Ear Biscuits with Rhett & Link - Link’s Most Heartfelt Christmas Gift | Ear Biscuits Ep.317

Episode Date: January 10, 2022

A nostalgic memory that has now been reborn and passed down to the next generation in the Neal household. Listen to the guys reflect on their recent Christmas vacations back to North Carolina, including Link recounting receiving his favorite Christmas gift ever, on this episode of Ear Biscuits! 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. Shop Best Buy's ultimate smartphone sale today. Get a Best Buy gift card of up to $200 on select phone activations with major carriers. Visit your nearest Best Buy store today. Terms and conditions apply. Welcome to Ear Biscuits, the podcast where two lifelong friends talk about life for a long time. I'm Rhett.

And I'm Link. This week at the round table of dim lightin', we're kicking off a new year under the dim lightin'. Yeah, you gonna say lightin' now? Lightin', yeah. Gotta lighten it up, man. It's good to be back. It's 2022, man. There's good to be back. It's 2022, man.

It's freaking so many twos. Did you get your 2022 glasses? No, no, I didn't. Yeah, but your eye goes through the hook of the second two. Are you saying that you had some glasses? No, I'm just imagining what they look like. I know because you told me that you were alone ringing in the new year.

Yeah, I was- Which I'm sorry for that. I was completely- I was kinda jealous. Completely alone. I actually think I was asleep as 2021 turned to 2022. That's a story for another time. I'll explain how I ended up being alone during New Year's. Actually not today.

Well, I'll get to it today, but I'm gonna tell the full story to podcast from now. Wow, you really got it. This is a double teaser. Because today we're talking about what happened over Christmas break, okay? That's what we're talking about. Yeah, we have not talked to each other about the things that we've experienced over the break

that we need to share with each other in podcast form. This is how we conduct our friendship. I don't know, did we, you know, it's always up for debate whether or not we're going to speak at all over a Christmas break. I asked to borrow one wheel. Yep. And you weren't home. And I said, I got a key.

Yeah. Well, I said, is there a garage code? You said, my garage has no code. I'm like, what? Yeah, and that was not a riddle. I said, well, I got a key. Yeah. Well, I said, is there a garage code? You said, my garage has no code. I'm like, what? Yeah, and that was not a riddle. I said, well, I have a key to your house. I'm just gonna use that. And I'd go over there and you had changed all the locks.

So I don't know how I was supposed to feel about that. You didn't ask. I mean, I went to three different doors, my key, homie, and I couldn't get in. First of all, I'm pretty sure that your wife has the correct key. Brought our entire friendship into question. It's like-

I think your wife has the correct key. You locking me out? You do not. She gave me the key. It was labeled and everything. Well, we recently got all the locks changed, not because some- To keep the meals out?

Some security issue. Because it was one of those things where we got a new doorknob a few years ago. And then you get one. And then you're like, ah, we gotta get these locks changed. They all match at some point. And then like three years later,

we finally made the decision. I guess you didn't get the memo. Yeah, hook me up with a key so I can just get that one. You can probably open up one of those old door locks. That's somewhere like a junkyard. Lando was waiting in the car and when I got back to the car and said,

they changed the locks, they can't get in. He said, did you try to just open the door? They probably just leave the house unlocked. No, I mean, we do when we're there. I mean, I don't like lock myself in. Yeah, I was like, they're on vacation. I'm on vacation, their security is on lockdown. Cameras are on.

So the Neils were, I mean, we kind of had inverted vacations and yes, I do think that's the only time we talked. That's healthy. Yeah, yeah, I didn't wish you Merry Christmas or anything like that. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas.

Happy New Year. Happy New Year. Here it is, we just did it. See, it's healthy. It's not locking me out of your house. Well, you know, my Christmas journey starts before I even left to go back home to North Carolina because something very significant happened to me

and I feel almost ashamed to admit this, but since I'm in good company when I say something I had never done before, I'm sure I'll be supported in that. The McLaughlin's- I don't know what you mean by that. You'll understand in a moment. The McLaughlin's had never watched It's a Wonderful Life.

None of us had. What? You've never watched It's a Wonderful Life? And it's gonna seem a lot less dramatic because I'm sure the Neils have never watched It's a Wonderful Life either. But I have heard of it. Yeah, well, okay, so we have a tradition

in the McLaughlin household. Yep, James Stewart, actually, and he is credited at that point. Oh. I just made that note when I saw it on the screen. The McLaughlins have a tradition of watching the Die Hard series because it is a Christmas movie, technically,

at least the first one. Even though it was released in July, as I read recently. But it takes, it really was? Well, it takes place over Christmas. Yeah. The third one, which is Die Hard with a Vengeance? It's got Samuel L. Jackson in it. Anyway, we watched that.

I've seen that one. It's the only one I've seen. It's like the only Rocky you've seen is Rocky V. Yeah, right. This is another podcast. So we watched that, loved it. But then we wanted to watch another Christmas movie at some point before we went back to North Carolina.

And Jesse was like, what if we watch It's a Wonderful Life? I mean, it's at the top. Like if you look up lists of Christmas movies that you should watch, it's always number one. And I have a bias. What happened to your hand? I don't know, thanks for noticing,

but I think it's from mountain biking. I think I hit my hand on some brush, you know, cause your knuckles are out. Knuckles out. Knuckles out, man. I'm sorry, I just noticed it. It's at the top of all the Christmas lists. All you gotta do is give me a key to your house.

You don't have to notice things about me. You don't to your house. You don't have to notice things about me. You don't have to apologize. You don't have to wish me Merry Christmas. All you gotta do is give me a key to your house, man. Just talk to my wife about that. That simple. It's at the top of every list. And so, but I have a bias against old movies

as I'm sure you do. I know you do. And many other people do. Like everybody's like, oh, you gotta watch these classic movies. Like when you look, go on Rotten Tomatoes. I think I just have a bias against movies apparently. Older movies.

Well, no, but you- Pre-90s. But neither one of us are those people who watch old movies from the early Hollywood era, black and white movies, that kind of thing. And the classics, ones that, I'm seeing some kind of weird, I'm having lots of physical things happen.

I'm seeing like a weird hair that I'm staring at and I'm trying to get it out of my face. It's just your eyebrow. It might just be one of my eyebrows turning into like a geology professor eyebrow. I don't think I got it. I didn't wanna watch it because every time I make the decision to watch an old movie,

I'm like, the pacing is horrible, the acting is horrible. Like this is before people even knew how to make movies, man, right? But I'm like, okay, we'll watch It's a Wonderful Life and we'll get the kids to watch it too. It's especially horrible to try to get your kids to watch old movies because- It's not HD.

They have even less of an attention span than I do. Yeah, forget black and white. It's not in high definition. Well, it's film. No, that's not the issue. There's plenty definition because it was film and they do the transfer at some point. Did you watch the colorized version?

We're not talking about VHS here. So I made the decision to watch the colorized version. Oh, okay. Because I was like, and I was thinking about the kids at this point because I was like, they have a horrible attention span. One of the things you can do to your phone is like turn all the icons to black and white

if you wanna never look at your phone again. Like there's some people who do that, you know? So it doesn't entice you. It doesn't entice you. I wanted to entice the children. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so I wanted to give them the colorized version and it's very well done colorized version.

But let me talk about the movie for a second. I gotta say, in one fail swoop, this movie lodged itself in my top 10 movies of all time. Are you serious? Yes. What? Yeah. Just because it was in color? Did it surprise you that much?

Jessie and I kept leaning over to each other and saying things like, this is well written. Like, I just didn't. Well written, huh? You know what I'm saying? Like, it just was, and also, yes, it's Jimmy Stewart. James. But, and yes, it's over the top in many ways,

but also it was very compelling. There were some scenes where I was just like, this dude is a talent. Jimmy Stewart is a talent. Spread the news. Okay, I think I have seen To Kill a Mockingbird. Mockingbird. Hmm.

Yeah, it's been a while since I saw that. That was Jimmy Stewart, right? I think so. Yeah. I thought it was Matthew McConaughey. I don't know what it is, but I know what you're talking about. Lincoln Lawyer, no, the one before that.

Yeah. I think it was To Kill a Mockingbird. It was the new one. Remake. Anyway, I don't wanna spend any more time talking about it because you either seen it or you haven't seen it. But if you have, I just gotta say, if you haven't seen it- Isn't it long though? How long is it?

Three hours or something? No, no, it's not. It's longer than I expected an old movie to be. I'd say- Two hours. Two hours and 20 minutes or something like that. That's a lot these days. Maybe just two hours, I don't know. What did the kids say though?

Were they leaning over and saying, it's well-written? No, they were, okay, Locke is the toughest critic. He was really into it and then it's like hour, like minute 90, we started kind of losing him. We kept Shepard the whole time. Yeah. Right to the end. And I was weeping multiple times. Doesn't take much for me to weep at a movie.

Really? But man, it's just a, you know what, I think we got- Did Locke walk out? Or did he- No, no, no. He was on his phone. He went on it. He went to phone time. Okay. Okay. And he was still engaged to some extent.

But I just gotta say, if you've been sleeping on "'It's a Wonderful Life," which seems like a ridiculous thing to say, but these two guys have been sleeping on it. I'm still sleeping on it. Kiko, you seen it? Kiko's been sleeping on it too! A lot of people have been sleeping on it because I'm still sleeping on it. Kiko, you seen it? Kiko's been sleeping on it too! A lot of people have been sleeping on it

because it's fake color, man. I mean, it's over two hours. Watch the black and white version. So then I tell Jenna, Jenna's not here today, but I tell Jenna that I finally watched it. And first of all, she was offended that I had never watched it before. And she loves old movies.

She was like, oh, it's so good. Wow. And then I was like, it actually made me and Jessie come to the same conclusion, which is we're going to start watching old movies because you get so overwhelmed with all the options that you have. And then we're thinking like, let's just, I'm gonna go to the list of the top 100 movies of all time.

You got things like Casablanca and you know, and other ones. And so I'm talking to Jenna and she know, and other ones. And so I'm talking to Jenna and she says, "'Oh, Casablanca is my favorite movie of all time. That's the best movie ever made." And so I'm like, okay, well. Did you watch it already? No, I haven't, but we are planning on it.

Okay. I feel like I got a, you know when somebody, you discover a new television show, like everybody's like, you never seen Breaking Bad? And you're like, oh, I've got this, all these seasons of Breaking Bad to go and watch now. I feel like I've got a whole new season of Breaking Bad and it's just old movies.

You're telling me that I don't need to alter my expectations at all to watch It's a Wonderful Life. I don't think you're gonna like it. You, now you listening, you're gonna like it. Link, he's- Why am I not gonna like it? You're so particular. But I'm not contrary, I'm very, I'm open. No, you're-

I don't wanna disprove you just for the sake of it. No, I don't. I think that you may be too distracted by some of the conventions of old filmmaking, but I just was like, and also- See, now I have to like it in order to like get you to esteem my opinion. You don't like sentimental movies.

Okay? You don't like sentimental movies. When you feel like you're being emotionally manipulated by a movie, you're offended by it. I don't know that that's true. When you go through your top favorite movies, it's not sentimental movies. And so-

I'm sentimental in real life. Sure, yeah, I agree with that. But you don't like sentimental movies. I love sentimental movies. And so, and I'm not saying it's all sentiment, but you may be like, okay, when you get to the place where you're really supposed to like have an emotional reaction to it,

you may just be like, I'm not on board for this. And if you're not, then you're not emotional reaction to it, you may just be like, I'm not on board for this. And if you're not, then you're not gonna say that it's a good movie. But you should try it with your family. And if y'all hate it, don't tell anybody. Now is like the worst time. You should try it next year. And in fact, everybody listening,

if you haven't watched it, don't watch it now, wait until next Christmas, and you will have forgotten how I built it up. In fact, make a reminder. Don't say Rhett said, watch It's a Wonderful Life. Just say, let's watch a wonderful life. Put it as a little reminder that pops up about a week before Christmas.

You won't remember where this came from. Oh, I wanted myself to remind myself about this. It could say note to self. Yeah, it could say note to self, watch It's a Wonderful Life with low expectations because I went in with low expectations. Note to future self. You know what?

That could be a nap. Here's something a little more pertinent. I mean, I'm not gonna call this resolutions, but let's come up with some notes to future self, make those now and then time release those throughout your year. Yeah. That's how resolution, resolution should be time released. This is so ironic.

Isn't this smart? This is super smart. I mean, I hate to say something and then ask if it's smart. It's super ironic though, because I literally got one of these today that I had written to myself. I can't see when I wrote it, but it was at least a month ago. And it popped up as I was driving in, I saw it pop up on my phone. I didn't have, I'm not looking at my phone, it just popped up. I'm a safe driver. It says, purchase Aurelius Chorizo and Santo Thomas rice.

What? Yeah, it was- Chorizo and rice. It's the Spanish chorizo and the Spanish rice that I use in my paella. But it popped up this morning. I'm trying to say that correctly because so many people have told me that I'm saying paella,

which is not, it's paella, paella. There is a difference. It's not a yay, it's a ay. Was this a mistake or did you remember that this is when you wanted it to sprout? It was, I'm going out of town, I'm about to go out of town because I made my paella for our Christmas dinner before we left for the family.

That's what Shepherd requested. And I was like, oh, I need to replenish these main ingredients for this thing, but I don't want them to show up while I'm out of town. And so I just was like, I'll just make a reminder to order this stuff when I get back and boom, there it is. I made a note to my, only note I made to my future self, 2022 self,

was to get rice and chorizo. You should just make a note to your future self right now and say, to remind you, just pick a random time of year and just say, make paella again. You're assuming that you've fallen out of the routine of making it. I'm not gonna need a reminder for that. Well, then something like that.

I'm just trying to capture the spirit of this idea. I get lots of requests for my paella, including from your wife. Okay, listen, I'm not trying, how could you be insulted by such a creative idea? I'm gonna say, come up with something else other than me needing to be reminded to make my paella. Listen, it's your problem, I'll do it for me.

I've been holding something back from you and it's, I got the most amazing Christmas gift. Oh, really? Yeah. And I've got video to support it and to bring it to life for you. Don't look at my notes. I'm not looking, I'm excited. And I've got video to support it and to bring it to life for you. Don't look at my notes. I'm not looking, I'm just looking,

I'm just sort of like looking down. Don't look down, look up, look up with hope. Why is it so far out? Why is your phone so far out? Because that's where I want it, okay? We got important stuff to get to. I just told you that like I got the best gift of my entire life.

Of your entire life? Potentially. I think it's, yes. to get to. I just told you that like I got the best gift of my entire life. Of your entire life? Potentially. I think it's, yes. Okay, well. Yes, I think so. I'm anxious to see that. Summer's here and you can now get almost anything you need for your sunny days delivered with Uber Eats.

What do we mean by almost? Well, you can't get a well-groomed lawn delivered, but you can get a chicken Parmesan delivered. A cabana, that's a no, but a banana, that's a yes that's a yes a nice tan sorry nope but a box fan happily yes a day of sunshine no a box of fine wines yes uber eats can definitely get you that get almost almost anything delivered with uber eats order now alcohol and select markets product availability may vary by regency app for details. Our trips were kind of inverted. I went home first. Like I decided I was doing a pre-Christmas visit back home.

And I kind of swung the pendulum from last time I went home in July, it was like three weeks. It was, that was quite, that was way too long to be anywhere. No offense to my family, but like, you know, you don't see each other that often and then you see each other for three weeks

and it's like, okay. So I was like, we're just gonna do, we're gonna see everybody once, everybody gets a day. And there's three different entities and you add a travel day on each end, five days total. This is the most efficient Christmas trip that you can imagine. and you add a travel day on each end, five days total. That's my trip. This is the most efficient Christmas trip that you can imagine.

That I've ever taken. Is this the new norm for you? It was great. I think our plan is as long as we can go home another time in the year, like, you know, there's a wedding, we're gonna go back for maybe a second event. A second wedding.

You know. Somebody getting married again. Or somebody getting married to themselves again, that happens. Oh. Would you go home from one of those? I didn't know that was a thing. No, like if your brother-in-law was like, we're getting married again. You know, people get married as a second time.

To themselves? No, to their spouse. Oh. I'm not talking about Dennis Rodman situation. So renew the vows. I'm talking, yeah, renewing a vows. Yeah, I know about that. Well, no, what if your brother-in-law wanted to marry himself like Dennis Rodman?

Would you go back home for that? Definitely not, definitely not. I don't even think I would video in for that, you know what I'm saying? Dennis Rodman did that, man. He put on a wedding dress and he married himself. Did he take it off and put it back on? I don't know. Did he play both roles?

He was on fire in the 90s. Oh yeah, he had his moment. Everybody had to watch him. Yeah. Yeah, so it was very efficient and it is the new norm subject to being able to go back at other times. It's like, it's better to have more visits over the year,

you know, subject to whatever happens globally. It was great. And it was before Christmas. So we got home, we flew back on Christmas Eve Eve, so that then in our own home and our own space, we could have our own Christmas Eve and Christmas day. And then I was pushing hard to then do something after Christmas, because we had another week.

Kids were out of school for another two weeks, but I was out of work for another week. You're out of work? I'm not out of work anymore. I found an opportunity. Everybody just wanted to stay at home and do their own thing and not travel. And it's like, well, I can't really blame you

with the Omicron or whatever. So let's just hang back at home. But yeah, I'm really glad we made that decision because the time was sweet. And then you get out before it's too much. You end it before what people want a little bit more. Well, you did a George Costanza trip by all accounts. That's the way to do it, man.

I mean, it was great. One day per entity. I mean, I respect this choice. When we flew in- I don't think I could get away with it. I saw my mom, we saw Christy's parents for like a little bit on an extra day. So they each got like a day and a half.

Did you plan, did you feel like, okay, we need to really, you didn't plan anything, it was just like, we're just gonna be together so we can just go and hang out at their house for a day and this is the day that we have. Yeah. And it's, I mean, it's, you just plan them, what's the approach to meals?

I think that's the main thing. And we're always big on Bojangles being a part of that. Because Christy's dad likes to cook a lot of stuff, but then if it's not at his house, he's coming up to Christy's sister's house. Then it's like, he's gotta bring a bunch of paraphernalia. And then he's like so worried about cooking that like we're not spending quality time together.

So we wanted an emphasis on quality time and Bojangles. Well. And we hit the Bojangles hard. Well, let me interject here because this is one of my trip talking points. I do wanna talk about Bojangles at length. Well, my point is not just Bojangles. My point is, and you probably didn't experience this,

this is another advantage potentially of your five day trip. I was there for longer than five days. I was probably there for like nine or 10. And the food that you end up eating when you were back home, there's a cumulative effect on all this fried chicken and barbecue and just meat and sugar and fat.

We're not used to it, man. It is unreal. So what I did, I anticipated this because I just say, listen, caution to the wind, this is the holidays. And I have a certain number of places that I like to go. I like to go to Bojangles. I like to make a trip to is the holidays, and I have a certain number of places that I like to go. I like to go to Bojangles. I like to make a trip to Smithfield's Chicken and Barbecue.

I ended up making two trips because I always make a solo trip because my family's not too into it because it's such a genuine eastern North Carolina. Yeah. In fact, I'm just gonna go ahead and tell you, this is my wreck, Smithfield's Chicken and Barbecue because- Well, I can one-up it, but go ahead. tell you this is my wreck. It's Smithfield's Chicken and Barbecue because- Well, I can one up it, but go ahead.

Because it's the only, if you're traveling through North Carolina. Yeah, you're right. And you've never been to North Carolina and you wanna know what North Carolina barbecue tastes like and you don't wanna go to like a sit down restaurant. You're just like, let me just get a sandwich real quick and a drive through.

It's the only fast food place in America that I'm aware of that if you order a barbecue sandwich, you will get quintessential Eastern North Carolina vinegar-based sauce and get it with the slaw on the sandwich because you just need to get the full, even if you don't think you like cabbage or slaw, you need to get it. That is the experience of what people

in the Eastern part of North Carolina eat. They also have something called Brunswick stew. In my mind, this is the only fast food restaurant that serves Brunswick stew, which is again, which again, is a distinctly North Carolina thing. It's got pork in it. It's a bunch of stuff. And you know what? We got tomato based potato stew with pork in it.

We think that the meat in the Smithfields Brunswick stew is chicken, not pork. We got into a little debate with my mother-in-law over this. There might be chicken in it too. And then she started saying- You're saying there's no pork in it? Well, I'm not gonna say that. The Brunswick stew that she had growing up

that was made by her grandmother and her great grandmother, they would put squirrel and possum because it was the stew, everything stew that you could put all this wild game and roadkill and shit in, right? Okay. Anyway, Smithfield's Chicken and Barbecue. I'm not gonna say that they roadkill.

Well, maybe they did. I don't think they did. And I made the stop by there, I get the Brunswick stew, they're not doing the buy one, get one free pints anymore because they realized that these Yankees moving in are gonna just buy it for $6 a pint and not ask any questions about it. Yeah. These yuppies.

These yuppie Yankees. I really like the shrimp there. Do you do, there's fried shrimp? I love the fried shrimp there. But the cumulative, and not just the stuff you're eating at fast food. Hush puppies. We did Zaxby's.

My family has migrated a little bit. They do Bojangles when they're with their cousins, but they're really into the Zaxby's of it all because of they like the wings and the spicy on the wings. But so much fried chicken and then everything you're eating at every meal that you're being served is also this heavy food, because it's holiday food.

Oh God, yeah. I took a thing of fiber pills with me, because I was like, this is gonna screw me up so bad. I gotta keep it moving. Have you tried these, do you still do the spoonful of the fiber? No, I put flaxseed in my smoothie every morning. I stopped doing the psyllium husk as well,

but when traveling, I have found that you can get the capsules that's the same thing, and you just take those, you take like six or seven of them. You take seven pills of fiber? Well, if you've got a high tolerance to that stuff, like I do, because I've used it for so long, I wouldn't recommend that to the layman, but to the professional fiber.

But it's no different than just taking a scoop of it. But it's a lot easier. It's so much easier and it's easier to travel with. You gotta drink a lot of water though, right? Because if you travel with that bag of fiber, it looks like you've got like some bad Coke. And then you have to like explain that to the TSA. I mean, it looks more like sawdust.

I got some bad Coke, man. It's a little bit brown, I'm sorry. Been shaving some wood thinking it's sniffable, snortable. Anyway, so you- I agree with Smithfield's, but I mean, if you're gonna go full local and you're in the Sanford area, which my mom is, you got to get the Ron's Barn, baby.

Oh, you went to Ron's Barn? We went to Ron's Barn! Dang it, with the hush puppies? She brought it home. So it's everything, I mean, they don't have Brunswick Stew that I know of, but every time my mom goes in there, they're like, tell Link to come in.

Oh man, Ron's barn is so good. They know me there. Is there still one in Coates? They know you too, no. Pope's barn in Coates. Oh, that's Pope's barn. It changed to Ron's barn, and then I think they closed that one. But Ron is still going in Sanford. Oh yeah that's Post Barn. It changed to Ron's Barn and then I think they closed that one.

But Ron is still going in Sanford. Oh yeah. That's worth a trip. And their shrimp is great there. That's my main thing there. But back to Bojangles, the thing that I'd forgotten in July, I was like, I'm not gonna make this mistake again. I'm gonna get that Bojangles chicken sandwich.

I gotta try this thing. Yeah, yeah. Talk of the town. You know, our friends back home been talking it up. Right. Our friend Harm was saying it's the best one out of all the chicken sandwich wars. Of all of them, yeah. I'm like, how could that be?

Have you had it? No. It's fabulous. But, oh. It's not, I mean, Chick-fil-A chicken sandwich is still the top of my list above the Popeye's sandwich. Even the Zaxby's sandwich, which I did have back in July.

I don't get the Zaxby's sandwich, I get the wings. Zaxby's sandwich is good, the Bojangles sandwich is better, but it's much better than the previous Bojangles chicken sandwich. It's bigger, it's crispier, but it's just that there's no spicy sauce on it. It's just mayo because the chicken itself is supposed to be spicy, just like all the other chicken there.

So how is it different than the chicken sandwich that they had before? It's bigger and crunchier. It's very good. Okay. I'll put it in my top. I'll tie it with Popeyes, even though it's not as big or as crunchy as Popeyes.

Well, I've got a great chicken story that I have to tell you. Oh my gosh. I can't tell you this because it doesn't fit in this one. Wherever you're going, you better believe American Express will be right there with you. Heading for adventure?

We'll help you breeze through security. Meeting friends a world away? You can use your travel credit. Squeezing every drop out of the last day? How about a 4 p.m. late checkout? Just need a nice place to settle in? Enjoy your room upgrade. Wherever you go, we'll go together. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Visit amex.ca slash yamx. Benefits vary by card, terms apply. I gotta get to my gift because this happened

like two days before we leave to go home, my aunt TC sends me a text and she says, remember this? Now, a few, over the past few podcasts in at the end of the year, we talked about like our best gift ever. a few, over the past few podcasts, at the end of the year, we talked about like our best gift ever. And do you remember what the best gift that I ever got? My truck, when I was 15 and a half, my papa surprised me.

They gave you your truck? So she sends me a picture and it's the picture of my truck. A current picture? A current picture of my truck. A current picture? A current picture of my truck. You see where this is going? So I said- If you have your truck- Well, if uncle, so, and then I started piecing it together

and my Nana's brother, my uncle Ross, who you know, he recently passed away and they were having an estate sale. And my aunt TC was at the freaking estate sale and she snapped a picture of my truck. But she didn't snap it up and buy it for you. And I said, yeah, I remember that truck. I was actually talking about it as like the most meaningful gift I've ever gotten in my life

on a recent episode of our podcast. It's at Uncle Ross's, right? It's still there? Like I knew a couple of years ago, I went home for Christmas and I had heard that it was there and I went and saw it. I visited with my truck. I think I told you that. The keys weren't in it and I sat in the truck

and just kind of memories just flooded back. And then I got out of the truck and I came back home and forgot about it. And yeah, so he passes away, they're selling the thing. And I was like, I'll buy it. Christy was like, you should buy it. And then I was like, I'll buy it.

Yeah, I mean, I assume a 1987 Nissan pickup truck is not gonna go for more than let's just say, you paid $1,300 for it. I don't wanna say what I paid for it because it's like, I said whatever they wanna, whatever price that the family's putting on it. Oh, you paid more than 1,300. I did.

I was like, you know what, for me, whatever they want, ask for it, I'll pay for it. It's not gonna be- They said 4,000. It wasn't that much. Okay, they said 3,500, they'll do it, 3,000. What are you making me say? Okay, yeah. It was 3,000.

And I was like, you know what, I'll do it. And you know what, as I'm telling the story, I'm remembering that I still haven't paid for it. So I've got to arrange to have the money sent. Hey, give yourself a future reminder. Some point in 2022, you should pay for that truck. So yeah, it was like totally out of character for me, but I was like, I have to do this.

I have to re-gift myself my favorite gift that I've gotten 28 years after the fact. I'm giving myself the same gift that I got 28, I was given 28 years earlier that I was talking about is my most meaningful gift I've ever gotten in my life. Are you putting it on a truck bed and putting it out here? I say, you know what? I'll just drive it to my mom's house

and then I can teach the kids how to drive stick using this thing and it'll be at my mom's house under the shelter whenever I go home and visit. We'll just, she'll crank it up occasionally and I'll just have it. So I want to show you, like I said, I've got a video journey I wanna take you on here, Rhett. There it is.

Oh wow, he took such good care of it. Yeah. Now the wheels have been made smaller because the wheels you had were too big. You think they were bigger than they really were. Those aren't the same wheels. Are they the same wheels? No.

Look how small it is. You look like a giant. 28 years ago. They don't make trucks this small anymore. I know, it's crazy, isn't it? 28 years later. It's like a golf cart. I got it again.

1987 Nissan pickup. Same grill, same chrome bumper. Different rims. Similar rims. The wheels are the same size. You kind of doing this like a bad YouTuber. Like a YouTuber who hasn't learned how to make a video yet. This is dynamic, watch.

First thing I noticed is that in order to get in the... Oh, the handle's broke. The handle's missing. You gotta grab this edge here. Oh, that's easy. Look at that. How many miles on that thing? A different seat. It says 200,000, but it's a new motor.

A newer motor. The whole bench is new, though? Whole bench is new.? Whole bench is new. Same gear shift, different radio. I think they put an AC in it at some point. Don't you remember this thing? You didn't have AC? And...

I remember that door with those panels on it like that. I got that door right there very dirty one time. With some mud. So you can't close the door from the inside, you gotta close it from the outside because the handle's broken off on the inside. You shut in. Character.

Yeah. What's that noise? Making some odd noises. So she's got a new motor. She smells like a tractor. Smells horrible. Cause he was just using it at the farm. The memories in this thing,

from when I was 15 and a half, learned how to drive, I'm gonna teach you how to drive a stick just like I learned in this thing. Talking to Lincoln. All the way through high school, in second grade. I know how to drive a stick.

All the way through college, dating your mom, I'm going full dad right now. All the way through college, dating your mom. I'm going full dad right now. I still drove this thing. Yeah, this is dad TV here. I didn't wanna tell him about all the make out sessions. There's not a lot you can do besides, I mean, you can't do more than make out in that.

You couldn't have intercourse in the cab with that. I could, I didn't. Well, yeah, because of your religious convictions, but it's too small. Right. Okay. The Michelin man drives a truck. Okay.

You have a jacket like that. Yeah, but yours is shiny. I mean, I like it, I like the jacket. It's like a svelte Michelin man. There is a speedometer, but there is no speedometer needle anymore. Yeah, who needs that? It would be right here.

So you're not gonna be able to tell how fast it's going. Does the knob turn at all? Right now we're going zero. I can't tell. I think the little knob, you could probably put a toothpick on it. A little more gas. Here I go.

Oh, the tailgate just fell down. Oh, okay. It's been a while since you drove a stick, huh? It's very finicky. Yeah, it's not like the new ones where you basically can't stall out. Those old clutches were... More gas, more gas.

Temperamental. I'm starting to teach you. He's learning it, definitely picking up on all this. The window thing fell off again. Do you remember I couldn't roll down my passenger window because the glass would fall down into the door? I got it. It's 28 years later, this thing is still trucking, man.

It's crazy. It's kinda crazy. I mean, Nissan, well-built Nissan. Look at how much fun I'm having. Yeah, I mean, you're with the woos and everything. 16 again. The stuff we did in that truck, too, the damage that you inflicted on that thing. Clutch it, third.

You getting the hang of this? Sir. That's not how you learn how to drive a stick, by watching someone else do it. That's just not. I think I eventually let Lincoln drive it. If you get it on the first try, you win in a lot of respect.

But don't worry, it's not gonna happen. First. This is tough, because Lincoln, I think, is aware that I'm gonna be showing this to everybody. A lot of pressure. Give it a little gas, ease off the clutch. Right there, stop on the clutch, and just, you gotta feel that spot

where it's about to catch. Now, a little bit more gas, a little more gas, more gas, more gas, more gas. Off the clutch. More gas, more gas, more gas. Off the clutch. More gas, more gas. More gas. It's hard. All right.

Give it a go. I'll let him experience some victory here. A little bit of gas. It's okay for you to be coasting, that makes it easier. I'm a pretty good instructor. More gas, more gas, more gas, more gas, more gas, more gas. There you go. More gas, more gas, more gas.

Got it. Yeah, blow the horn, man. Look at that, see? The moment that my granddad shared with me, I've now passed along to my own freaking son. That's beautiful, now what did he, how did that end? I said I'm gonna do the same thing with my daughter. She's just a Michelin woman.

Whoa. Oh yeah. She did it. Now keep going, you can drive in a second. First try. She's unfazed, dude. She went to college. Right, right, she's been educated, higher education. Speed up more, you gotta be going faster.

I think I could be a driving instructor. That seems like something you'd wanna do. Speed up a little bit, you go, oh, oh. Go in the straightaway and then you can try to put it in second. You would love to be a driving instructor because you would get your own steering wheel on your side. Oh, that's a dream.

It's like a control freak's dream. I don't think they do that anymore. They don't make those anymore. Yes, I think, yes, Lily got to learn how to drive. Well, I gotta say, I'm jealous for multiple reasons. You know, I'm jealous because, that's a cool picture, I'm jealous because you know how before- How about that picture?

That's equally cool. You don't have to show me. Low angle? You don't have to show me. There's another one. You don't have to show me them all. And then there's a selfie angle. Yeah, that's a bad one.

And then there's a vertical selfie. Yeah, you can't hardly see the truck. How about that? And then, okay, that's it. Before the break, I was talking to you about how my wife was saying that she was going to give me the best gift that she's ever given me.

Yeah, there's no way it could top this. Well, she hasn't given it to me yet. I don't know what it is. I was gonna ask, she hasn't given it to you? There was a complication with it. You know what? Christy and Lily have been building up this gift that didn't come from me.

It's still not here, you know, supply chains. But nothing's gonna top the truck. You think it's the same thing? No. It could be the same thing because our guess was that it was a dog. It was not, I mean, and Jesse confirmed it was not a dog. However, we are, 2022 is the year of the dog for us,

the year of the second dog for us. Good, I highly recommend it. But I still don't know what it is. I mean, I'm just waiting patiently. When you get it, you tell me what it is. And when I get mine, I'll tell you what it is. Okay, yeah, whole other episode. How's that for a deal?

And with the way the supply chains are, it may be next Christmas, who knows? But anytime you wanna come over to my mom's house and drive that truck. It's very tempting. I'm thinking about setting a reminder right now. It was so small. When you get back in it,

it's like I can't believe you even fit in the thing. You're like, you had to be hunched over. Oh, I wasn't comfortable by any means. I was definitely making a sacrifice as your friend. And I was telling Lincoln, you know, it's like right here in the middle is where I would put my portable CD player and hook it up to the cassette adapter.

Oh yeah. And then every time I'd go over a bump, it would skip because it didn't have enough of a buffer. But you can get the non-skippable one, like the really good Sony one. Yeah. So that is the defining moment of my Christmas back home if I were to pinpoint one. So you're gonna just keep it forever? So that is the defining moment of my Christmas back home.

If I were to pinpoint one. So you're gonna just keep it forever? Yeah, why not? Because you could probably only get 1300 bucks if you try to sell it. Right. If maybe 750 actually. It's not worth more to anybody else than it is to me. Yeah, the nostalgia is.

That's definitely true. So yeah, what if one day Lincoln's teaching his kids, or Lily, I guess, she could also do it. They both have the capabilities now to drive a stick. I've passed that on, and then they can pass it on, maybe in the same truck. But potentially, I mean, you're gonna have to really keep that thing on lockdown

if you want them to be able to teach their kids about it. Yeah. What was the last thing that filled you with wonder that took you away from your desk or your car in traffic well for us i'm gonna guess for some of you that thing is anime hi i'm nick friedman i'm leah mary and i'm leah president and welcome to crunchyroll presents the anime effect It's a weekly news show. With the best celebrity guests. And hot takes galore. So join us every Friday wherever you get your podcasts

and watch full video episodes on Crunchyroll or on the Crunchyroll YouTube channel. Did you go through Fuquay? Any? I skirted Fuquay. Fuquay is, I mean, it just continues to grow. I've heard about... There's a whole new... Like a high rise. I mean, I would call it a. I've heard about- There's a whole new facility.

Like a high rise. There's a high, I mean, I would call it a high rise. It may be three stories. Downtown Fuquay just literally blocks. Maybe five stories, I don't know. From where our studio used to be. So I went to the old studio. I got a little pic.

Oh, okay. A little selfie in front of it. It's a hair salon, right? It's a hair salon on one side and a church office on the other side. All right, good. We just did, we took both sides when we of it. It's a hair salon, right? It's a hair salon on one side and a church office on the other side. All right, good. We just did the whole, we took both sides when we did it. That's right. Big business.

I went by there but- I like how they're doing the Lord's work, which is a hair salon. The hair cutting, yeah. There's two like good coffee shops in Fuquay now. There's, you know, there's- Stick Boy? Well, I guess three, because the Stick Boy is a great bakery, also does coffee.

There's the Mill, which is like the new, like, it's new to me, bigger one across the street, which is literally across the street from our old studio. Like, if we had a stuck around, we would have had a coffee shop that we could have just thrown a stick at. Oh, damn. And then-

We could have been stoning a coffee shop. On the next block, south or east, across the main road, there's another coffee shop now on that next block. How can the clientele support three coffee shops? Fuqua's got tens of thousands of people, man. Let me tell you right now. And they're making it to the south side now.

They got this high rise. Is it really a high rise? It is a- I mean, it's like- It's condominiums, retail, and parking. It doesn't fit, does it? I heard it doesn't fit. Well, I can understand why people would say that

because it definitely does not. It's bigger than everything else around it, but- Aesthetically. It's also a sign of the times, man. It's like Fuquay's on the up and up. Do you think if we would have stayed in Fuquay and somehow experienced like the North Carolina equivalent of the success we've had out here,

do you think we would be the ones building that high rise? Well, no, because we're not real estate developers, we're comedians. That's true. I mean. I think we could have gotten a piece of the action. Maybe we estate developers, we're comedians. That's true. I mean. I think we could have gotten a piece of the action. Maybe we would be, we'd be investors. Yeah.

But the other thing that's happening in Fuquay, which is a little bit of a mind screw. Is Ashworth's is still there. No. A sweater shot for old men. The traffic. Traffic's bad. The traffic is more debilitating than LA traffic

because LA traffic comes with an expectation of traffic. It's like, yes, I'm in this place that it costs so much to live and there's so many people and, but you're on this road that's like five, six lanes. Yeah, but Fuqua, they can't do anything, especially when you're coming down, is it Sunset Lake? You're coming down and you're trying to get into town. We are now having a local podcast.

If we stayed in North Carolina, this is what the podcast would be. That's a good idea. Maybe we move back and we just do that. Just do the little. News around Fuquay. Complaining about traffic in Fuquay. This is-

No, but my parents had been complaining about the traffic and I was like- You experienced that. And I was like, you don't know what traffic is. I mean, they lived out here when I was younger. It's bad, huh? You can get stuck. I got stuck on that road.

I was up there near like Ms. Slaughter's old house. Okay, yeah. You were trying to get to the Smithfields. Yes! You were frustrated. I had to wait forever to get to the Smithfields. I don't understand what was happening. Oh yeah.

They gotta do some traffic engineering there, but Fuquay, really, really things are looking up. They need to put a subway system in. My whole trip was defined by my plans being thwarted, right? So plan A for our trip was we go back home to North Carolina just in time for Jessie's birthday. We have a birthday celebration with her family and my family all together.

And then we spend Christmas with our families. And then the day after Christmas, we hop on a plane. Hop on a plane, baby. And we fly to Mexico to have a wonderful time as a family, just the four of us, right? I was jealous, man. I was like, damn, they're going to Mexico? We're just gonna be sitting on our butts on our own couches?

And spend a week in Mexico through the new year and then come back. Now, as we all know, Omicron was making itself known to our world and country. And so things began to get a little bit- Dicey. Dicey. And let me, I just, I don't wanna, I've done enough of my COVID rants

and talked about vaccines and all that. You know where I stand on all that. Because I'm not gonna do that. What I will say is that this has been going on for so long, for the way that I have kind of processed this is like, I'm like, listen, I'm vaccinated. And especially with this latest strain, which basically everyone who knows anything is saying,

this thing is so contagious that you are going to be exposed to it, right? You're either gonna get exposed to it with the vaccine or without the vaccine. And you can take all kinds of precautions and do all the social distancing and the masking and all that, which I continue to do. But you're gonna get exposed to it.

But you're boosted. You said vaccinated, but you're boosted. I'm also boosted. That's important differentiation. Yeah, it is. It is in terms of lowering the chances of getting infected. In terms of whether you're gonna get severe illness, the double vax is good for that.

Now, but one of the things that I had to do just to mentally make it, because first of all, I recognize we live in a very particular place out here on the left coast in Los Angeles where everybody pretty much takes the pandemic very seriously and takes all the precautions and does everything. This is a very unique place.

There's a few places, major cities around the nation where that's the case, but once you kind of get out of that bubble, people just don't care that much, right? And so I knew I'm going into environments where people don't see this the same way that I do. And so I just had to be like, listen, I'm vaccinated and boosted.

I'm gonna take precautions, but I cannot constantly worry about this. I will not be able to make it through this time if I'm worried about me getting COVID personally. At this point, I'm honestly not worried based on what we're seeing when people who are vaccinated get it. So that's why you're like,

we're gonna go ahead with this trip. Yeah, but what I'm also, so the main anxiety that I'm experiencing is not about me or any of my family members getting COVID, it's the plans being thwarted, the flight being canceled, getting in Mexico. So you can fly to Mexico without any sort of negative test, but you can't fly back into the US

without getting a negative test 24 hours prior to your arrival or your flight. The place we were gonna stay provided tests and everything. But I'm like, we got things to get back to. And so I'm worried about our flight getting canceled because every day there's more flights getting canceled as we get closer and closer to this time. Also, I'm worried about getting stuck in Mexico

and thinking about what am I gonna do if we have to stay extra time in Mexico? How am I gonna stay an extra week? Am I gonna like, what if it's one of my kids? Am I gonna be like, we actually stay here because one of my kids has tested positive. Again, it wasn't the fear of the illness, it was a fear of the logical or the logistical implications

of somebody getting it. Yeah. And Jessie was saying the whole time, she's like, I think we should cancel the trip because you're gonna be too anxious and you're not gonna be able to enjoy yourself because you're gonna be worried about us getting stuck. Logistical stuff is the kind of thing

that I get anxiety about. And so I was like, well, you're not wrong, but we're doing this. It's not really any less safe there than it is here and like, stay committed to the plan. And then my brother test positive for COVID, which was happening. So many, if you don't know somebody who tested positive for COVID, which was happening, so many, if you don't know somebody who tested positive for COVID

in the past couple of weeks, then I don't know who you are and where you live, but like it's happening everywhere. And of course I had spent, I had been with my brother at dinner, went to his house, sat on a couch next to him. Like I just basically just been breathing the same air with him just multiple days in a row.

You were doing that thing to each other where it's like, does my breath stink? Yeah. And then he was like, does my breath stink? Yeah. And then you're like, yes, but does mine stink more? Yeah, exactly. Breathing each other's air.

And then an hour later you do it all again. Right. What about now, does my breath stink? And it was happening with every family member. Does your breath stink? And so, okay, listen, I don't know. I ended up getting all five symptoms of Omicron. Like the ones that were listed

as the five most common symptoms. I got all five symptoms very mildly, like to the point where I was like, is this an allergy? Is this like a cold? I tested two times with one of those rapid tests. It was both negative. Everybody kept saying that- Both negative. The negative tests are much less reliable

with this in general and also with this strain. And then when I got back, I got a PCR test, still negative. So- This is funny because you're doing like, it's like, I mean, cause there's still this stigma. It's like- Yeah, you leaned away from me. When it's like, when people say- Trust me, you've been exposed to. Yeah, you leaned away from me. When it's like when people say- Trust me, you've been exposed to COVID.

I'm just playing it up. But when people say they've got it, there's an eroding but still present stigma of like, I gotta confess, I got it, I got it. Well- But I think that's going away, but you're doing the opposite. You're like trying to convince me that you have it.

No, well, first of all, again, I- I do have it, man. I'm not really thinking about the widespread implications of the things that I'm saying right now, so please let me speak freely. But there's, honestly, there was a part of me that was like, I want to get this to get it over with because I'm so tired of worrying about it.

And everybody that I know that is double vaxxed that's getting it is having such mild symptoms and I'm like, just give me the damn virus so I can get through this and not have to think about it anymore. So you do feel like- Right or wrong, that's what I was feeling. And so you're erring,

you're leaning towards concluding that you had it. My brother. But you're leaning towards concluding that you had it because My brother. But you're leaning towards concluding that you had it because that gives you peace of mind. No, I'm saying that I had all the symptoms and all these people online are like, these are the symptoms that I had, I'm not testing positive.

And so I'm just like, okay, maybe I had it, maybe I didn't. I'm not behaving any differently than I was already. I'm taking all the precautions that we're doing here. But that factored into not going to Mexico. No, no, because I tested negative. And I was like, if I test negative and these symptoms are gone by the time we're supposed to fly, I'm going.

You felt even better about going. Yeah. Then Shepherd, who is vaccinated and not boosted, because he's only 13, Shepherd comes down with the exact same symptoms as my brother, which is basically like a pretty bad sore throat and like some aches and what you typically see in a vaccinated person

who gets it, which is just sort of a rough cold that kind of knocks you out for a couple of days. And so again, we tested him, it was negative, but at that point it was Christmas Eve, Eve, when that happened with Shepard and I was like, okay, let's do it, let's cancel. Thankfully we got our money back for everything. We actually didn't have our trip insured.

I thought that maybe it was, but it wasn't. And so thank you, Jenna, for making lots of phone calls and figuring that out, but we got our money back, so we didn't have to pay anything. And then there was sort of a sense of relief, but then I was like, well, what are we gonna do now? Are we just gonna stay in North Carolina? Because we were, it was,

the way that COVID impacted our family gatherings was, okay, Shepherd's not coming over to Christmas Eve at my parents, you know, because they're in like their mid 70s. And it's like, we're trying to protect everybody, right? And so- Deja vu. And so, yeah, it was like, oh man, this again?

We have to do this? And like Cole, my brother couldn't come to things. I saw him in the beginning of the trip and I didn't see him again. That sucks. And so I was just very frustrated by the whole thing, but I was also like, I don't wanna stick around and be in this situation where, and again,

we're in a place where some people are like, think that we're crazy, right? And it's funny because when I would, when somebody would ask us to do something like through my in-laws or through my parents, and they would be like, do y'all wanna go do this? I would literally say this, I would say, you just tell them that we're crazy liberals

from California and we're scared of the virus. That will end the conversation so we don't have to, you can put it on me, because that's what people think about me anyway, so just say that and that's why we're not going to your dinner that you've got planned or whatever. We're crazy liberals and we're scared of the virus. And so that would just sort of,

I had to kind of deploy that strategy a couple of times because I didn't want- That worked? Yeah, well, it just ended the conversation because I don't want to get into this like, you see it this way, I see it this way, let's have an argument about it. It's like, no, you do your thing, I'll do my thing. We're good.

But I was like, I want wanna make something out of this trip. Right? I don't even know where I got the idea, but I was like. Just say I gave it to you. Well, you didn't. Cross country trip, me and Locke. Now Locke and I have been trying to go to multiple places together over the past couple of years,

but it's been thwarted by COVID. So we were like, let's have a COVID family Christmas and just go straight across America on a road trip. Brilliant idea. To get back to LA because when else you gonna have the time? And so that is what we did. And we experienced a whole lot that I will talk about

in an exclusive episode of Ear Biscuits. Oh, wow. Not next week, but the following week I'm gonna do. I got video, I got pictures, I got stories out the wazoo. You sure you don't wanna share it on Cindy Lauper's psoriasis podcast? No, well, I mean, you'll get the leftovers. Cindy gets the best.

But we had an, I feel like I saved Christmas in some way. When I heard through the grapevine that you were traveling across the country, I had to break the text seal and ask you about it because I was intrigued, I was jealous. I was like, man, this is better than Mexico. You know what, I think it ended up being better than Mexico. You know, a father-son thing.

You've got Shepherd's Six that he wasn't eligible to come on this road trip. Yeah, and it was, again, Locke's senior year in high school. Yeah. And we're planning on doing it. Take it when you can get it. Take it for a spring break, but it's like, what's gonna happen with spring break?

I don't know, it's impossible to make plans now, but you know what? I can get in a damn car and drive across America. Nobody can tell me I can't do that, right? Don't need a test to do that. Just go, cross the borders. Yeah. So that's what we did.

Well, I look forward to hearing about that. I mean, the other thing that we're in the midst of now is celebrating 10 years of Good Mythical Morning. It's happening on the Good Mythical Morning channel all this week. And so next week, we're gonna push your road trip thing to week after next so that we can, while we're still in the festive mode of celebrating 10 freaking years of Good Mythical Morning,

we'll talk about that next week. And you've already given your rec. Smithfield's Chicken and Barbecue, SCMB, they say on the sign sometimes. Yeah, it used to say Smithfield's really big and now- It does now, again. Oh good. But if you get the cup, it says on one side

it's got Smithfield's in cursive, on the other side it says SCMB. They're like really trying to keep that alive. I feel like we should be doing some sort of deal with them. Like we should be like the Sonic guys for Smithfield's. But in the meantime, Ron's Barn, there's only one. Yeah, all right, if you can't make it to Ron's Barn, go to Smithfield's Chicken and Barbecue.

Yeah, I like how you. For an authentic North Carolina barbecue experience. Get the Brunswick stew as well. We made it, man, we're in the new year. We're pressing forward and it's gonna be a good one. I choose to believe that. This is gonna be a good one. I choose to believe that. This is gonna be a great year. Hashtag year biscuits.

Holla at you, boys.