically be like no we don't we don't

want that to be what being a human is? It's inevitable. It's going to, you know, anything that makes life easier and more convenient, it'll just creep in. I mean, look at how many people are involved in online banking. You know, it's like when we were coming up in college and you started like, well, logging, putting your bank account information into a website and like looking at your banking online and God forbid getting like all something.

Someone needs your password and they can take all your money. Like we definitely said. Yes, all of that stuff. There's a high level of trust now because of the convenience factor. The thing that's getting me is, okay, they're, like, first to market to introduce, like, an electronic assistant that connects with AI. But, like, the series and the Alexas of the world are going to start interfacing with not just the internet at large, but using via AI tools.

I mean, it's happening more and more every week. It's just going to be obsolete. Anything about this that would be a true phone replacement. Like, that's the part that I have a difficult time. Because people are going to want that screen. They want the screen because the screen can give you this high quality video interface that, I mean, I like not having those interfaces. I would like to have less screen in my life. But if I can just ask my phone these things, and it can send me updates. I mean, you've already got the Apple Watch. You've got smart watches

that are kind of doing the same thing, right? An Apple Watch with the right integrated AI, how is it really different? The one thing it doesn't have is it doesn't have a camera that's recording what you're seeing, which is, again, this big sticking point, which I completely understand. They said that they have a light that comes on kind of like on any old camcorder. So if you see the red light, you know you're being recorded. Right. So it's a courtesy light. But, yeah.

I was watching a movie. I don't know if it was a movie or a TV show I can't remember this past well was there only one of them and was it long that's where I can't remember

but it was it was an older woman and when I say oh no I know what it was when I say older she was older than the people

she was interacting with it was that that Netflix Jennifer Lawrence movie romantic comedy that is a little bit awkward because... No hard feelings? Yeah, because she's like playing a 32-year-old. Oh, you called Jennifer Lawrence an old woman. No, well, that's kind of the joke of the movie. She's 32.

Oh, yeah. And she is... In the movie, she is. I don't know how old she is in real life. She is in the movie she is. I don't know how old she is in real life. And she's basically being paid by these parents to have sex with their 19-year-old son to get him to come out of a show. Questionable premise.

It's a little uncomfortable. Admittedly, I didn't really understand that that was exactly what I was getting myself into. So I don't know whether or not I recommend it. But what I will say is there's a scene where she's going into this party that's got a bunch of, you know, 18 and 19-year-olds. Yeah. And she's doing some things that are embarrassing, and everyone is filming her. Like everything that she says and everything that she does,

somebody's got a camera on her. Which is kind of the way, I mean, they're making fun of this trope, right, of Gen Z basically shooting everything. Like, something happens, everybody breaks their camera out. I just, is the privacy thing, I know the privacy thing is a concern for people who are like our age, which basically is Gen X. And I know the privacy thing is a little bit of a concern for millennials. Does Gen Z really care? I mean, do... I mean, certainly less and less.

So we see a pattern. Because, I mean, and also it seems to me, I'm saying this as a person in the U.S., this privacy thing is a big thing in the U.S., but in a lot of other places in the world, I mean, in Europe, you've got this CCTV, like everything, you go outside and you're basically on camera, right? And I'm not making an assessment about whether it's good or bad. I'm just saying that it just seems that people just don't care as

much. There seems to be this inevitability that everything that I do, anytime I interact with a person, it's going to be captured. And it's kind of the way that life is anyway. I can make a positive spin. Your brain is remembering it, but the fact that it can be completely broadcast to somebody else. But then if it can easily be faked, if in five years I can create a video of you doing anything I want you to do that is indistinguishable from a video of you actually doing something, what is the point of the privacy? You know?

I don't know. I just don't want to have to worry about where I'm going to put this thing on my blouse. You know, it's like... It really got me when he started talking about, and there's different clips, different types of clips, and here's a really low profile clip if you're wearing, say, a silk blouse. I'm like, what? Now I got to worry about that? It's like, I think I'd rather just have a wristwatch. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. I mean, the silk blouse, shouldn't have broughtwatch. You know what I'm saying? Yeah.

I mean, the silk blouse, shouldn't have brought that up, man. I'm out. The point of putting it on the lapel seems to be the field of view and the hands-free interaction. Even though I saw a new commercial for the Apple Watch, and now you can do this? Yeah. With the Apple Watch. You can touch your finger and thumb.

Yeah. You can assign that action? Yeah. I don't know what it's registering. It just knows that you're touching your finger. It can kind of feel like the haptic. I'm not going to say what it's feeling, but it does pick up on it. I don't know. It's an interesting thing to talk about right now because I feel myself wanting

to pull back a whole lot from – I find myself sometimes, and I realize I've been just scrolling through TikTok. I mean, I'm sure this is a relatable experience, and I'm like, I just gained nothing. I lost time. I'm trying to pull back from more connection. I don't do it that often. And I still have, like, whenever I start looking at TikTok,

the thing that gets me to stop more than anything is just, like, it's like coming to. Yeah. You are hypnotized when you're doing it. And then you're like, what have I gained from this? Nothing. What am I looking for? It's like just observing.

It's really the first time that I've been pulled into it. I don't think it ever happened with Instagram until Instagram started copying TikTok, of course. Yeah. And so, like, I'm very late to this experience, but I'm like, oh, this is what everybody talks about, the hypnotic. I'm clearly looking for something, but I cannot articulate what it is. But I'm very much searching for it. Like, I just can't wait to find it. And it's very animalistic.

And so it's a bit disquieting. It's disturbing. Well, it's tapping into your dopamine networks. And I just feel like I've just wasted. Oh, there's 20 minutes. Yeah, so I just don't know how this technology fits into that. I'm reminded of my resolution at the top of the year. It's like, on my phone less, pet my dogs more.

Like, whenever I'm sitting down, except on the toilet, even when I'm on the damn toilet, Jasper's coming in there, like, clambering up my... You don't lock the door? I let him in. Oh, okay. Because I don't want him peeing or pooping somewhere in the house. While you're doing it. Yeah, like...

You don't want to get any ideas. Don't take any cue from me. Stay in here with me so I can keep an eye on you. You got to keep an eye on that little possum all the time. And so, yeah, he's... Petting my dogs. Pet my dogs more. Scroll less.

And I think that there's definitely the potential that we collectively rebel against any further technological integration, right? But here's the problem with that. They'll be – what if we decide as a culture, like, we're just like, this is bad for us. It'll never happen. We can't take this. I mean, we're already experienced. When you talk about that scrolling through TikTok, the reason that it's so hypnotic is because we're just not made to interact

with that much information. We're not supposed to know everything that's happening all over the world right now, everywhere. Like, our brains are not meant to take in that much info. We're not supposed to know everything that's happening all over the world right now, everywhere. Like, our brains are not meant to take in that much information. So, no, the worst things that are happening everywhere on Earth, I can just look into this little window, and I can find all of it. Like, your brain's not made for that. So, what if we just decide, like, enough evidence comes out that's like, we need to do less of this. We need to create an environment that is more like the environment that we come from, and we need to do less of this. We need to create an environment that is more like the environment that we come from,

and we need to use technology to enhance our lives, but not just make everything super convenient. It'll be some sort of government thing in Norway. But the thing is that some people will do it, though. The Norwegian government will do it. Well, what I'm getting at is— For prisoners in Sweden or something. Well, no, we may—you never know what's going to happen. We may collectively—but then there's going to happen. We may collectively...

But then there's going to be a certain percentage of people who are like, well, we've got all this technology, and they're going to become like superheroes. Do you know what I mean? They may have miserable lives, but they'll know everything that there is to know at any given moment. And we'll be like,

is it going to create this cultural divide between the people who are tapped in and the people who are tapped out? Let's find out. We'll be there for it. I do have a recommendation that is somewhat related to this. Sometimes you go down a TikTok rabbit hole

and you do get rewarded with something. And this is my rec baby, rec baby, one, two, three, four this week. I invite you to search... Forest animals cozy aesthetic. And I found this one series of images. I took a screenshot here so I could show it to you while my phone's off. This is from somebody with a bunch of emojis and the name Spence.

And they said, this is so nostalgic. It's just forest animals, like cartoon images of forest animals cozy in their dens, but then their dens are like, it's like Wes Anderson cutouts of trees and underground layers, but they're all like... It's like bears and raccoons and foxes just snuggled up in their human beds with their human rugs, and it's very storybook-ish, but it's a very specific type of nostalgia. Is it AI? From our childhood. I don't think so.

I think it's just... Oh yeah, it's just an... It's an aesthetic that maybe people are emulating illustrations of it now. And that'll make you happy. Does that hypnotize you?

It hypnotized me. I saw this and then I had this feeling of cozy nostalgia and then I went to sleep. And I didn't have a sense of coming to. I had a sense of drifting off into a storybook neverland. Did you dream about being a bear inside of a tree? I don't remember. Maybe. Probably. Forest Animals Cozy Aesthetic. You're welcome. Well, never forget that you can join the conversation with us using hashtag Ear Biscuits, but you can also leave a message, a question, an observation,

a contention at 1-888-EAR-POD-1. So let us know. We'll talk at you next week. Hi. So I am a teacher, and I just thought I'd share a fun story from my day today. We had a student catch a moth in the hallway, brought it into our classroom, and all of my boys' reaction, they're in sixth grade, so about 12-year-olds, was, let's take our shoes off and throw our shoes at the moth. So I had about 15 boys launching their

shoes all around the room because that is how you take care of a moth in the classroom.