Ear Biscuits with Rhett & Link - What If We Never Left North Carolina? | Ear Biscuits Ep. 367

Episode Date: January 30, 2023

What if Rhett and Link never moved to Los Angeles? Would Ear Biscuits and GMM have been different? Would they have had the same path? In this episode, Rhett and Link talk about all the ways their lives would be different personally, professionally, and spiritually if they had decided to stay living in North Carolina. Start your credit journey with Chime. Sign up takes only two minutes and doesn’t affect your credit score. Get started at chime.com/ear Check out all the Mythical Podcasts on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/@earbiscuits https://www.youtube.com/@ahotdogisasandwich https://www.youtube.com/@DispatchesFromMyrtleBeach 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 Roundtable of Dim Lighting, we're going to discuss what if we never left North Carolina? Ooh. What if we never left North Carolina? What do you think our lives would be like now? And in one way, we're describing the lives of two guys

who didn't ever leave North Carolina, who are really out there in the universe, conjecturing about their life. What if we moved to California? They're having that podcast conversation? Yes, and they are having a podcast right now. What if we had decided to move to California? Which one's better? We're better! Ha ha! We're the better Rhett and Link!

We're the... Take that! We're the best... I wanna be the best version of myself, but I usually don't... Well, they're also saying that, though. ...think of it in a parallel universe kind of way, but like, maybe I should. You know, I wanna be my best self of all of my selves. Mm. I could... You know what? I have a lot to be grateful for. What are the chances?

I feel pretty high, I think. No, the chances are, first of all- I mean, I'm definitely in the 90th percentile of links in the universe. I don't know how I feel about the multiple worlds theory. I'm living my best life. It's definitely the most fun thing to think about the universe.

Of all the lives that I'm living. It is very, boy, you have to have, I'm going to say a lot of confidence. I'm going to be nice. You have to have a lot of confidence to assume that you, this version of Link, is in the top 90th percentile of all Links. Here's the way that I think about it. I don't want to change anything. Well, there's things that I want to change. You know, I'm on a journey. But I like the journey I'm on. And there's some fundamental things.

I don't want to change fundamental things. I don't want to change where I live. I like living in California. I don't want to move back to North Carolina. I'm going to show some love to North Carolina the best I can. But, by the way, I don't want this to be like a bashing North Carolina episode.

I wasn't thinking it that way at all. I'm a little concerned that I might be insinuating that my life would suck if I were back in North Carolina, but that's just a side note. Well, there's a better link out there, one in the top 10 percentile. That doesn't even think that. Who can communicate everything

that you're gonna communicate without insinuating anything negative about North Carolina, and he's better than you, just so you know. But you could ascend to that level today. But I don't think his experience is gonna be any better than mine. Like, in terms of my, like, from a selfish perspective, I think I'm living my best link life of all the link lives that are being lived.

I think those are two different concepts. Right, and all I care about is my experience. I think you're living... Like, from the inside out, baby. I completely agree with you. I'm very happy with my life as this Rhett, but I'm not going to assume that I'm in the top 90th percentile of all Rhetts out there.

I don't know. I could be, ironically, I could be in the bottom 10%. I don't know what's going on with those other Rhetts. I don't like to make assumptions about anyone, including myself and other places. Don't be an ungrateful bitch. They're mutually exclusive. Being grateful for my existence does not mean that I'm better than the other ones.

I think that I am so grateful for my experience that it has to be in the top 90th percentile of all link experiences. Okay, well... And I'm not saying I'm the best person. Well, that's what it sounded like. But I think I'm in the top 79th percentile of people. Okay, you've gone... And I'm moving up, too. Hold on. I'm getting better.

You said 79th percentile of all people? No, not of all links. Okay. I'm not expanding the... I'm not comparing myself to anybody else. You said that. Except myself. You said all people.

In every, ad infinitum. How do you say that? Ad infinitum? Infinitum. I don't know how to say those words. Of all the links that there are, I'm in the top 79th percentile of good links. Very quickly, you went from 90th to 79th. No.

It didn't take much. I've made two statements. I am in the top 90th percentile of link links. Very quickly you went from 90th to 70th. No. It didn't take much. I've made two statements. I am in the top 90 percentile of link experiences. Like, but I'm not saying that I'm the best link there is, but I will be. So you're a good link having a great time? Yeah. I'm an above mid link having a pretty primo time.

I'm not gonna make any assumptions about where I stand. And I wanna give you that energy. I'm not gloating and I'm not keeping it to myself. I want you to have it and I'm sending it to you today. Great, great. I am going to prove that I'm not in the top 90th percentile of all ruts by telling you a little something before we get into the subject matter at hand.

Okay. I'm, I'm. I, uh. Gobble, gobble, gobble. You know that I, along with my wife, Jessie, like to watch trashy reality television. We actually haven't been watching

much trashy reality television. We actually haven't been watching much trashy reality television as we're moving out of the pandemic and life has returned to the new normal. There's just not enough time for all the trash that you've been putting in. And there was a time when, I mean, early pandemic, we were, boy, The Bachelor, Bachelorette,

Bachelor in Paradise. So the full Bachelor franchise. Like Island, Love Island. And then there was other things. F-Boy Island. There was the one where the people were together and there was a robot that was talking to them out of a cube and they lost money every time they had sex.

I can't remember the name of that one, but that was crazy. That was way trashier than Bachelor. So they had to pay for sex. It was a bunch of hot people. It was too hot to handle. I think I talked about this on a previous episode. I'm sure you did. A bunch of hot people together,

and then they thought they were going to hook up, and then they learned that the rules are if you hook hook up, you lose money and you all lose money because it's a collective prize at the end, whatever you can hold on to. But I have crossed a new threshold. Oh Lord. And I wanna tell you about it briefly and tell you what it made me think about myself

and what I did. You would never do this if you still lived in North Carolina. On Friday night, Saturday night, Jesse and I were like, let's watch something funny. Okay. Let's watch something funny.

Stand-up special, perhaps? So we started looking for comedy movies. We were going to, we were like, oh, that Weird Al movie. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right, right, right? Yeah, I'd be into that. And I was like, hold on, is this, like, is it, I know Weird Al's funny, but is it funny?

And then I look up the description, and it's like... It's a great concept. It's actually a parody of a documentary about his life, so it has a lot of things that are not true that happen. Well, yes, because he does music parodies, and now he's done a biopic parody. It's the perfect send-up of Weird Al, right? It's only on Roku. But it's free. Well, I don't have Roku. I mean, I don't have the...

Oh, really? No. You gotta get that. Yeah, but it was like, okay, I can... Because Mythical's doing some stuff on that. I know that. I can add the app, but it was like, okay, I can... Because Mythical's doing some stuff on that. I know that. I can add the app, but it was like, I don't wanna... Nothing's easy.

I didn't wanna go through that process, and I was just, I wasn't, I was like, I'm in the mood to be amused. Yeah, because you have a Roku TV. And I wanna tell you how great it is. I also have an Apple TV. You can do that. I wanna tell you how great that is.

When they pay us. So I was like, okay. I can't even tell you how great it is. I also have an Apple TV. You can do that. I wanna tell you how great that is. When they pay us. So I was like, okay. And then quickly, somehow we went from being excited about Weird Al to watching Ticket to Paradise. Ticket to Paradise, haven't heard of it. George Clooney, Julia Roberts, romantic comedy. Oh, oh, I thought you going to go back to reality TV. Okay.

Well, I'm about to get there. This is not a good movie. I'm telling you how we got to where we ended up getting. The reviews were rotten, I believe, officially. And I knew this going in. It was 57% going in. You were watching it ironically. But I was like, and you know what?

For what it was, I quite enjoyed it. I just like watching old, good-looking actors. Give you a little bit of hope? I don't know. There's just something about it. You like watching old, good-looking actors? I don't know what it is. I'm not going to self-analyze you.

Oh, I know what it is. But I was just like- We all know what it is. I really like them, and they just seem so fun. And this story is just wild and crazy. You're into gilfs, man. So, and you know what? I think that this set me up.

Watching Julia Roberts kiss George Clooney set me up and and Jessie up, to seek out and consume MILF Manor. What? MILF Manor. So you turned around from watching that movie, and you started searching. I still had an appetite for old, good-looking people. And comedy.

Because it's your demo. It's my demo? Oh, because you're... Oh, thanks. You mean I fall into that demo? Well, you're of that age. Okay, thank you. Thanks.

I'll take that as a compliment, Link. You're a parent. But you would not say DILF? You would not call me a dilf? You won't give me that? I'm not prepared to do that, but I gotta say that I made that a gilf joke, and I don't know, has anyone ever made that?

Is it that obvious? Grandma I like to be friendly with? Yes. Yeah, I believe that it's a- I thought I made that up just now. No, I think it's like a category. So, what a MILF is really about is it's a- Oh, I'm gonna blow your mind.

It's all in relationship to your age. So that's what I'm saying. Your MILF is a gilf. So when you watch MILFs, you're just watching people your age that you're attracted to. That's all I'm saying. I am old enough to be a gram person.

No. Come on now. Track with me here. MILFs to you are just attractive people. In order for you to have a MILF experience, it has to be with a gilf. You're 45, my friend. Tell me about this show. But I just think when you think about, when I think about culturally, I think about MILF. Yeah. You're 45, my friend. Well, yeah. Tell me about this show.

But I just think when you think about, when I think about culturally, I think about MILFs, I think these MILFs are going to be like women that, you know, are my age. I'm not thinking they're going to be older than me. I mean, Julia Roberts is 55. So she's a little bit older. Anyway. And there was lots of buzz about this on Twitter. five? So she's a little bit older. Anyway,

and there was lots of buzz about this on Twitter. That's why we ended up watching, you know, whatever they did to pay to get people talking about MILF Manor, hashtag MILF Manor on Twitter was very effective. Everyone was talking about how you had to watch this

and it was like, this feels like the trashiest possible thing that we could watch because of one thing that I did know, which I'm going to tell you, and it is the reason that it's going to blow your mind, but also the reason that I had trouble moving forward with it. And that is this.

This is the premise of MILF Manor. You take a bunch of MILFs, and I mean, some of these ladies, some of them were early 40s, some of them were like 60. So we're talking like 40 to 60. That's a good range. And they're getting to know each other

and then they're like, okay, now we're gonna bring in the young men that you are going to be consorting with. Is that the proper word? The young men are their sons. Oh, what? are their sons. Oh, what? All their sons. So it's a bunch of milfs and their sons.

So sylphs. I just think, you know, I don't think you have to carry through the acronym, really. It would be some milfs. It would be sons of milfs. Some milfs Some-ilfs Son of a milf So, what is their objective? To screw the milfs

But not They don't need Not their own mom Well, this is Of course Where, I mean, first of all Of course not But

Good I only watched episode one I mean, that would be trashy I only watched episode one And I didn't finish it You didn't finish it? Well because I'll tell you in a second When that happened

I was like Man I don't like Cause one of the kids was 20 One of the The youngest guy there was 20 Okay Right?

And first of all As many people pointed out on Twitter Yes It is very much true there was 20. Okay. Right? And first of all, as many people pointed out on Twitter, yes, it is very much true that if this were reversed, if it was a bunch of old guys

and a bunch of young women, the show would have never been made and it would have been canceled the moment that someone thought of it. But, hey, listen,

we live in an age of rebelling against the patriarchy, so I get it. We can, you know, we can watch shows like this and be entertained by them in a way that we couldn't be if it was reversed. But even then, it just felt,

it felt so exploitive, exploitative? Exploitative. In a way that all reality TV is, but I was just like, this is... Because it was like the mix of the family unit, it was like, oh man, I was thinking about the casting of it. First of all, you have to cast a milf and you have to find a son. And you have to find them, they have to be willing to go on a show. And somehow, ostensibly, be told that they're not going on the same show. I don't know how they did that.

But what is this going to do? I mean, obviously, this is crazy dynamics because you've got, right off the bat, you've got this, you know, there's one couple where these two dudes, you know, they're bro-ing out or whatever, you know, two 20-something-year-old guys just bro-ing out. And then one of the guy's moms comes over, and then he's, like, flirting with her, and then one of the guy's moms comes over, and then he's like flirting with her, and then he goes to that mom's bedroom with her. On night one. And then her son comes in after her and is like, Mom, no. You just met this guy. And it was like, yeah, exactly! This is happening in real life. Why not just document it? But the thing that made me turn it...

So I was very uncomfortable because it just felt... It's one thing when you got a bunch of people who go on The Bachelor or a bunch of people who go on Love Island, and it's like they know exactly what they're getting themselves into, and they're only ruining their own lives. You know? But not their mom's life or their son's life together as a family unit in a way that it just got a little uncomfortable. But then there was one of the first sort of things that they did, like one of the set pieces or whatever,

the challenge is, was we going to put all these boys all these into blindfolds and they're going to take their shirts off be in blindfolds and then

sorry the mom is blindfolded the moms are blindfolded the sons have their shirts off and the moms are going to feel the bodies

of these guys to find their son The sons have their shirts off. And the moms are going to feel the bodies of these guys to find their son. Ew. Ew. So they're like, oh, oh, like feeling their abs and their chest and their shoulders and their faces. So what they're hoping for is for there to be like, this is definitely not my son,

so I'm gonna start being real flirtatious with this body? And did that happen? Well, of course, but that's when I cut it off. Oh, good for you. During that challenge, I was like, man, I like watching trashy TV, and I don't mind people doing stuff that makes them look stupid. And listen, I may be coming across as a judgy guy right now, but it was just like, even I cannot be entertained by this.

I am so relieved. Like, Rhett McLaughlin has a line. No, yeah, I met my limit. He has a line. It's Milt's manner. Y'all. And it's mother on son touching, televised touching. And you know what?

Okay. You had to get to the line, I guess to know it existed, but like we're not going to say what this airs on. This is not a sponsor. People can find it if they want. We're not going to promote it. We're not going to say how to spell MILF or MANR. Because here's the twist that I think

they probably should do if they didn't do, but I'm not gonna watch to find out. I'm just saying if I was a, you know, just soulless producer of this type of TV, here's what I would have done. I would have made sure that one of the sets of MILF and some MILF was a stepson.

You would have done that? And then they end up hooking up. Because that's what everybody's into. That's like the, look at the data, dude. In multiple states, the number one porn category is having sex with your stepmom or your stepsister. That's what people are into, man. And so these producers know that. And if they're, I'm using the term smart with quotations here. If they're smart, one of them was a stepson, and they're going to mix it up. And I just think that at this point, I don't know, man.

I just, it made me too uncomfortable. Made me too uncomfortable. And not because you're now making me uncomfortable, but could I use this as an opportunity to shift and segue into what we actually wanted to talk about? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I'd love to do that now. You want to leave the MILF Manor?

Can I, yeah, can I exit? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But what if we get invited to DILF Desert? I'm trying to think of... I don't want to go to no desert. Is it Palm Springs? Joshua Tree. Joshua Tree.

DILF Desert. There's got another location that starts with a D. But just so you understand, this means that you're single, so I don't know. I mean, no plans to be single anytime soon. It also means...

I'm not eligible. It also means that Lily will be joining you at DILF Desert. So there's a lot. And I can't go because I don't have a daughter.

And I'm also married. And you're not a DILF. I thought you were going to say that. And I'm also married. And you're not a dilf. I thought you were going to say that. And I'm not a dilf. Okay. That's good. 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. 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 in select markets. Product availability may vary by Regency app for details. Would you be watching this show at all

if you still lived in North Carolina? Good question. Would you be the type of person that would then talk about that show on this show? Better question. Would we even be doing this show if we were in North Carolina? Let's talk about that.

What would we be like? Let's talk about that and more. We've independently prepared some thoughts. How did you approach this conversation? Because we each jotted down some notes and we haven't discussed this. It's just a fun question. What if we never left North Carolina? I divided it into three categories.

One was how would things be different professionally? The other was how would things be different spiritually? Okay, good. Because that is a topic of conversation for a lot of folks who believe that a lot of things happen because of our move. And the third was, more broadly, personally, which I guess does encompass spirituality, but just the kind of person we would be. I basically did that too. Yeah, my thoughts first went to your first category. So maybe let's start there where it's like,

like the thing that I said, like just as a blanket statement, before I get into any conjecture about what it is specifically we would be doing, I just think as a performer, I would be a lot more meek. Like, I don't think I would have just, I wouldn't be so unabashedly whatever you would call me. I think there's this dynamic of being out here that accelerated this, like, I can be, I can really embody like a performer.

And I'm really talking about embody a performer. What does that even mean? That I could go more extreme. Like, my hair wouldn't look like this if I still lived in North Carolina. It would look a little different. Like, I wouldn't be finding my dress code vibe. And I know this is kind of personal, so I'm mixing categories. Yeah, I was about to say, this seems pretty personal. But I'm just making a point that, like, these things are all a function of, I think, me being a performer and giving myself permission to be weird. Like, I don't have – I think if I was back home,

I would, there's this different force than there is in LA. Like the center of cultural gravity is a little more normal. There's, you know, it's not an entertainment hub. There's people doing all types of work. You rub shoulders with some, you could rub shoulders with a farmer, a tech executive, a factory worker, a philosopher. You can rub shoulders with all these people in North Carolina. It's a lot broader a spectrum and slice of life.

At least for us. And I think that like, yeah, and you can rub shoulders with artists, but certainly, but there's such a high concentration of people expressing themselves here that like there's less of a barrier to overcome to like do something, to be just, did I say it express just be weird if yourself be is it just yourself be if you is weird well do you want to talk do you want to talk about the personal first because that's what you I mean that's but I guess I was trying to say that to say that like I'll go either way you want to go by finishing. When it comes to my performance, like, if I leave the studio and I went back home and I was seeing my family members more often, I was seeing my friends back home that where there's just more head scratching in terms

of like okay the sensitivity to deviating from the norm is higher back home and I think that I would have absorbed that and it would have slowed my accelerating decline into the weirdness that is, I believe, my true self. Accelerating decline? That's an interesting way to put it. That's how I think people back home would have seen it, and I would feel like I would have had to answer to it. So I'd be like, man, I saw your video the other day, and I'd be like, oh, yeah, a little sheepish about it. And I would be thinking about those people more often. Well, I think there's a lot to unpack with that. I kind of want to save my thoughts on that to the end.

Okay. So pick apart which part of it you want to go with. We can come back to all of it. I mean, I was thinking about the way that our career progressed in the way that what happened to us professionally with mythical okay and the specific things that we have done okay and accomplished over the past decade since moving and the first thing that hit me was just a general principle of the fact that we tend to be opportunistic, which is a negative sounding word, but we're not particularly specifically vision driven.

We talked about this in the book of mythicality that we pick a direction and go instead of outlining or manifesting exactly what it is that we want to accomplish. And we also are interested in a lot of different things. If you look at the past 10 years, you know, if you look at our entire career, so beyond that, like we've made a documentary, we've written a nonfiction book, we've written a novel, we've had a podcast, that was an interview show. We've had a podcast that's just talking to each other. We've had a daily talk show. We've made a bunch of music videos. We made a bunch of sketches. We had a reality TV show. We had a podcast. That was an interview show. We've had a podcast that's just talking to each other. We've had a daily talk show. We've made a bunch of music videos. We made a bunch of sketches. We had a reality TV show. We had a scripted TV show. We've had multiple music things happen together and individually. We've done so many different things. We're into a lot of different things. In the past, you should say 12 years.

Yeah, you can argue that we've been better at some things than others, and that's true. But I think there is a propensity to try a lot of different things and to fill opportunity with an idea. Like we're kind of reactive. So let's just say, specifically what happened was we moved out here to do Commercial Kings, to film that pilot and to kind of do a trial run. And let's say for whatever reason we had decided, no, we're not going to be out here. And we go back to North Carolina. The biggest inciting event that led to us growing mythical was receiving money

from YouTube to make the mythical show which was independent of us being in California had nothing to do with us moving had to do with

the relationship that we had with YouTube at the time and also our traction on YouTube which again had all happened before moving

but it was based on a few few seasons of Good Mythical Morning which we launched here. If we were back in North Carolina, so it hinged on that. If we were back in North Carolina, I do think we still would have made Good Mythical Morning because the reasons we made it were we were, the show got canceled, didn't get reordered,

Commercial Kings. So then like we had to build something. And that was part of the strategy, was daily video strategy. But it was based on Good Morning Chia Link, in which we started back when we were in Fuquay Varina. So I think that we still would have gone back to, hey, we still would have had the idea

of Good Mythical Morning, we would have done it. So I think that, I like to think that it still would have started. I think we definitely still would have had the idea of Good Mythical Morning we would have done it. So I think that, I like to think that it still would have started. Definitely still would have done it. But again, so much, so much pivots on or depends on various small choices that end up having big effects. So obviously really big thing that happened when we started the Mythical show was hiring stevie now

it's hard enough to find a producer a good producer right we you know we have hired we had hired people on like a one-off basis before that we wouldn't necessarily be like yeah we want to bring this person in to be like a full-time producer with us yeah but with stevie we found a producer that really understood what we were trying to accomplish creatively. But then we just kind of got lucky that she was also on board to help grow the company. She was committed. She was on board and capable of that as well. And the chances of finding that person, especially 11 years ago, are much higher in Los Angeles

than they were at the time in Raleigh. Now, Raleigh has become- You could totally do it now. Much more of a- People are doing it now. Yeah, right. You know, there's all types of North Carolina-based successful creators.

Right. So we could do it now, but then we couldn't have done it. We couldn't have found the team and it wouldn't have been as, neither one of us can talk today. Yeah, it's just, you know, first day of the week. the way that we were hiring out here was kind of an accelerant, but that would not have been throwing any fuel to the fire back home at the time. And what that did in building the team in the way that we did,

enabling us to make Good Mythical Morning and make a bunch of other stuff led to the specific things that we ended up doing. So my theory is that if we were back in North Carolina, the chances of us finding somebody to help us grow our team, but also finding people to fill the needs that we had in a team would have been greatly reduced. But the thing that would have remained is this tenacious opportunism, I'll call it, and this creative drive to try a lot of things. And we would have done a bunch of different things,

but also at the time, we saw YouTube not as a long-term career, but as a stepping stone. And we saw it as something to get us into what we thought was better, traditional media of some kind. But what would that have been in North Carolina? And my theory is that we would have

made some kind of move into broadly speaking documentary film that's what we call self-insertion documentary film like Morgan Spurlock, which actually has a whole new meaning now. But basically when you make a documentary about yourself doing something. Do you think we would have gone back to that? I think we would have done that because it's the most ambitious creatively,

but the lowest barrier of entry, and you can do it from anywhere because we had already done it with looking for Ms. Locklear. I'm saying this is just one path. At the same time, we got that job with Coke and McDonald's to make that commercial. We may have also been like, let's move into making commercials, and that's going to be our thing.

And then all of a sudden, let's start a studio in Raleigh, and it would be like a you know making ads for people there's so many things that we can talk ourselves into getting excited about yeah that the number of options would have been endless but the chances that it ended up happening the way that it happened here and specifically the things that have come out of that no very very low yeah i, I'd like to think that we would still be successful and that we would have found a way. I'm pretty confident in agreement that we would have found a way.

And it's also much easier to support yourself in North Carolina. The level of success that we would have had to achieve in order to just make a good living, that was at least better than the living that we were making as people on staff of Campus Crusade. That wouldn't have been too hard to do. Where would we be living now? Like, do you think we'd be living in Key Hills?

Living in Buies Creek? Do you think we'd be living in like, I think we would be up in, I mean, like, good stuff happened in Raleigh. We got to, you know, our alma mater is there. You think we'd be out there in, like, Coolville, Carrboro? I bet you we'd be in Raleigh. Well, it's funny because a lot of my thoughts about where we would be living are kind of based on my thoughts on the spiritual part. I wasn't actually thinking about it

related to the professional part. I think professionally we'd be up there because eventually we'd be hiring people and like there's more of a center up there, you know? But I don't, cause I don't think we would go the route of like having a huge warehouses on some former tobacco field in Harnett County. Like I like the idea of that story a little bit,

like being outside of Fuquay and like just having these huge, like a campus of huge barns that like we could just film crazy stuff in. So maybe we, I think maybe, maybe we would have, I don't know. I think ultimately we'd be pulled more into the city. If we had stayed their course on YouTube in particular

and not have like lost, you know, focus on that, which is what I would have hoped. If we'd have stayed creators and not just like lost, you know, focus on that, which is what I would have hoped. If we'd have stayed creators and not just like commercial producers. Right, because again, no one really had the vision that there was gonna be so much potential in what is happening on YouTube. Right.

And if we had to like, those other ventures had not distracted us too much and we had remained creators, then I think that it would look a lot more like a lot of these creators that are in places outside of North Carolina. We talked to, I can't remember.

Linus? No, well, yeah. So we talked to Linus Tech Tips, who's in Canada. We talked to him at the YouTube Summit, but then we talked to another guy who's down in Houston. Got a big warehouse? Yeah, I can't remember.

He's kind of like a Mr. Beast-y type creator in that, you know, the amount of money that has moved into the system over the past five, six years, if we had stayed the course, then we would have been able to generate the type of money where you can be like, hey, let's get this warehouse. Because that's what happens when...

I mean, yes, we've got a great studio. The rent is ridiculous. But if you're somewhere else, if you're in the South or if you're in a less developed place, you can get some giant building or build a giant building. Right. You can do what Dude Perfect did. Yeah.

I mean, now they're talking about building a $100 million campus. It's like an amusement park. I'm not saying that that would have happened. Maybe. Maybe it would be like just a, you know, like a dirty water park version of that. But I think that we would have, you know, if we had stayed creators,

we would have done something along those lines that you see happening in these different places around the country. What would we be making? I don't know, because so much of, the percentage of content that we've put out into the world, such a high percentage of it is Good Mythical Morning because it just happens so often.

It's a long video every single day and it's been going for over a decade. And it wouldn't have developed in this. Maybe, I don't know. It could very easily not have developed. It could have fizzled out. And at this point, and it has been this way for quite some time, it's not like

doing GMM has kept us for the most part from doing anything else that we wanted to do. But if we didn't have it, it's also given us so much opportunity to try other things that if we didn't have that, I think we would have

stuck in, we would have stuck in, we would have stayed in more traditional creator mode, which is you just make videos as you make videos. But I don't think, yes, but I don't think we would have stayed in Fuquay. I agree with that.

We would have migrated a little bit north. Need a great reason to get up in the morning? Well, what about two? Right now, get a small organic fair trade coffee and a tasty bacon and egg or breakfast sandwich for only $5 at A&W's in Ontario.

Let's skip to the spiritual stuff because that is a big part of this too. It's like, you know, when I talked about my spiritual journey and like leaving evangelicalism, there was like there was a lot of stuff percolating in like the year or two before leaving North Carolina, which also just part and parcel was me leaving my church that I was very involved in. But like I was having all this behind the scenes, like crisis of conscience and not feeling like, just feeling like I was playing a role. Not in service, but like just trying to fake it

till you make it kind of thing. And like, so I started to become very disillusioned with my church experience and my, just the way that I was conducting my relationship with God in quotes, I guess you would say. But you felt more guilty about it rather than like, I don't believe this. Yes, more so. There was all parts of that. I mean, I was questioning it because of my experience. Like it was very much a heart exercise for me first, and like a feeling exercise,

than a brain exercise, which is I think more the way that you describe it. So for me, yeah, I was disillusioned with my experience, and I started having conversations with Christy and like confiding in one or two other people that was like, I just don't know if I can keep this up. And then we had the opportunity to move out to LA and it was just like, okay,

this is going to make it a lot easier. You know, it was, it was like cutting the cord. Now I did start going to church when I was out here, but I was just attending. I wasn't involved. I wasn't like very,

I wasn't deeply entrenched in it in terms of like- Leadership. Leadership. They need me and like they're counting on me and like I don't want to be that guy who just quits, you know, and have people counting on me. That was a part of it.

Anyway, all of that to me sets the stage for, man, I think I would be in this difficult place where I would be like, there would have been many years of like straddling the fence. It would have been a few more, it would have definitely taken a few more years for it to boil over for me and be like, I can't be involved in my church in the way that I am because I'm just not, I'm not into it. I'm just not, I just don't, I don't believe it to the extent that I've been trying to believe it. I just felt like I got to go elsewhere. I got to leave this environment. But that would have been really hard for me because I felt like that would have, I just would have been, it's not, it would involve a lot of hard conversations and it would have, like,

I just put this imaginary person on a pedestal that was like, the person who does the right thing is that they serve and they trust and they, they trust beyond themselves that they're doing the right thing.

They're trusting God, not themselves. And I just need to do more of that. And I would convince myself to just hang around and be miserable, of that. And I would convince myself to just hang around and be miserable, I think. And I think, because I actually thought about it, I think kind of what you're getting at is,

I think it's actually less related to the culture and more related to the specific church for both of us. And let me explain that. Because the biggest sort of traumatic element of it would have been leaving the specific churches we were at. Yeah, I absolutely considered them like a type of family. And mine was my family. My dad started my church. My dad was an elder at the church.

So it's like, so it was like, so that's how I think about it in that context of the church that we were going to. Oh, it would have been so difficult to have those conversations with your actual family and then your church family. It's just like everybody would have an opinion, an active opinion, and you would be there for it, even if you weren't going anymore. Yeah, so I have, I'm going to tell you very quickly, because you never know what could have happened, right? Three different options as to what could have happened. So what actually- This is just for you. Yeah, yeah.

And I think you will probably find that you relate to these different options. But so what actually happened was I had a deep crisis of faith that had been unfolding for many years in North Carolina to the point that I had gone to my pastor. And the thing that I had told him at the time was, I do not believe in the historicity of the Old Testament, you know, specifically the

origin story, Genesis, the Adam and Eve thing. Like, you know, I was in a place where like, these people didn't exist, man. You know, like this is a myth. This is a creation myth. And I'm trying to reconcile what that means. But it was very easy for me to, you know, understand that this was going to lead to losing confidence. And I was already losing confidence in more parts of the Bible. parts of the Bible. And right up until the time that we left, I had gotten to a place where my confidence in the Bible and specifically in the gospels and the person of Jesus, which as a concept, I was still very much in love with Jesus, love the concept of grace, love the idea of the gospel and God, you know,

finding a way to have a relationship with us. And like all that was a beautiful picture, but my confidence in the underlying reasons to believe that had eroded to the point that I specifically remember on that road trip to California, which incidentally a video series came out of that. I don't know if you remember this, but I seem to remember that I got very real with you. You knew where I was at,

but I remember on that trip and some of those long conversations that we had in between trying to make videos was when I was basically saying, dude, this is not true. Like whole cloth, like this is not true. Like, whole cloth. Like, this is not true. Like, I can't hold on to...

I'm afraid I can't hold on to any of this. Yeah. That was where I was telling you that. And when it landed on me, first of all, I wasn't surprised because it wasn't totally out of the blue. It wasn't an announcement. They were like little conversations.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We would have it even back then. But I just remember being able to have some really uninterrupted long conversations where it was just like... Yeah, yeah, yeah. We would have it even back then. But I just remember being able to have some like really uninterrupted long conversations where it was just like. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And also like, what does this mean about moving to California?

Like what, you know. And the way that it landed on me was I was in a place of this isn't, I can't do this anymore. I can't do this anymore. Like it was very much about that experience for me and just being, you know, the way that I interacted with the belief system was just like, I was beating myself down and it was just like,

I think decades of that, my journals prove it to myself. So it's like, yeah, we're coming from two different places, but yeah, on that trip, when we were coming from the same place and going to the same place, we were having all these conversations. So, yeah, I don't remember the specific conversation, but that's how I process what you were saying. And because I was having so much inner turmoil and I did not want to leave the faith because I didn't. There was no there was no alternative that seemed attractive to me. And I still was saying, you know, what Peter said, which is where, where, you know, if, where am I going to go? If it isn't with you, where am I going to go? That was the mentality that had, that was what I was writing in my journal. So coming to California and then

immediately getting involved in a church, uh, that was a LA church. Now, yes, they were evangelical and basically believed all the same things that my church back home believed, but it presented in a different way. And there were people in the congregation who had a lot of different ideas. There were people in the congregation who believed in evolution.

There were people in the congregation who thought it was okay to be gay. You know what I'm saying? So there were things that I was like, okay, this feels like I can kind of do this. And I'll just, I'm going to, you know, by fate, just hold on to this Jesus concept and just kind of be an LA Christian for a while. So that's what ended up happening. And of course, you know, the story, it didn't last very long. Eventually it was like, I don't see any reason to hold onto this. And, you know, I'm jumping into the sea of uncertainty. We've done a podcast or two on that.

But if we had not moved. So what are the three options in your mind? So option one would have been. Because I've said the thing about being on the fence for me. Option one would have been I would have taken these concerns very directly back to my pastor and to the elders. As a leader in the church, I was leading a Bible study at the time. I led a Bible study for basically my entire adult life from college on. I was always leading a Bible study. And gone and said, this is what I'm,

I need you guys to pray for me because I have all these doubts. And I think that, for me because I have all these doubts. And I think that, so option one would have been going through this deep spiritual discontent, but then through ultimately what I believe would have been social pressure. I'm not blame, this is just how the church works. Through social pressure, I would have been kind of pressured back into just doubling down on my

faith. So going through a crisis of faith and feeling like you're about to lose it and then realizing that you don't want to lose it because all the circumstances would keep you there. You're still in the South. You're still in this community. Your parents, your in-laws, everybody is going to the same church. They all believe the same thing. There's just so many forces keeping you in and it's so difficult to get out of that. I think that, in spite of... And I'm pretty strong-willed, you know me. I think that this might be... I don't know what the probability is, but there's at least a 33% chance that this would have happened, and I would have like...

The age Jesus was when he died. I would have doubled down on my faith and kind of gone back in. Okay, interesting. Only to probably lead to an eventual crisis of faith another 10 years down the road, just so we're clear. Let me share my version of that. Because the information would have never changed.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. My version of that scenario. The main way that I was serving in my church was leading the music, like the band leader, you know, the strumming the guitar and we had, we, there was an organ, playing the organ. It was, it was, it was something for everybody. It's wonderful. I worked really hard at it. I worked really hard at it, but it was, yeah, I started feeling increasingly like a hypocrite because of my crisis of conscience behind the scenes.

But I think I would have gotten to a point where, yeah, I think I would have gone to the leadership at the church, which, you know what? I love those people. You know, I have very fond memories. And Christy and I have, over the past two years, we've reconnected with the pastor. You know, Warren and Kathy, we've reconnected with them. We've seen them a couple of times

because they've come out here to visit their family. And then when we went back, we've reconnected with them. We've seen them a couple of times because they've come out here to visit their family. And then when we went back, we saw them over Christmas for an hour or so. So I love them to death. It's been great to reconnect with them. Anyway, I think I would have gone to them and said, listen, there's some stuff going on with me. We can get into the spiel of it. But I think it would be like,

I need to take a step back. I need to take a step out of service, like being active, like on stage. Like people can, if you choose to look at me while you're like trying to worship God, like I'm up there,

like trying to do it in the right way or everything. It's like, I would have stepped away from that. And I've up there, like trying to do it in the right way or everything, it's like, I would have stepped away from that. And I've been like, I'm still gonna attend, but I got some stuff that I need to work on, I need to focus on it. And being in a visible position of leadership is a big distraction for me personally

to what I need to work through. And I don't know how I would have, yeah, but like, and what would have come of that? I don't know. I feel like, I'm surprised to hear that you, in this scenario, yeah, in this scenario, you'd have been like, you said pulled back in, but like you would have gone back in and like doubled down.

Yeah, if your second option is more of like staying on the fence, I've already said that's where I think I would be. I don't think I would have, I think I would have tried to double back down, but then I would have found myself in the same place another six months down the road. 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?

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Benefits vary by card. Terms apply. Visit amex.ca slash yamx. Benefits vary by card. Terms apply. In none of my scenarios, just because you know me and my personality, none of my scenarios involve me being disengaged with it. I don't disengage, right? Yeah.

I move towards something kind of aggressively and with conviction, and I figure out everything that I need to think about it. Like that's my personality is not to disengage and become passive in any way. So what's the second? So. Or the third. I'll go to the third and come back to the second.

Right. So the more extreme version of this or the other end of the spectrum would have been that I would have decided, because again, the information didn't change. Like I didn't move to LA and get new information that made my faith crumble. The information was available and is available

that caused me to lose confidence in the Bible. And to then finally consider that I might have been wrong all along. That still would have been there. And if I had just been like, listen, regardless of the social pressure, regardless of how uncomfortable it's going to be to not believe in the context of North Carolina, living in the same town with my parents and my in-laws and everybody who believes a very particular thing, there is a version in which I would have said publicly,

at least to them, I no longer believe this and move aggressively in the other direction. I did go through what every, not every, but many deconverted, deconstructing people go through is like an angry atheist phase where like every single thing that you think about the religion is negative. And you see the negative side of every single thing from Christianity, and you listen to all the atheist people. It's about what you're against now. And you kind of become a fundamentalist on the other end of the spectrum.

Yeah. I think that there is, and I know people like this. I know people who have, in the context of the South, because I think that in some ways it kind of forces you to take, you have to sort of take a side aggressively because it's so culturally ingrained that you kind of have to be like, I'm a fish swimming upstream now

and I'm going to, and all the stuff that comes along with that. So it'd be like not going to church at all, kind of like debating my family and friends. There's a version of me that kind of took like a sort of an angry path. You can do all that without being angry. I'm not saying that being an atheist makes you angry. I'm just saying that for me, because of the way I would lean into it, I anticipate that

there would be a version of it that was like actively opposed to it all and wanting to tear it all down. Right? Which then that is that where you get into like you have to move to another county. You have to find some like-minded people to I'd probably have to move into

like Raleigh, Durham or whatever, you know. But I was actually thinking about moving in the context of the second option, which is what I'll call my staying on the fence, which I think is really, really common for people who are our age and younger who are deconstructing in the South. And that is, I'm just gonna go to a more progressive church.

I'm gonna go to a place that just doesn't believe as stringently about all these different things. It isn't so much about dogma and doesn't have a dogmatic worldview, isn't so evangelical. Maybe I'll go to a mainline church, you know, or I'll go to just kind of a progressive church. And there's all kinds of flavors of that. And there's flavors of that in the triangle. And it would be like, I want to maintain a Christian identity and I want to maintain a faith in Jesus. And I still believe in the resurrection. And I still believe that, you know, I'm leaning into the mystery of God and trusting Jesus through this,

this thing, but like have a different kind of faith on the other side. That's still a faith, this thing, but like have a different kind of faith on the other side that's still a faith, which listen, I really respect. In many ways, I respect people who take any one of these paths because it's their story and their circumstances. And I don't think any one of these paths is necessarily wrong or right. I think it's so based on your particular circumstances and your disposition is why you end up doing one thing or another. But so this middle scenario would probably have involved moving again. And you'd also want to be in an environment that was affirming, regardless of like your sexual orientation or your gender identity. or your gender identity, you know.

Yeah. I think that I would hope that I would have ended up in that same place. I think I would have observed your experience if you took the middle path because it would have taken me longer, you know. Got a lot of love for the people in my church. And, like, I just valued the commitment to, well, if this is your family, you stick with them no matter what, even if you disagree with them or whatever.

So like I would just try to blend in, but I think it would take more years, but I would have like slowly faded into the background and then shown up somewhere else. Yeah, I don't think I could have actively achieved this middle ground sort of still remaining a Christian but becoming a new type of Christian and stayed at my old church because I want to be involved, you know?

And if that was what I believed, it wouldn't be consistent with the things that you have to believe in order to be in leadership at my old church. And so I'd have to go to a place where like, well, that's not a requirement. And when it comes to the, you know, it's interesting when it comes to the LGBT stuff, which was something that I think that where we were, you know, 15 years ago was, okay, like, you know, hey, I don't, I don't really have a problem with this. Like, I don't, it doesn't seem like I know some of these folks

and like I don't have a problem with it, but I kind of know that I'm supposed to think that God has a problem with it. And I think that there's a lot of people who are still in that situation where- I'm just not going to say anything. It's like, hey, like, yeah, it doesn't seem like there's anything wrong with this on its face. And I know gay people and they seem pretty cool. But, yeah, it seems like the Bible is pretty clear about this.

So God must have an opinion about this and this must be his standard. And so I'm going to stand by that. And it's, I mean, it's a difficult position to maintain. But I just want to make the point that there are a lot of people who go to churches that are not affirming and also don't believe that God is okay with anything beyond just marriage between a man and a woman who are not bigots. I'll say that. It's like it doesn't automatically mean that they're a bigot. I think it means that they subscribe to an ideology

that gives them a bigoted view of this situation. But I think- They back into it. But I think a lot of people in their heart of hearts are like, yeah, I don't like, I would never mistreat somebody who was different than me in this way. But I kind of know that this is what we're supposed to think.

And so it does affect your behavior. And I'm not saying it's okay and it's excusable i'm just saying that the reason i know that that's the case is because i was one of those people i was one of those people i existed i i was one of those people yeah right yeah yeah there's also people who have a well-formed analysis, interpretation of the Bible and come to a different conclusion that they are affirming of all forms of... Well, and that's what a progressive church would probably, they would be like, okay, yeah, these verses, they have a way of explaining it that I don't necessarily agree is, I don't know if it's an intact view, but I agree with the view. But you're saying you would end up in a place like that.

Yeah. In the middle way. Yeah, and again, I probably would too. I ultimately- Just so I could tell my family that I was still going to church every week. Because when you-

Because you see them all the time. When you see them all the time. When you see them all the time. Like, it's easy to, like, not go to church for months while you're figuring this stuff out and not have to answer to anybody. So it's like... And they'd be kind of judging you for the church that you're going to.

Like, oh, he's going to that liberal church, but at least he still loves Jesus. Like, the distance allowed me to not have to, like, to have my process and not have to answer prematurely to people who were interested and concerned, like family and friends who would have been interested and concerned. It's just like it wasn't on their radar. There's a three-hour difference. We also didn't have any friends, good friends, outside the church. I mean, all our friendships were people who were,

you know, people from our campus ministry days, people from our churches, and then our family. And there was more than enough of those folks to go around, and we all agreed about the basic things regarding Christianity. And so that would have been a difficult thing. Coming out here, we immediately became friends with a whole lot of different people, including a lot of people who had very similar backgrounds and were coming out of that. And they were at some point along their sort of deconstruction journey. And so you immediately kind of connect with these people and you can commiserate a little bit. And we would not have had that in North Carolina at the time.

You talk about the hiring part. We would not have had that in North Carolina at the time. You talk about the hiring part. We were talking about the creative business part and how we'd be limiting who we could hire at that time. The other thing that... All the members of the Mythical crew that we hired, all different points of view and walks of life and ages and experiences and hobbies

and orientations and gender identities. It's like all of this is, I mean, we knew that it was the right thing to do to say, hey, we want to have a lot of different perspectives who are baking into everything that we're making. It's the right thing to do and good can come from it. But I can say from experience,

like having made that decision again and again with hiring that like, then it's like you're rubbing shoulders with so many people that came up in a different way from us and that are different people than a lot of people that we would have been able to interact with on a daily basis in a workplace environment. Then if we were back home at that time, given what we were trying to build, it would have been a lot smaller. It would have been a lot more limited.

And so then our exposure would have been, yeah, it wouldn't have been nearly as robust and eye-opening as it is out here. Yeah. You know, and that's just a, that's just something practically that would have happened. Even if we wanted something different to happen and we put all the same things in place, it would have just been a lot slower and smaller. Yeah, I think that my conclusion

is regardless of which path I took spiritually, my best guess is that it was very likely that in each one of those scenarios, I would have at some point ended up with another crisis of faith that probably led to somewhere like I am right now, which is kind of like, I don't know a whole lot about what happens after you die. And I think like, I don't know a whole lot about what happens after you die. And I think, and I don't think anybody does. Okay. That's my worldview, broadly speaking. I think I would have gotten there, but I think it accelerated by moving to Los Angeles. There's no doubt that that's the case. I think it slowed it down a little bit initially, but I think that on the whole, it would have been harder for it to happen in North Carolina.

But it would have eventually happened because there's no regional nature to any of the information that was really key in changing my mind. I still would have gotten to it eventually. Yeah, I don't know if I would have gotten to it because i mean i'm i'm still actively not i don't mean to say still i am actively working through in therapy now um just coming to grips with how much how much power i i externalize and give away to other people in terms of like perceived judgment like i want you. I want to perform for people so that I get the response, a response of acceptance, and you're good and you're okay. And I just have a proclivity to do that.

And when we moved out here, we had our relationship where we could like keep each other in check. It's like, is this who you really are? It's like, we know each other so well that like there's this undercurrent in our conversations that's like, we would both know if either one of us was making a choice that was unhealthy and like, we're going off the deep end.

Like, you know what, I'm gonna start snorting cocaine. It's like, is that really who you wanna be? Is that really who you are, Rhett? You know, it's like, we never had that conversation. That's not something that's ever happened for the record, but yeah, I'm just using it as a hyperbolic example, right? We can keep, we keep ourselves true to ourselves right there's that's a healthy level of accountability and then with obviously with christy and you with jesse like there's this

like we know each other there's that very much that dynamic of and then with the with the kids and but we were building friendships it's, when you move to a new place, you can kind of redefine so much of yourself. So it was like, if I was still back home, all of my relatives, it's like, everybody has this longstanding idea of who you are and how you fit in. Like everybody in my church, it was like this certain,

they saw me in a certain way. So it's like so many more relationships where I would have this perceived judgment. I'm not saying they're all judging me, but like it would be very easy to feel like they all have an opinion on anything I do that would deviate from the norm. Right? And that's a very powerful pull for me. Like I've identified that, that like I want to start internalizing more of who, like I'm operating from a place of within to without

versus a place of like from without to within, if that even makes sense. I mean, that's the identity of a three. Okay. Even more so than a one. So this is the crux of that, having all of these people who you've grown up with, for heaven's sakes.

You walk around the Walmart and the Target and you see somebody who has a longstanding idea of who you are. That's Rhett. I know his parents. I know, I read that article about you in the paper. It's like, you're doing a weird thing. You know, all of these, I don't understand it.

All of that stuff would play into just kind of bogging down. We just wouldn't be in, I would not be in the same place. Well, so you kind of get into the personal which I think is a good thing to end on I completely agree and relate I think that

I am I still even though I get a little bit better every single year at this I still am too interested in being liked

still care too much in being liked. Still care too much about being liked. And if you're the kind of person who cares about being liked, you will be molded by your environment in a way that is, you know, the more you want to be liked, the more you will be molded by your environment. And so for me, that's stuff like this. So yes, I have a job just by default, being a creative person and having a creative job, you're already a little bit in left field.

Like this guy does some weird stuff and it gives you the right, I suppose, to dress a certain way, to wear your hair a certain way. You know, it's like, you don't, you look at me and you're like, well, I doubt he's an accountant. Right. Right?

Right, I doubt. And I think that that would still be the case. But the thing is that in Los Angeles, everywhere you go, you see people who are trying to make a statement with the way they are presenting themselves. And usually that statement is, I'm cool. I'm different. I know something that you don't know. I got more money than you got.

Whatever. Like, right. That is less pronounced in North Carolina because a lot of times the social pressures in North Carolina, especially outside of a metro area, but I would say even within, you know, in the South, a lot of the time the pressure is, I want you to know that like, I'm still cool. I'm still okay. Like,

you know, here's a perfect example. When we were back in North Carolina recently, um, I had to meet some guys who, I got several estimates on some tree removal that's being done on the property there. And I was kind of like looking at myself in the mirror. Before you met him. And I was like, and I had my hair, I had a man bun. You know, I don't like having my hair down when I'm like actually doing something besides entertaining people most of the time

because it gets in the way. And so the way that I can wear my hair is by putting it, either doing a half bun or a full bun. And I was like, I don't want wanna meet this tree guy with a man bun. Yeah. Again, this is a problem. But I'm also thinking like, I kinda want this guy, I don't want this guy to think I'm some city slicker

that's gonna like take advantage of me and like start talking about trees in ways that I don't know or like take advantage of me and charge me too much. Yeah. So I just- This California guy, you just bend him over a barrel. I put on a trucker hat,

because I had a trucker hat. Okay, did you change your accent? And when I put on a, probably. Yeah, you started- When I put on a trucker hat, I look like a redneck. I mean, like I got this, it looks like I have a mullet.

But you, and you weren't wearing like a toga. I mean, most of the time, especially when I'm back in North Carolina, I've got my North Face jacket, and then it's a pair of jeans, and I was wearing duck boots to be able to walk around the property. So I put on a hat. I look like a local. But you had to think about it. Yeah. And I guess what I'm saying is if I was still in North Carolina, there would be enough places that I had to go, regardless of which spiritual path I took.

Right. I still got to show up with all these people from North Carolina all the time. And I'm just not, like, I'm not the guy that is, like, trying to be different. Right? I am too interested in being liked to be too different. And I don't like that about myself. I would like to decrease that. But because of that,

it kind of keeps me from taking too many risks to present myself in a way that draws the wrong kind of attention to me. Because if I show up at a place where it's like, hey, we're all like guys who are watching football, my natural tendency is to become a guy who likes watching football because that guy's within me i

do like watching football not all the time but i can become that i'm knowledgeable i can have conversations i think i would be the guy who still watched football that's totally true if i still live in north carolina i would still be watching sports well i still watch sports here yeah i and i don't and i am so glad oh. Oh my goodness, there's no pressure to know about the sports. The reason why I watched the sports was so that I could be a part of the conversation, so that I wouldn't be like, what, you know, poor guy.

He's so out of touch, you know? Out of here, there's no touching, there's no touch football. Yeah, so I'm trying to think, I'm trying to think how it manifests itself beyond the way you dress and the way you wear your hair. I like being different. I like being different. I feel like being in North Carolina,

I mean, especially the path that we took going from engineering and then like the campus crusade, I started to come, like in, like, I started to come, like I'm the most, like in college, like we dress crazy. That's true. And it's like, I've gotten back to that.

You know, like I like being different, like expressing myself. And I feel like I'm getting back in touch with that fun high school and college, especially college version of us, that was the main reason for that. We gave ourselves permission to be those people

because we were in a band, an alternative rock band. Yeah. And I enjoyed that so much. So I feel like I'm, yeah, like dressing weird, my hair like this. I went to, you know, I never would go to a mechanic back home dressed the way that I went to the mechanic on Friday morning. Had to get him to like fix this hole in Lily's tire.

And I was teaching her how to do it. I took her with me and like- Teaching her how to take a car to a mechanic? Yeah. Important skill everyone should know. I was like, you know, we could just, we could plug this ourselves, but ain't nobody got time for that. Oh, I did it. And then, that's not what we're talking about. Okay, good, you did it. I watched a

YouTube video. I don't recommend it. I looked so crazy. Like, I don't think I could've brought myself to go to a mechanic and ask him to do anything. What'd you have on? A tank top? I had on that, like furry blue sweater you saw me right after okay yeah yeah yeah and like the t-shirt it did have a stain on it and then like an oil stain my hair and my my weirdo glasses transmission fuel stain fluid stain so i just feel like there's no way i'd go to a mechanic back home dressed like a the weirdo I am. Yeah, you'd be taken advantage of. Right, and it was just like again and again, it's not the type of attention I want.

Like, I'm free to be weird and nobody bats an eye out here. There it's just like, it's, you know, it's kinda like that scene where Gandalf is going through the Hobbit, Hobbiton. Yeah. And everybody's like kinda sneering at him. I feel like, you know, and that'll suck the pepper out of you, man.

I feel like if I'd have stayed in North Carolina, it was already sucking the pepper out of me. It's like, that's a huge thing. Now, I will say, I think Christy's, whenever she gets in this space where she could see herself living back in North Carolina because her interaction with that culture, this culture out here is much more negative

in terms of like, oh, and who are you? Oh, and what are your talents? Uh-huh, and what do you have to show? Are you the shit? It's like that kind of vibe. And what can I get from you? What can you give me? Are you worth talking to?

There's like this, and can't go out of your house without being entirely put together. Like there's all these forces out here that will also, they'll wear you down too in a different way. And so because I like getting attention and because I am successful, let's be real, I'm, you know,

because I, then I'm at home here, you know? It's a freedom for me, but it doesn't squish me. And sometimes I totally understand that people would feel that way, being out here, and hate it. And then you look at how much you're paying

for your mortgage and like, I'm paying, or your rent, and you're like, oh my God, why am I here? Yeah. Like we have some neighbors who just decided to move. I thought we would never move. It's like so bummed. If it's not, you know, if you're not, if you're not making money hand over fist, it's hard to have a family here for sure. It's like so bummed. If it's not, you know, if you're not making money hand over fist,

it's hard to have a family here for sure. It's a tough. It's a different beast. And all of that cultural stuff. So it's not all great, but it's like for everybody. I actually think, so Jesse loves it out here, doesn't want to move. I love it out here. Don't want to move.

We're not going to move. But I actually think that I could. So like, I'm not, like, I love being out here and being in the mix and I like being able to, you know, I like having so many options for things to eat and stuff. But the thing is, is that, you know, the last few times that I've been to the triangle, I just, I realized that like,

what is it that I really enjoy doing? You know, okay. I like having things in my house set up the way that I want, right? Yeah. And, you know, I'm pretty particular about that. Like, I'm like, you know, I want to be able to get into a sauna. You know what I'm like, you know,

I wanna be able to get into a sauna. You know what I'm saying? I like my little ice bath that I get in every morning. You could afford all that stuff. So I could do all that in North Carolina, no problem. I like watching sports. I like going to sporting events. I would love to be able to go to NC State football games and basketball games. I would love to have season tickets, see the Wolfpack play, like I'm still to sporting events. I would love to be able to go to NC State football games and basketball games.

I would love to have season tickets, see the Wolfpack play. I'm still really into it. And I could afford really good seats. I could get close. I love that. There's so many good places to eat now. There's so many of the things that I do,

I could still do there. Yeah. And also, I could still do there. Yeah. And also, I think that things have evolved culturally in a pretty short period of time, especially if you're in Raleigh or you're in Chapel Hill or Durham or whatever. It's just like, you know, Jesse and I drove through Carrboro, and you just get this, I was like, oh, this is really, it's really interesting to be back here in North Carolina and have this mix of like progressive people, but Southern tendencies.

And those two things definitely exist together in droves in many places in the South. And I actually think it probably has a lot to do. It's one of the sort of subconscious reasons why we ended up getting a place back home was to be able to stay there a little bit longer. Yes, it's to have a place to stay when we go back and see our families as our parents getting older and that kind of thing. is to have a place to stay when we go back and see our families as our parents getting older and that kind of thing. But I think part of it for me was just recognizing

that there's a lot that I really like about the South. There's a lot that I like about the triangle. And now that I've kind of gone out and done my thing and like a lot of the things that we do are kind of based on what we've already done and that we move into opportunities based on the opportunities that we've already created for ourselves that's not ever going away i'm not saying don't worry i'm not saying i'm planning on moving i'm just saying that as i wasn't worried as i have like a thought exercise

there's not this recoiling in any way maybe we need to set up a satellite. We could set up a satellite campus, mythical campus in North Carolina. And also even- I don't know what would happen there. Even when it comes to the way I present myself, yeah, okay, when I met the guy with the tree guy, I put a hat on, but in a lot of ways, I just don't think that that's a factor anymore now that I've lived a life in which it's not a factor,

you come out to a place where it's not a factor. It's like, Oh, I can do, I can look however I want to look. I can talk how I want to talk. I still like, I mean, the oceans are better. It's nice and hotter. The beaches are better. The beaches are better here. I'm talking about North Carolina being better. Oh yeah. The beaches are better. The beaches are better here? I'm talking about North Carolina being better. Oh, yeah, the beaches are better for sure. I like a good southern exchange at a gas station.

Yeah. Hey, where are you going to? Up to where? You going to get there directly? Kind of a thing. Yeah, so I like a good interaction with some tilled soil. You can get some of that out here.

Yeah, I mean, so for me, the reason that I'm here now and plan to stay, now, first of all, Jessie's more committed to staying than I am. I mean, she just loves it. And I love it too, but I also like North Carolina quite a bit. I'm not saying she doesn't like North Carolina. Yeah, I'm much more committed. But for me, I'm just saying that the main reason I have plans to stay indefinitely

and probably die out here is at an appointed time. Well, everyone's going to die at an appointed time, but like, you know, not anytime soon, hopefully. I'm saying I could retire out here. It's because it's just where we've built this thing, right? And it's where our team is and it's where we're operating, right? And I don't have any desire to try to recreate that in another place in the United States. No, me neither. Yeah. Well, let's shut this down.

This has been a good conversation. My recommendation is the Spotify playlist, Tibetan Bowls. Ooh. You know, see if you can last the five hours and 21 minutes of listening to nothing but Tibetan bowls. Do they add anything besides bowls? Sometimes there's a little bit of synth in there.

You can do yourself a little meditation, you know. Focus on the moment with Tibetan bowls. Meditative tones for clarity and healing, whatever that means. Nobody needs that. I just thought it was cool. And if that's not your thing, the new SZA album is really growing on me. Double wreck.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, since I'm here. All right. Sending out love. No regrets. Hashtag Ear Biscuits. And of course, join the conversation there and by calling 1-888-EAR-POD-1. Hi, my name is James. I'm a longtime fan.

In fact, I've been watching some of your caption fail videos. My very first video of yours was the Christmas caption fail. The most recent episode of Ear Biscuits on the chat GPT I found utterly hilarious. And it reminded me of that captioned sales video. I just couldn't stop laughing the whole way through. I just wanted to thank you for bringing back memories of the first time I watched your content.