Ear Biscuits with Rhett & Link - Rhett's Heart Surgery | Ear Biscuits Ep. 488

Episode Date: October 13, 2025

He’s okay, y’all! In this episode, Rhett & Link go through the series of events and the emotional ride of Rhett needing to have a heart procedure – from the onset to the worry to getting it done and recovery. Plus, a very big announcement. Leave us a voicemail at 1-888-EARPOD-1 for a chance to be featured on the show! 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. When you're with Amex Platinum, you get access to exclusive dining experiences and an annual travel credit. So the best hapice in town might be in a new town altogether. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Apply. Learn more at mx.ca.ca slash yMex. This episode is brought to you by Peloton. A new era of fitness is here. Introducing the new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus, powered by Peloton IQ.

Built for breakthroughs with personalized workout plans, real-time insights, and endless ways to move. Lift with confidence while Peloton IQ counts reps, corrects form, and tracks your progress. Let yourself run, lift, flow, and go. the new Peloton cross-training tread plus at OnePeloton.C.A. Welcome to Ear Biscuits, the podcast. We're two lifelong friends. Talk about life for a long time. I'm Rhett. And I'm, like, this week at the roundtable of dim lighting. Rhett is going to take us through the experience of...

A lifetime. Heart. Oh, don't, don't, don't, don't give anything away. Experience of a heart. It's a heart felt recounting of a medical trial. I mean, it's probably in the title. That has lasted. That has unfolded over the course of many months.

Uh-huh. And it has a happy ending. But not the kind you're thinking about, right? No. So Red is going to walk us through what it's like to go through a medical trial. But I want to go ahead and say right now. But not like a pharmaceutical trial. Before you start going and looking in the comments, don't go through the comments yet.

Yeah, don't do that. Because we are also making a very significant announcement today. A very significant announcement. But it needs to be contextualized by the story. that I'm gonna tell. So just put on your patient pants. If you got a pair of those, I know they're tough to come by these days,

but put on your patient pants and cinch up your belt. You've been wearing some patient pants because you've been the patient. And just let this unfold at its own pace because we both think that that's an important way to receive this news that you're going to get. Don't speak for me. I also think that way.

He also thinks that. So. You didn't even want me to say, Anything about, you want me to say the H word? Well, I'm sure, again, something about heart surgery is gonna be in the title, you know, I'm sure we gotta get them clicks. Yep, yep.

And I see that you're sponsored by Cedars Cyanai, Cedars Cyanai, the place to go when you're a internet celebrity that needs work done to his heart. It's just my favorite color is purple. That's all this is. Okay, let me tell you the story, because it is in many- Cedarsioni.com.

slash ear to get 10% off your first surgery. Don't be Rick Glassman. You can't take, we can't suddenly be Rick Glassman. We can't do Rick Glassman jokes. You can't make up fake websites and fake codes. Let that be his thing. That's a me paying too. Okay.

Going back to the spring, we are shooting Wonderhole. We are shooting what is probably the fourth or fifth episode of our slate. which I think ended up being the fourth or fifth episode of the season, which was Last of Fall Asleep, wins $10,000. If you didn't see it, this is when we go on a cross-country-ish road trip and a truck. An 18-wheeler. An 18-wheeler. The day that we were slated to shoot, that's the first scene with Ernie in the Big Rig.

We were very excited about it. I noticed as we were getting into the truck and beginning to drive around that day that I felt like my heart was freaking out, like going very fast. And then I didn't have an Apple watch at the time. I had the aura ring. Yeah, I'm double covered with biometrics.

And you can look and see the real-time heart rate that's coming from the ring if you look at the app on your phone. And it said like heart rate 150. Now my resting heart rate is in the 70s during the day, it's in the high 50s at night, like it's a relatively healthy heart rate. So this was more than double.

This is what I would be at if I was at a pretty vigorous intensity workout, but I was sitting in a truck. Yeah. But I didn't talk to anybody about it. this because you didn't say anything to me about it or anybody else no I was like because we don't care you knew that yeah right I knew you would get no sympathy but I was like okay I'm just gonna I this is probably one of the reasons that this was happening to me which we will get to but I'm so committed

to our craft I call it a craft yes and we were doing something that we were very excited about and the way that our schedules work is such that if we have to stop doing something that has taken the time to schedule, that getting this big rig, getting Ernie's schedule to coordinate, it's also complicated and also packed so tightly that we can't move things around very easily.

And so I was like- And you definitely don't want to, if something happens to us, then we have to shut things down. Because we have to be in it. Yeah, and so I was like, I can deal with this. I don't know what exactly this is, but, oh, I had worked out that morning.

I had worked out very, very hard that morning. And so I was like, I'm having some sort of afterburn, but it just is a lot higher than normal. Like, your heart rate will stay up for a while after a workout, not to that degree. And then I started looking at like the data, like the graph of my heart rate throughout the day and it would be like, oh, there it is,

it's going really fast, but I would just, I know in those scenes watching that episode back, you can't, I can't even look at my face and tell that my heart was going like 150, 155 during those scenes. Like I'm just, I was like, I was in it, I'm there to, I'm there to be the great comedic partner that I am. It's a little ironic that if you, that you were, the conceit was that you were sleep deprived

and you were, you were really tired. Yeah, I also thought that maybe I could, I could embrace that a little bit. But you weren't wired as if, But I looked tired. I looked tired. Okay. I did look tired, but.

But you were actually wired. I looked tired. So you were the opposite of what you were acting. Yeah, but it doesn't feel wired. It feels weird. So it goes away. And then after that, I, well, I don't even think you told me that on the way home or the next day. I think I did because I talked to Jenna.

We worked together to, oh, we need to talk about Jenna, just real quick, sidebar. Yeah, sidebar. Jenna had her ACL tied back together or however they do it with it. And it was a bona fide dead person who contributed to it. We'll learn all about that next week. But we do have a voicemail that she sent to us right after the surgery. I'm out of surgery. Yay.

Everything went great. I'm doing awesome. Um... Boop, pooh. So I responded with, Boop, boop, boop, boop boop boop boop boop boop boop boop boop boop boop in it up. Glad it went well. She was under the influence of drugs.

Yes, she was. But perfectly legal prescribed by a doctor. She's boobooby boopin it up. She's doing great. Doing some sort of research. We'll get her update next week. But yeah, she's doing good. She's at home recovering.

She's got some weird contraption she's supposed to be moving her knee with. I reached out to Jenna and said, I need to make an appointment with a cardiologist because I had this thing happen with my heart and it was this rhythm for it was at this high heart rate so we made an appointment it's it's not easy it's not easy getting into a cardio appointment so there was going to be about a month wait

which isn't that long I guess for all intents and purposes but you know I am a hypochondriac I have health anxiety it I would not call it debilitating because I do things like experience a health problem

and then continue to do my job when no one notices but in my mind I'm thinking like am I dying right that's what I'm thinking I just don't tell everybody about it so the I'm sorry by the way

that you that you went through that well I'm just just at the beginning my friend So the next week I am I'm working out way too hard and it happens again and it takes a while for it to go down

but then it goes down but I'm like I've got that cardio appointment so I'm going to be fine now this same week just to kind of set the stage that Saturday so this was a Monday and then that Saturday that was coming up, we were supposed to shoot the Architectural Digest home tour that Jesse and I did of our North Carolina cabin. People don't let me when I say cabin. Log home, okay. And she was already in North Carolina

getting stuff ready with multiple people working on the house all week to get it ready for this tour. or she's doing all her Jesse stuff to the house, right? And this is a, this is obviously a huge moment for her. This is a dream come true for her. When she started being an interior designer, it was her dream to be an architectural digest, right? Yeah. This is, this is as big as it gets.

And interestingly, she had an opportunity, not to be an AD, but to be in another publication a couple of years ago, and we had a little bit of a family emergency that prevented her from being able to do that and it just like she was at our house and she was getting ready to show our house and then that happened and it's not something I'm going to talk about here

but it's fine. It's not a big deal. And so I felt like you know, I was very excited about that week for her. The plan was for me to hop on a plane on Friday morning and fly from L.A. to North Carolina and then be there on Saturday morning

to shoot this AD open door tour on Saturday. This thing happens on Monday. Again, my heart rate is elevated for a couple of hours and then it goes down and I'm good and I'm like, okay, maybe this just happens when I work out real hard. So I'm going to stop doing that until I can go to the cardiologist. Locke comes home from college on like Tuesday.

So it's just me and Locke and Shepherd at home because Jesse is in North Carolina. I wake up very early in the morning, like 4 a.m. on Thursday, and I wake up and I'm in my bed and I can tell that my heart is tripping out, that it is going super fast. I'm like, well, shit. It's happening right now. Now, once it starts happening, it's very difficult to do anything else, like go back to sleep. So I laid there in bed for another hour and a half, just like doing breathing exercises and like trying to get myself to, like, again, I don't know. know like what I'm thinking at the time because I haven't met with anybody is that I'm having panic attacks or something like I'm having some kind of panic attack like my heart's racing you know I was experiencing a lot of stress at the time for a number of work related reasons

and we were in the middle of this project and you know just a lot of stuff going on as there always is but I wake up and I go downstairs and I do my stretches which are calming but the whole time I'm stretching, my heart's just like, do-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d, right? So I told Locke about it. I go back upstairs, and I'm, like, in the kitchen, like, having my smoothie, and I'm like, my heart is just going so fast. And, like, I show him on the ring.

I'm like, yeah, like, 1-35-1-155. And he's like, Dad, you can't mess around with something like this. You can't just let this thing happen. You need to go to the emergency room. And I was like, I can't go to the emergency room. If I go to the emergency room, they might say,

we need to keep you here today and overnight. And then I can't fly tomorrow to get to North Carolina for your mom's open door shoot. And I'm going to ruin the whole thing. I can't do that. He's like, what do you think mom would want? And I was like, well, I really want her to have this time.

And the thing is, is that I know that, I know that she would want me to take care of myself. Sure. Obviously. But... That's not what you want. If she doesn't have to know about what I'm going through in the midst... Because she's nervous.

She's thinking about what am I going to look like and what am I going to say? She's not a professional entertainer. She's not on camera all the time. And so she's nervous about this. This is like her work being on display. And so... But I told him I was like, okay, if it's still going in another hour, I'll go to urgent care.

like the halfway to ER step. Well, an hour later, it's still going. Not getting below like 135. I'm like, okay, damn it, I'll go to the urgent care. I go to the local urgent care and I tell them my situation, well, first of all, I sat in the waiting room for an hour, which is fine, okay. They take me back. I knew that they had an EKG machine because I saw that on the web. website, the guy gives me an EKG, he comes in, he says, well, sir, you need to go to the emergency

room. Oh. At a hospital. He's like, now, you are not, like, in immediate danger, but your heart rhythm is currently something called atrial flutter, where part of your heart, like the small part of your heart is beating at a certain clip, and the big part of your heart is beating in a slower clip, and it's almost like a hi-hat and a snare. Okay. And that's not supposed to happen, because the atria, I guess, is supposed to initiate the beat and then the big part of the heart, which I should know these terms, but I don't beats in, like,

that's what's happening, right? It's like responding to that. But this is going, da-da-da-da-do-do-d-d-d-d-d-d-d------------------. He said, he said, the issue with this is that sometimes if you don't get out of this rhythm, what can happen is that the heart, the big part of the heart can start trying to get in sync with a little part of the heart. And if that happens, now your heart rate is over 200, and you can only sustain that for so long. And then you'll have a heart attack.

He said, and there's intravenous drugs that it can give you at the ER that I can't give you here. That'll slow your heart rate down, and that's what you need. So I'm like, okay, he's like, give them, he gives me the EKG, he gives me this pink sheet of paper. he's like, go to the, he's like, go to the hospital. I went to Glendell Adventist Hospital. He was like, they will, they'll see their sheet and they'll get you right in. Okay.

So I go to the emergency room, the guy who's taking people in sees the sheet in my hand. He's like, sir, come with me. I like bypassed the whole line. Apparently I had like a, this guy, this is serious color-coded sheet or something. Yeah, that's not a great feeling. And they sit me down and they give me...

But you didn't have to wait in the ER. I didn't, I didn't. They give me... Especially after watching the pit, boy, you can see... I'm not going to do that. You can stay in that emergency room for a long time. I'm having a difficult time hearing your story. Like, I'm now so aware of my heartbeat that...

Good. I'm having a difficult time. Good. You're in touch with it. Supporting you in this. But I got right in. Although the ER wasn't that crowded, I will say. It's not like the pit. Pit's crazy.

L.A. Hospital's not that bad as far as I can tell. Not going to watch it. So I, he gives me an EKG. He says you're in atrial flutter and then they have like multiple steps. Eventually I get back to a bed, a hospital bed. They put me in there. The ER doctor comes in. He's like, you're in atrial flutter and we're going to give you a intravenous drug to bring your heart rate down.

And he says about half of the time this will bring you back to a sinus rhythm, a normal rhythm. By the way, I have not called my wife by this point. I do not want my wife to be thinking about me right now while she's thinking about all this shit that she's doing for this AD tour. And I told Locke, don't tell her, and I drove myself to the emergency room because I'm a good driver.

Oh, God. I mean, there's other, there's other neurosis that's coming to the surface. What are you talking about? You know that. So we can come back to it. Other neurosis. Let's put a pin in the other problems that you have.

psychologically, that are leading to these type of decisions. But anyway... I don't know what you're talking about. You didn't talk to your wife, but... I did talk to my wife. I did talk to your wife. I don't know how she found out, because I didn't tell her, because you didn't tell me.

I don't know how... Maybe you texted. I'm in the ER. I think I texted both of you. Yeah. And Christy offered to come and... She just brings in action. She knows what to do.

She offered to come and be with me. I told her, I was like, I'll be fine. I was like, I'm going to be out of here before you know it. And also, you can't tell Jesse. I'll tell Jesse when I get to North Carolina. Yeah. If I don't die or whatever might happen to me. So they give me the drugs and my heart rate goes down to, in the 70s or 80s, like instantaneously, almost, like within a minute.

Hmm. And then they do an EKG. And they say, okay, good news, you responded to the drugs, your heart race down. Bad news, you're still an atrial flutter. And sometimes it can be difficult to get out of this rhythm. And I said, that was when I said, Doc, I got to get on a plane tomorrow. I got to get on a plane in North Carolina. Something very important is happening in my wife's life on Saturday.

And I have to be there. I cannot miss this, because I don't know if this is going to come around again for her. And I will say there were a couple of mythical beasts in the ER, nurses and whatnot. And I don't know if that's, if it was the universe conspiring or just fans conspiring. But word got around. Okay. Celebrities dying. That I had to get on a plane in the morning.

Like this guy's got to get on a plane And it turned into This guy's got to get on a plane tonight You know, telephone How's happened in the game of telephone? It's like, tonight This motherfucker's got to get on a plane tonight Wow

For his wife And we're going to make it happen Getting ready for a game Means being ready for anything Like packing a spare stick I like to be prepared That's why I remember 988 Canada's suicide crisis helpline.

It's good to know, just in case. Anyone can call or text for free confidential support from a train responder any time. 9-88 suicide crisis helpline is funded by the government in Canada. What's up, guys? It's Candace Dillard Bassett, former Real House Wife of Potomac. And I'm Michael Arsino, author of The New York Times Bestseller, I Can't Date Jesus. And this is undomesticated. The podcast, where we aren't just saying the quiet parts out loud,

we're putting it all on the kitchen table and inviting you to the function. If you're ready for some bold takes and a little bit of chaos, welcome to undomesticated. Follow and listen to Undomesticated, available wherever you get your podcasts. So that was when the cardiologist, let me make sure I get his name right. Dr. Rustamian at Glendell Adventist. Shout out to him. He comes in and he's like, he says, I'm gonna have to admit you.

We're gonna have to get you up into a hospital room and we can do something called a cardio version, which is when we put you under and we shock your heart using the paddles. The paddles. Back into sinus rhythm. What? And he said, unfortunately, I got-

Clear. I've got to get an anesthesiologist to do this. and I don't know if we've got one. So it's either going to be tonight or tomorrow morning. And that was when I leaned into him and I was like, I got to get on a plane tonight, Doc. I told him the situation. He's like, he looks at me and he's like,

let me see what I can do. He leaves. At that point. You won't give me a shout out on your podcast? At that point, I call my wife. Uh-huh. Because what I'm thinking is that I can't get on a plane tomorrow. Like, I got, I mean, I got to stay overnight.

You've been admitted, yeah. I got to stay overnight to the hospital. My plane is, my flight is early in the morning. So I call her and I just am like, I'm so devastated and I'm like, I have bad news. She thought what I was about to tell her was that I had gotten COVID because I tend to do that. I tend to get COVID and not be able to do things. And I said, I'm in the ER. My heart's tripping out.

They're going to do this procedure on me. me, but they've got to admit me, and I don't think I'm going to be able to get on the plane. Now, just so you understand, my wife, she was, I don't care about this AD thing that we're doing. Like, why would you not tell me that this was happening? Obviously, your health is more important than this ultimately, you know, superficial thing that we're doing and talking about our house. but I was like I know but I know this is important to you and so why and like this is a teary conversation like I'm very upset at this point

while I'm on the phone with her the doctor comes back in I'm like hold on the doctor's back I'll call you back he said you know what I found an anesthesiologist we're gonna do this right now like in a 7-Eleven or so we're gonna do this right here in the ER do you want it and I said give give me me whatever. Give me the papers. I'll sign my life away. I'm going to be on a plane to North Carolina tomorrow. They gave me propoful, propofil, whatever it is. It's the stuff that we got when

we... What did you call her? Got our colonoscopies? No, I decided I would call her after this way. All right. I was about to happen. The next time I talked to my wife, I was going to tell her that I am on a plane tomorrow to see you. Not that I'm about to be put under and shocked. I didn't want her to worry. You know, the clear thing, that's about to happen to me. So I just thought I'd call you back one more time. We just got off the phone. I was going to get back on the phone.

So they come in, they give me the good stuff. He said, you're going to be under for literally five to ten minutes. By the way, the paddles are just for the movies. What they do now, and I saw this on the pit. Clamps on nipples. It's an adhesive thing they put onto your heart. and then they just like hit a button. And then you literally, you jump off of the table

and the nurse was like, yeah, you jumped. Your whole body left the table. Dang. I wake up, they do an EKG, I'm back, I'm sinus boy again, I'm back to regular old rhythm. And they're like, you're free to go. And I'm like, I could drive myself home because I drove myself here and they were like, yeah.

you know, I had to wait a little bit, but, because I was under for such a little bit of time. Like, it wasn't like a lot of anesthesia. It was like just enough to do it and then bring me out. So I get on the plane the next day. You called her back. I called her back, yeah. And what did she say when you told her

that you'd got in the paddle? She said I was crazy. I was like, I'm crazy for you, baby. No, you're, listen, it's not, you're not interacting in a completely. healthy way with this. You need to learn to accept more help and support and you don't need to act like you can do it all. But okay, we'll just put a pin in that. So then I get on the plane the next day. We do the shoot on Saturday. I thought it went great. And, but I did have a follow-up

appointment with Dr. Rustamian two, three weeks later. What I noticed in the, well, that day that I my cardio version, I went to the Apple store and got the Apple Watch Ultra because I had read that it was a great way to figure out what's going on with your heart. Any Apple Watch, really, any new Apple Watch, but I wanted the Ultra because I'm a scuba diver. Okay. And it tells you when you are experiencing arrhythmia, which is an irregular rhythm. And what I started noticing is that I was experiencing an irregular rhythm

from time to time. And it wouldn't always be super elevated heart rate. Sometimes it would just be, I can tell my heart's doing something weird. And then there's an ECG that you can do like a one point EKG essentially on your phone for 30, and it does a little EKG and it gives you an analysis of it and it's very accurate like it's recognized by the medical community nothing like the monitors that they would give you but still really good better than nothing and I started realizing that anytime I was feeling my heart doing something weird and I would do one of these it would say I was experiencing aphib which is atrial fibrillation which is essentially an irregular rhythm like not the atrial flutter like the hi-hat thing but more just like you're just not beating normally so you're becoming more sensitive to it and you're actually having data to support this is happening this is happening more

things are happening yeah and then I go back and look at my data that I've been happy because what I noticed is that I was like you know what I feel like what I would have called heart palpitations have been happening to me for a few years like in a particularly stressful time I'll just find myself being like oh I can really feel my heart beating yeah or I wake up at 3 a.m. and feel like I'm having a panic attack and I was always always just was like I think I'm just I'm really stressed out you know yeah that's what I would have said and that is what I've had over the years right when I've gotten more stressed out but when I looked at the data and I don't have it now with my antidepressants anxiety medication so the the ORA ring is constantly

tracking your HRV with your heart rate variability and your heart rate and what I would look at is over the past few years I've had this thing for like five years, is that if you can, I was scrolling through the data because it just collects that at night and I would see gaps in the data. And I always saw the gaps as just like, oh, you're sleeping wrong, like you're on it because it'll say there's multiple reasons for that to happen. But what I noticed is that in the middle of the night, like between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m., there would be, sometimes there would just be this gap. And right before that gap, there would be this really high spike in my heart rate variability, like going to like over 100, 150, right?

not heart rate but heart rate variability which is the just the time in between things so what I what I have concluded is that I've been experiencing bouts of this for a few years and it had just gotten much more intense this year this year has been more stressful than recent years I'm also getting older and also aphib induces aphib like the more irregular rhythm you have the more irregular rhythm you have this just kind of how it works so I go to my I filed up appointment and he says, I think you need an ablation. And I had, of course, already done all the research on this. It wasn't like I was not, I knew exactly what he was talking about. And I figured he might say this. I was hoping that he wouldn't. But an ablation procedure is essentially where they go into your heart through veins in your legs. So they go with the little insertion point in your vein, they go up to your heart. And they basically using a number of different technologies. Sometimes it's super. cold like cryo sometimes it's super hot there's a new technology called pulse field ablation where it's just like electrical like it's like it's that

like a pulse zapping electrical it's killing the parts of the cells that are misbehaving and a lot of times these are happening in the veins that are around the heart so the blood that's coming to the heart these veins these veins have begin to misbehave electrically and they are sending weird signals that are getting into the heart and So what they'll do is like, this is your vein and then this is your heart, they'll send this little catheter into it and be like, zip, zip, zip, zip. And they're basically breaking the electrical bond between the vein and the heart so the heart can behave on its own and not be influenced by these crazy vein signals that are happening. He said, I needed that.

And he was like, you can, he says, I don't do that. I'm not an electrophysiologist. You need to go to somebody who specializes in heart rhythm. And that was when I found Dr. Singalani at Cedar Sinai. And this... Not a sponsor. This guy is supposed to be the best. He's the Singalani best in the world at it.

And they used the Pultz Field ablation procedure. And so I went to see him and... Now, and he, you gave him the data on your Apple Watch. Oh. And they accepted it. That's the thing that I was surprised by, we're like, well, we're going to send you home with our monitor, and you're going to wear that,

and you're going to push a button. It's constantly recording, but it doesn't save it unless you push the button when you have some sort of episode, and then it saves those episodes. And it's more accurate. But they didn't need that because they trusted the Apple Watch. They respect the technology.

Okay. I will say, so Jesse and I went to this appointment, and I had, printed out my entire history of everything that had happened to me in order, and then I had printed out like 12 EKG readings from my phone, my sinus rhythm, my high heart rate, but also my AFib, because I would have both of those things happen.

The atrial flutter had not happened again since the cardio version. Did you fold it like a brochure? I put it in a folder. And did you put like a cool picture of you and your heart on the front? I took the folder in there and Jesse was like, And she was laughing at me because I was like, I'm gonna be the best patient they've ever had. Yeah.

And so I get- I don't need any help. I get in there. I'm gonna give the doctor what he needs. Listen, here's the thing. I will perform the ablation on myself. I think you're getting confused. I'm not one of those people that thinks I know more than the doctor.

I wasn't saying that. I was saying that you didn't want to burden the doctor. I wanted the doctor to have all of the information. And so when I sat down with the doctor and he began asking me questions, I said, um, Doc, I actually have the entire history written out, would you, and all these EKGs, would, and they were like, okay. And it was, there was a two, it was him and another doctor at the time. And it rhymes, Doc. And they were like, uh, okay, yes, we like this. And then I'm going through and I'm describing everything. And I'm using all, I've done a bunch of research and reading about this. I'm using all the correct terminology, which I've already forgotten some of it. And then this is going to, you're going to love this. You're going to hate this and love this. The doctor turns to Jesse at one point when I'm like talking to the other doctor and she's like, does he have a medical degree? Oh my God.

She's like, no, he's an internet comedian. No, he's a weirdo. He just has the internet. He has the internet. His brain needs to be ablationed. So here's the thing. You're not, I see, man, you're not getting your money's worth. You're doing their job for him.

It's like going to a damn hot pot place, and they're giving you raw meat. Oh, yeah, I'll take the raw meat and I'll do the cooking. Yeah. I like, I like... I don't want to put you guns out. I'd hate for you to have to cut the food in your restaurant. I just want to know. I'm not volunteering to do the ablation.

I'm just giving them the information. You would have. If she wasn't there, you'd be like, yes, I have a degree in ablation. So, interestingly, at that time... Why didn't we film this, you know? Because you were actually, this is real, man. Everything isn't for entertainment. And I also knew that one day I would be telling this story

on Earpiscuits and here we are. You didn't ask me to get one along with you? Nope. My feelings are hurt. You don't need to put yourself under that risk. I would have done it. I would have done it. When I went to this appointment in May,

I told them, because we had a trip plan to Croatia, Jesse and I did. And I had made the decision that I did not want to go on that trip. And I was like, I need a doctor's note. So I don't have to go on that trip because I want to figure this out. Long story short, because I bought the insurance after I was having symptoms, I couldn't cancel the trip. And also, the other thing that was happening was, is right after leading up to that appointment with the doctor. So there's a setting on your phone.

And you can change it from, you can change it to this thing called AFib burden, which essentially every week it gives you a report. So it doesn't tell you every time that you're in it, but at the end of the week, it tells you the percentage of time that you were experiencing AFB. And that number was around 5%, 6%, maybe highest 8%, and then in the two weeks before, the appointment with the cardiologist, it went down to 2% or less, which is the lowest reading that you can have. And so what I thought was, I'm done with this, I'm through with this. I was speculating that I, you know, we don't know exactly what caught, all of the factors that led to it. There's multiple factors that could have led to it. I was taking very high doses of fish oils for my eyes, which in some rare cases can induce it. But I've done that for a while.

I don't know if that's what it was. I stopped that immediately. And so I thought, oh, maybe it's out. of my system and that's going to solve itself. So we proceeded with our summer as planned. But basically the couple of weeks after the appointment, it started picking back up. And then while I was in Croatia, it was happening. And then while I was in North Carolina, it was happening.

And I went ahead and made an appointment for August to say, when I get back, I'm going to have a follow-up appointment and talk about what our options are for for dealing with this you missed one part that I remember the when we were shooting the the nude the quote unquote nude scene for Wonderhole the friendship test was like the last episode we shot it was after the 18 Wheeler episode and I remember by this point, you had a pill. So I had two pills. You had two pills.

The pill that I was taking every single day was a beta blocker, which keeps your heart rate from getting too elevated. And by the way, I've learned since then, and I couldn't talk about it at the time, that's the reason I peed the bed at that hotel. Because two reasons. Number one, when you're in a fib, your kidneys produce a lot of liquid,

and it makes you generate a lot of urine very quickly. So I would get to a place where I had to get up and pee three or four times a night sometimes. I was sleeping horribly for like a good period of time. And when we were at Jacob's wedding is when I pissed the bed. Right. I also read that beta blockers can make you have basically nocturnal incontinence. Okay. And so that was not saying I didn't legitimately piss the bed

and I'm proud of it, and it's made a great story, but I'm just saying that now I kind of understand why that happened. I don't know why it happened to you for six years ago. Maybe it just happened because you just pissed a bit. But I also had, I think it's called Fleckenide, and that is a pill that you basically call it a pill in a pocket. So if you go into an arrhythmia, you can take that pill

and it should bring you out of the arrhythmia, like within an hour. So I had that, and I didn't want to take it. It has some side effects. I didn't want to take it. But while we were on set for that episode, where we were getting naked and spooning one another. Baby birding. Baby birding.

But the day that we shot the thing we were hooked up to the electrical stuff and being shocked, I was having it like the whole time. That whole scene, I'm in AFib the whole time. We sent Jenna to the house to get... Because you didn't bring the medication. I didn't have that medication. But by the time she got back, it had stopped. So I still have never taken that pill.

So, yeah, both of those episodes, it's like when you watch those back, Like, you were, I mean, you were not in a good place, man. You really weren't. You were like, especially that second one, you know, I could tell that you were like, you know, you were worried. It was, it was very worrisome. Yeah. And it was, you know, it was happening and we're like, well, are we going to stop this shoot?

Well, we actually did. So the last shoot, the last shoot of the entire. season of Wonderhole was the LAX scene where I'm dropping you off at the airport in the in that episode four and that was supposed to happen we were supposed to be that night we were gonna just go we were gonna wrap the shoot at that that building downtown and then go to LAX and I was like let's just do that a different time like yeah so we were able to move that I want to go home and go to bed but anyway so that was that was back before mm that was before you ended up going to

Croatia because you couldn't so now we're back to to the story where back forward in time, you went on this trip, you go back to North Carolina as part of your vacation. At a time when you're relaxing more, it still happened. It actually was picking back up and the percentage went from just being very low.

Percentage was going up. It's going back up. The other thing that was happening is like every time I would like lie down to go to sleep at night and it would just happen very reliably, like here it goes and then it would go away. I had breathing exercises to get through it. I would have a big meal, eat a little bit too fast,

which you know your boy likes to eat fast. Right. And then it would happen. So all of these, you were starting to gain sensitivities to it, but also kind of a resilience to cope with it. Oh, you're not panicking as much when it happens anymore. The thing that they explained to me is that, okay, so the reason that you have to get it dealt with is it's not that you're going to die from AFib.

Like you don't die. Like your heart beating weird doesn't kill you. Now, if you go to this super high heart rhythm and it doesn't stop, that can give you heart attack. But typically, if your heart's just beating in a weird way, what happens is that a clot will form because the blood isn't fully evacuating every time so it begins to pull a little bit.

Then you get a blood clot in your heart that then will get, when your heart does a full beat, it can push it to your brain, you can have a stroke. And so you are X number of times more likely to have a stroke while you're in this. And as you get older, and you have these comorbidities that might lead to, you know, preconditions for a stroke,

high blood pressure, whatever, then it just, this might be the thing that ends up killing you. But they were like, you don't have your stroke, whatever that score is for your stroke propensity, mine was very low. So they were like, but the thing is, is that you want to get it dealt with while you're young.

And I wasn't panicking about it anymore, but I was, I had become resolute. because, again, I did all the research to get the ablation. And I was like, I want to get the ablation because the new protocol is instead of giving you medication to be on for the rest of your life and have to like slowly up the dosage of it,

just get the ablation. And in most cases, that will solve it. Maybe sometimes it takes more than one, but whatever. So I was just like, and it is a heart surgery, heart procedure, but I was like, it's a low risk. It's about as low risk as you can get for something to be done in your heart. So I was determined.

And it was an outpatient procedure. Yeah, so I had that appointment. I brought in more data. And it was getting worse again. I thought I was going to have to go on the real deal monitor. And they were like, no, I think we've got enough. I think we've got enough evidence here to go ahead and schedule the ablation. They scheduled the ablation for September 19th.

So like just like basically four or five weeks from that. and the time that I had the consultation. And we just began to prepare for it, you know? There wasn't a whole lot to do other than just make sure that my schedule on the week after wouldn't be too crazy. And I go to the hospital, Dr. Singalani and Dr. Ramaretti, so this is like a two-person procedure. I'll tell you, I mean, just as, I mean,

I will say that the week of your surgery was, Oh, go. Fucking nuts. And we're, you know, it was just a crazy week for, I mean, for both of us. Like, it was, it was one of the most challenging weeks that I've ever had. I told. And I was, and the end of it wasn't a heart procedure for me. I told my therapist that it was the most difficult week of my life, not including the fact that I was going to get heart surgery at the end of it.

Yeah, yeah. And right there with you. In terms of just the amount of stress. In fact, the stuff we were dealing with professionally at the time, the heart surgery felt like this like respite at the end of the week. I was like, on Friday, I get to go to the hospital and go under. I literally was thinking that. Yeah, I understand, dude.

I mean... That's a crazy thing to think, but I was thinking it. I think the... It was just that there were some, like, there were some things that... were, there were just milestones that happened right. It just, the timing was it was right before it. And I think it was actually, even though it was very stressful, it was kind of like either push things or engage

so that before the surgery, it's resolved. And pretty much it was. So, yeah, and it's not, you know, it's not anything to talk about here it's just you know it's just it's just it's just work stuff business stuff yeah so it's you know it probably bore you to death if we told you about it you know it's but um for us it was it was demanding and my perspective on it was if we can just if we can get through it and clear it out like get some get the resolution then it will free ret up to be able to go into surgery and like I don't know it would be like better but it really

came down to like the wire like Thursday night here we are resolving stuff so that then Friday morning you get up and go and do this and it's crazy the other two things on non-work related things that happen is I had two other family members go to the emergency room that same week right so my mom was in the emergency room all week she went to the emergency room with COVID and then was struggling in the hospital that whole week and got out, she got out of the hospital on Thursday. So I'm like talking to my dad and talking to her

the whole week and like they have it on oxygen and she's doing much better now, but we were worried about her health. And Locke, I call Locke on Wednesday, he calls me and he's like, I'm in the emergency room for something like some ear infection. He also has, he's like me, he has health anxiety, So maybe sometimes a trip to the emergency room maybe isn't warranted for what he was experiencing, but

He also over-educates himself on everything, and so he thought that he might be having a sudden hearing loss thing He ended up being okay. Yeah, but you so you go in there It was just a crazy week. It was just an absolutely crazy week, and But I go into the procedure and You know from my perspective There were, you know, Jesse came, you and Christy came Our friend Annie also came.

Yeah. And, you know, I was able to see you and Christy. Like, they were wheeling me down on the gurney. They only let one person back. You were, yeah, we got there in time, but they only let one person back. But then the woman, the volunteer room was like, come, come, come see him, come see him.

And then they like open the doors. And there you are, laid back in your. My groin shaved? Well, I didn't know that. It wasn't exposed. Yeah, I'm not going to shout out the name of the nurse who was a mythical beast and did shave my groin. I'm sure that was an interesting experience for her.

Oh, come on. Yeah, interesting. I'm just saying, I told her, she was like, I'm such a big fan. My husband and I watch all the time. And then I was like, well, I've already shaved my, I've shaved where I think you need to go in on both sides.

And then she was like, well, let me check it out. And she looked, she said, I think we have to do a little bit more. And I was like, well, damn it. Because they don't, like, you don't have to, like, shave your pubs. But you might as well have, you know, because they've got to go in, like, right on each side. A fan nurse, shave your pubs?

Yeah, yeah. I have, yeah. You know what? Off the record. No, on the record. On the record, a fan shake my pubs. But, I mean, off the scroat? No, no, no.

The scroat is not part of this. I don't believe she saw anything. I don't know. We haven't talked. Well, if it's leg pub, that's not pubs. Right here, right next to it. Like, all the way up to it. Up there.

So a good, like, inch or so of actual bush had to get cropped away. Okay, yeah. You didn't narrow the bush ahead of time. The head just, okay. She basically made like a Hitler of my, of my, of my pubs. Everything you're saying is not, is nothing to be said. I'm sorry. Skip this.

Skip this part. I'm trying to be descriptive. Skip this part. So, yeah, so I saw you guys and I talked with the anesthesiology. It seems like we're gonna put you under probably for an hour and a half to two hours. I didn't feel great about that moment. You know, I don't know, when somebody's being wheeled or something and it just feels like, I don't know. I don't know, last words?

Is this last word? Anytime you're going under anesthesia. What look is supposed to be on my face? Is reassuring these are not, this is not our last conversation, buddy. That was kind of how you seemed jovial. Hey, this is just another talk. And I wasn't nervous. I don't get nervous when I'm in the hands of a professional.

I'm not nervous when I get on a plane because I'm like, Nothing I can do at this point. Okay. You know what I'm saying? So it's like I was like, chances are very, very low that something's going to happen to me. Statistically speaking, I'm more likely to get hit by a bus on the way over to the procedure than to die during the procedure. But, you know, you do think about it. You do think about your mortality and that kind of thing.

But I go into the operating room and this is so high tech, man. There's like six people helping me get hooked up to different things, and there's a giant monitor there, I guess so they can see the catheters as they're going in and doing their thing, and the doctors are in another room on computers, like through a window. I think that maybe they came out there at some. I don't know how it works. They're remote.

They're in another room. They're in another room. I think they probably came into the room. I don't know how it works. I just know that the doctor said, the anesthesiologist said, I'm going to give you a little of the medicine. meaning I'm going to give you a little bit of this good stuff

and... Sleepy time. 30 seconds passed and I wasn't feeling anything and the last thing I remember telling the last remember and the last thing I remember thinking was I got to tell him that it's not working. Of course.

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And they're like, you did great. Jesse comes in. You come in. Yep. And we got a picture together. Yep, got some really good pictures. The look on my face in that picture, which I guess you're seeing right now, is not indicative of how I felt.

I look so miserable, but I actually felt pretty good. But I look like I have been through hell. And you didn't seem like you felt good. Or bad. You seemed like you were just very... Well, when you're under for that long, you know how like when we got the colonoscopy? Like, when we came back five to ten minutes later,

you feel totally normal. Yeah. I think when you're under that long, it just takes longer to come out of it completely. But the first thing you said to me was he was laying back with his head on the pillow. And you said... Because Jesse had come...

back there and seen you, and then she got me, and then I went back there. Technically, only one person supposed to be had it back to, but we were both back. Yeah, yeah, they let it happen. First thing you said when I walked up was, they told me not to lift my head off the pillow because something bad would happen. So then you're, like, sitting there with, like, your head on the pillow. Oh, I don't remember that. You don't?

I don't remember saying that. You were very fixated on, like, oh, so if I, they told me not to lift my head up, something bad's going to happen. I was like, well, just, you know, don't lift your head up. Oh, you know, because people are visiting you and you can't look at it. But I just feel like, I feel like you probably fixated on something. I mean, when they says, I don't know if they said, don't lift your head off the pillow, something bad is going to happen. Well, I'm, you know.

You know, they probably gave more details. I follow instructions as well as anyone. Yeah, I'd have been, who knows what I'd have been doing. God, God, it'd be a totally different. It would be. And then I was like, you know what? I'm gonna let let's just let's let you chill out a little bit everything's good you did great you achieved yes now you can rest so just to kind of give you the the you know they went in they went in on both sides to address the atrial fibriolation and also the flutter they did it with two different technologies I think they use a radio frequency on on on the flutter because that's more reliable or whatever anyway they um so they like basically they go in through these insertion points which i you know i have these

still have them but these little porch scars but it's it looks like a snake bite like one fang on one side it's two and on one side it's one but it was just they basically just put a little piece of gauze over over the wound there's there's a suture that i think goes away that's on the vein because they have to go into the vein that closes the vein up okay but it is Absolutely crazy that we live in a time where I can go to the hospital, have somebody tinker with my heart to fix a problem, and then I can go home that same day. I did not drive myself home. I wasn't allowed to do that. Jesse drove me, which raised my heart rate just a little bit. But we, the bottom line is, is they said that as soon as we got into your heart, you went into AFib. I think they have ways of inducing it, but they said we didn't, my understanding, again, I was a little groggy, was that.

it went into AFib, which is a good thing, because then they can see where their heart is misbehaving and they know where to work. And they said, as soon as we ablated what we needed to ablate, it stopped. And I can say that it has been exactly two weeks since that surgery at the time of recording this. And my watch has told me that I haven't felt anything

and I have not seen any evidence of AFib, which is a good sign. Now, you can experience it for up to three months in what they call the blanking period where you're healing and your heart is healing. But it's a good sign that I haven't experienced anything. A lot of times, some of those bad cells will, like, reestablish these electrical connections over time

and you'll have to get another ablation. But for more than 50% of people, like, I'd be good for five years, maybe forever. But one of the things that I really have to do is I have to think about the contributing factors, the things that led to me being in this situation. The stress in my life that contributed to the onset of this and that would contribute to it coming back.

So I'll say, just to wrap up the story of the procedure and that whole journey is that I'm good. I'm doing great. He did to you what he did to Jesse. He didn't call you until it was all. right exactly but I feel good I it's my life feels much more settled now that every time I lay down at night or have a big meal I don't go into and also anytime that things get stressful like right I'm not going my I don't feel my heart doing

weird stuff so you know I have a lot of empathy for the people who experience this because I guess you can kind of get used to it after a while but it just when the thing that is inside of you that's making you go right is misbehaving it is a really disconcerting feeling and it is very good to feel like that has been straightened out at least for now so on a physical level you're good on a psychological you know emotional level I know that there's a whole component to that so let's get into that yeah so I think going back to this July break You know, which we've been trying to do this.

This is the second year that we've basically taken a month off of all the stuff that we do. And it is a time of re-evaluation and reflection, and there's something about the, the level of reflection and re-evaluation was intensified because of what I was dealing with. Sure. And I think that I just always have assumed that I can take on the next thing. Like, again, I do that, so I do have a bit of a problem in that way. I just think I can take on the next thing. I'm like, I'm capable of doing that. We can add that to the plate.

We can add that to our number of responsibilities. And we'll just adapt, like we always do. Like the level of things that we do, and again, I think it might be hard for people to perceive what our schedules are like because when you see us, you see us having fun because we are having fun. but the systems that contribute to all of the content that we make and all of the responsibilities that we have, it ends up being a lot of our time and a lot of our, like, emotional investment

and a lot of stress. It just ends up being a lot of stress. I will be 48 when this comes out. And I think that one of the things that I was thinking about during that time was I was like, man, okay, I'll be 48, I'll be 50 before I know it. what do I want my 50s to look like? And that conversation used to be just simply, what do I want my 50s to look like

in terms of my level of responsibility and the number of things that we're doing? But it was just, it felt like a choice that I could make. The thing that this heart situation has done to me is made it very clear that it isn't my choice. But sometimes your body makes the choice for you. because I a lot of times don't have the sense to just be like, I'm going to think about my own well-being

and I'm going to make choices that are consistent with my own well-being. Right. And your body is like, I have to speak to, and I know this is not necessarily, literally how it happens. But sometimes your body is like, I have to intervene

and I have to create a problem that will get his attention. And it's happened before. It happened with the eye thing when I lost vision in my eye during GMM-22 stress-related symptom that it resolved itself. But this was like the next level of that. And so when I came back from that trip, we began to have a number of conversations.

And so I think this is where you can kind of pick up. Yeah, I think you were. I mean, certainly being close to what you were going through gave a sharper image. of great store uh things of of my perspective as well you know um we tend to we tend to focus on what we're going after and we you know the ends justify the means and you don't it's hard to make the connections between your well-being and the decisions you're making for three six nine months down the road but you know it's and we get in this habit of it's our emoted that's how we've worked our entire lives and there's

yeah when these things come out of nowhere like you know physical trials or that type of thing it did it did put things in perspective for me so I was having this parallel reflection at at the same time that when we got back together, you know, there was, we had some good conversations after our breaks that were like, okay, we had clarity about a number of things. And I think that not the, and the, and the chief one is our, just our workload. Yeah. thinking about how willing we have been to spread ourselves very thin and just and there's a whole host of reasons why that's been our tendency and that's been the way that we've continued to move things forward and I think we started having really really pointed conversations about what does it

look like to not spread ourselves too thin what does it look like to pull back a little bit to focus to simplify. Because the things that we want to go after require energy and self-care to get there. And the cost to get there, we become much more informed with how our age and our bodies impact what we have to invest and what we have to protect in order to go after those things yeah so then we start to have a conversation about you know it's more of a to use a medical term like a triage like what what can go and what needs to say what do we want to stay and what do we want to add that we're going after because we're always trying to go after something new and we'd already made the decision to what we were adding to the plate that we can't talk about

right now that we are already working on and we'll be working on right we've told you we're not doing a wonder hole season three instead we had already decided in the midst of that what the next project we wanted to do and you know call it a passion project so it's another thing that we're doing is we're listening to our passions and we're not talking ourselves out of those things yeah so all of those pieces come together and we can start to put labels on it lead us to making the decision to take a break from ear biscuits so the decision that we've made is at the end of the year is when we'll have our the last episode of this year will be the last episode of ear biscuits indefinitely we're taking an indefinite

break. Now, it's not the first time we've done this. We've taken a break from your biscuits before, and, you know, when we brought it back, it was different. It was a version of what we've done to this day, give or take, moving away from the interview thing. So it doesn't mean, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's gone forever. I will say, we know that there, we've heard from many of you that this is your favorite

thing that we do. So we know that there's going to be a good number of you that are very disappointed. Right. We totally understand that. I think that we want to, there are a couple of things that we are going to be doing that I think will help contextualize and answer how we are taking that concern into account. but I will say before we get into that just the the decision the decision was what when we look at the lens of what it is we're going after and what we want to invest in and what gets our creative juices flowing and it I'm just being honest in saying I think it wasn't Through that lens, it was an easier decision to start to say, to identify that Ear Biscuits was the candidate to take a break from. But when we look at it through the lens of you listening, knowing that you, it could be, like Rhett said, the one thing that you love the most that we do.

It could be the only thing of that we create that you partake in. And I know that's the case. And we do know that that is the case for a lot of people. So when we look at it through that lens, it was a difficult decision because, you know, we've made this a place where we process our lives. a big portion of our lives and our friendship in front of you. We're sharing that conversation with you. And we have really appreciated that you've appreciated that and that it's connected with you. So we didn't take the decision lightly and we are concerned about how you are processing it.

that's why we decided to give a runway of a few months of the show where we'll know that is going away and we can kind of have more of a gentle landing if not emotional goodbye so that's what we try to do we can so we just want to acknowledge that um that you're attached to this show and that it is special and it's unique in terms of what of the forum that it has created for our friendship and our relationship with you listening so we've put some thought into how we might address some of that I think so but none of it is going to make you happy if this is your thing. Yeah, and that's not really the... Hopefully it will mitigate it a little bit. And it's not really the reason.

We're not doing this. We're actually very excited about what I'll say, I can think of three things that we can go through that I think are like where, what this has been, the elements that make this podcast will live in different places. And I want to kind of talk about that a little bit. One overarching thing is, I think is worth saying, is in all of this reflection, this self-reflection and this looking at our lives and our time, and what it is what we want to do and where we want our passions to be focused, something has happened or something has become very clear, and that is how special what we have in Good Mythical Morning is. I know sometimes we talk about GMM like it's the side project that became the main thing

and we almost might seem that we have some resentment towards the success of the show because we got in this to be storytellers and filmmakers and it turns out that the majority of people just want to see us do stupid things behind a desk and just be ourselves. And as people who've always thought of themselves as people who make things, it hurt our egos a little bit when it was like, I don't want to see what you make. I just want to see you be yourself, you know, and that's something that we've had to come to grips with. Now, we still have lots of aspirations to make things. The other thing that we're working on that we'll talk to you about soon is something that we're making, that we're in, but we're making it. But I think that in the, so many other things have been happening in the world, you know, you've had what's been happening with late night, and you've got the fact that, you know, this administration is essentially sticking their noses into media in a way that is getting late night shows.

canceled or temporarily canceled. And we are just seeing that this independence that we have and autonomy that we have and this incredible audience that we have built that comes back to Good Mythical Morning on a daily basis and Good Mythical More is such a special thing. And I think that one of the things that we are thinking about is how many things that we can do on Good Mythical If you think about the past 13 years of Good Mythical Morning, you think about all the things that we've done that aren't just us behind a desk. Sometimes we go back to Buoy's Creek or we go to Memphis, we go on a road trip, we go out into the world, we do more things. I think one of the ways that we're thinking about GMM is just asking the question, what can that bucket of GMM hold? So our passions and

our enthusiasm for the long-term future of Good Mythical Morning had never been higher. I just want to say that but there's an element to the good mythical morning world that is good mythical more which of course is the show after the show that a percentage of people watch and in that place it has become a place of conversation and kind of laid back interaction and you may have noticed that we are doing a little bit more of like telling a personal story here and there in that in that format but I think that the The very intentional thought that we're having right now about that is if something happens to us, we go on a trip, some crazy story happens,

a lot of these stories that we tell on Ear Biscuits, the outlet for those is going to become Good Mythical More. And again, it's a lighthearted show. So don't worry, if I do something real stupid, I'll still tell you about it over there. So you're going to find out about it there, because if you think about it, you know, We sit here and talk for an hour or more sometimes.

In a given week, a good mythical more, we talk more than an hour over the course of a week. And I think that, so if something happens and we're like, the mythical beast's got to know about this, that's where it's going to live. The second thing is we're really thinking, and again, I know that this is not necessarily for everybody, but like we're thinking about what the society can be.

And I think that we are really trying to move to a place on the society where the things that we're experiencing in life, we're kind of bringing you along for the ride. Bringing you along for the ride. Filming more stuff with our phones. We just took a trip recently where we shot a bunch of stuff ourselves and felt very much. like the vlog days. Yeah. Those things are going to, more and more of that stuff

is going to be showing up there on the society. And I know that, again, that's a paid thing. That never, not all of it's paid, but not everybody has access to that, but for those of you who are society members, there's, you know,

there's also, there's car biscuits, but there's also more of that kind of personal vibe that is going to continue to live there even increasingly. Right. You got anything else to say about that before I get to the thing? Well, I mean, it actually, it might start to sound like, well, gee, you talk about doing less, and now you're talking about doing more, but we're talking about pivoting things in such a way that the net result is not the time that we would spend with your biscuits. We're just going to do that somewhere else.

I think that the net result is that our approach is simplified. and it's less intense work for us. It tends to be, if we are already doing something, that it would be like, oh, if a mythical beast was a fly on the wall right now, I think they would be interested in it, and all it takes is me to pull out my phone and record this, that doesn't feel like work. Right.

It doesn't require a team and, you know. So the other part of it is, is, well, if you want to hear me talking a podcast, I have a podcast with my dad, Dispatches for Myrtle Beach. I invite you to check it out if you haven't. I'm sure some of the vibe of how I update dad on things will scratch an itch that is left when earbiscuits is when we're on a break, right? So listen to dispatches. I think another thing is that, okay,

Your Biscuits became a venue for if there was something that we wanted to talk about, or if you wanted to get serious about something. Like, what's the venue for getting serious or introspective? And when the comedy just goes out the window and now we're having more of a heart-level conversation. There's a couple of things First of all There's no reason why Good Mythical Moore can't go in that direction If there's something that we need to say or talk about

But you're also making a YouTube channel Yeah So today The day that this goes live Is also the day that My YouTube channel goes live And it I had the first video is literally just me sitting there talking about my experience of like

how someone who doesn't know what they think about the afterlife anymore a deconstructed Christian how do they think about the afterlife and specifically hell am I afraid of hell and how do I think about hell again that's the kind of thing that I would talk about here but when I have something like that I'm just going to turn the camera on and just talk candidly and so that channel is just called rep McLaughlin just my name we'll link it in the description um so go over and subscribe to that but you're not making a commitment to a release schedule and i say that in that first video that it is again i'm not trying to do more it's just i think about things and i like to talk about things and it's very easy for me to turn a camera on

and talk about them but it could be that that's the only thing that i that's the only video that i make the rest of the year i don't know i'm it's if i have time and if i have something to say then I'll say it and it isn't all going to be just like only if I have something funny I want to talk about I might say it over there if it's just something that is a perspective it's I there's no rules and there's no guidelines and there's no expectations if you want to do it you'll do it but there's not you're not making any commitments but the thing I can say is if you're specifically bucket for that if you're specifically interested in the spiritual stuff and the deconstruction stuff which again I know is like a percentage of a percentage there's going to be a place for that and that is going to be that that channel so appreciate if that you're into that subscribing there is there any other part of it Jamie we're glad that Jamie is moving to is staying here at mythical role is changing a little bit yeah but I'm excited about it this isn't again we're not giving goodbyes today but no you know

you've got you've got a you got a path forward here at mythical Yeah, it's definitely been, it was like an interesting announcement to myself. It's like, you know, you guys never like, hey, just like, let's pull up a chair right now and have no context. But no, I've loved working on the show. It's been great hearing all the voicemails and, you know, picking those out and everything. And yeah, I'm really excited to step into this new role and continue on and working kind of across all the departments. Yeah, and speaking of voicemails, I think that that's something that we're talking about on a, you know, a periodic basis, maybe incorporating in the Good Mythical War. Yeah, maybe that's something we'll do.

We could do that. But, you know. In the meantime, I thought what you were going to say is, like, we've got a number of episodes now, you know, that, like, if you want to leave a voicemail, make sure that it's not too long. And, you know, if you want to let us know how you're processing this, don't put us on too much of a guilt trip, but we are, we'd like to hear from you. So leave us a not too long voicemail in how you're processing the fact that your biscuits is going on in a definite break. I think it can be something that we can, you know, we can process. a little bit of that together through the rest of the year.

And I would say this last thing, we appreciate your understanding. Again, I know that this might feel like a rug pull for some of you. And just know that it was not a decision that was made lightly.

We are trying to listen to our body, We're trying to listen to our hearts, literally and figuratively, and I think that, you know, change can be a good thing. And we're very excited about where we're going to be putting our time, but we're doing it in a way that takes our well-being into account in a way that I don't think we've done yet so far, but is a way that we are sort of sort of being forced to take into account. And this was a difficult decision that took a lot of thought and a lot of intention.

And we just, you know. But we know that it's gonna be very helpful and that it was the right choice to make at this point. And if you are one of those people who you're like, this is it, this is the only thing. I don't watch GMM, I don't watch GM more. This is the thing that I like from you guys. And if you're not doing it, then I guess I'm not gonna get

anything from you. Well, first of all, that's, you know, it's your choice. You can do whatever you want to. I would, I would ask you to consider, like, checking out, especially in the new year, checking out Good Mythical More to see what we're saying. Or maybe you can look at the titles and thumbnails and be like, oh, it looks like they're talking about something personal and that might be something I'm into. Give it a chance to see if it's something that would scratch that itch a little bit. And if not, that's fine. You know, you do whatever you need to do. If not, that's fine.

I mean, if you want to move on, we understand. Like I said, leave us a voicemail, 1-888-Earpod 1. And, hey, we'll talk at you next week. We will. Hi, Rhett and Link. I've been watching you for years. You are comfort to me. Just wanted to give you a little idea, maybe, for future reference.

Rhett, you have a look that would be the cowardly lion all day long and I guarantee you Link and his beautiful gray hair would be a perfect tin man. I don't know, just a thought. Love you guys, watching you right now and yes, it will.

Will it? Love you. Bye. By the way, this is Tammy from California. Simons celebrates freedom of expression with a daily ritual of getting dressed. Fashion's power lies in its endless possibilities. Each garment is an invitation to get creative, be unique, and show the world exactly who you are as you are. Be true, be authentic, be unapologetically you. Express yourself at Simon.

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