My Brother, My Brother And Me - MBMBaM 824: Chaddy, Not Daddy

Episode Date: July 27, 2026

The brothers are BACK, baby! All of them, even the ones you forgot about! They've been de-aged and are making out with mystical artifacts in order to bring you the best advice about grumpy owls, small-b bbq, and Big Brother Time-Travel Lore. Suggested talking points: Straight to Kevin, I Am Root, I Don’t Question That BB-tonium Exists, Swollen with Vienna Sausages, Staging with Heart Asian Pacific Environmental Network: https://apen4ej.org/our-work/ Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinmbmbam

The McElroy brothers are not experts, and their advice should never be followed. Travis insists he's a sex expert, but if there's a degree on his wall, I haven't seen it. Also, this show isn't for kids, which I mention only so the babies out there will know how cool they are for listening. What's up, you cool, baby? It's the start of something into a precious friendship. It feels love. Hello, everybody. Welcome.

To my brother, my brother, and me. An advice show for the modern era, I'm your oldest brother, Justin McElroy. What's up, Trave Nation, it's me, your minimalist brother, Travis Big Dog, Wolfel, Vroom, Vroom, Beheater, or War-winning McElroy. Hey, Travnation, it's me, your sweet baby brother, 30 under 30, media luminary, Griffin McElroy. The Avengers will return. I'm so... Next summer, the Avengers are back. I watch this trailer.

They're all there. Everyone. They're all there. Even the dead ones. Even the dead ones are there. Because you know why? We got to stump Dr. Doom's ass. Dead ass Captain America, old got too old and died from it.

And even he is like coming out of his grave and he's doing just fine. He de-aged 50 years. He looks like sexy ass Chris Evans again. And he's ready to beat Dr. Doom's ass because it's got to get beat. I'm just real P-Oed. Oh, right. Because they must have found my fan fiction. it's 1,200 pages long

in which they all get together. Everybody's back from the den. Yeah. Everybody's back. And if I go see this movie and Ben Grimm is kissing Dr. Doom and Captain America is kissing Mjolnier. Yeah.

And like, then I'll know it's straight plagiarism. The, if I walk folks through the opening scene, is Captain America and Spider-Man and the Hulk, an Iron Man on four beach chairs, and they're sitting in four beach chairs. And then Spider-Man wakes up from his dead sleep, and he's like, guys, we didn't save the world. Dr. Doom's not dead.

They're like, who's Dr. Doom? And then Iron Man's like, he's right. Jobs not done. We got to kill Dr. Doom. And that's how the trailer starts. If you remember, I know it's Ben-A-Wazas as it came out, but in game, everybody's all in like, we got to stop Thanos, the Infinity Wish,

made half the world die. But do you guys remember in the ink game, almost the whole movie, Spider-Man's going, but when are we going to get Dr. Doom's ass? When are we going to get to Dr. Doom? We have to kill Dr. Doom. I've heard about this guy from like Baravia or wherever,

and I'm ready, I'm locked in. I'm ready to shoot. I just needed like a ride over there. And Tony Stark was like, do you mean my secret twin brother? Yeah, he's evil as fuck. Don't spoil it. Okay.

And so then they call the doctor and the doctor shows up in his tardas. And they lift them away DeBaravia. It's straight. This is straight out of my story. You got it. I don't know that they're going to adapt it quite that, quite that literally. We'll see.

Remember when Dr. Doom was at the end of end game and he had like, he took out a cigarette and he was like, forgot to kill me, bitch. And then he flipped this cigarette the screen. I remember that. That was, man, I was like, I was kind of yelling. I remember all of us yelling like, kill Dr. Doom. Why did he say killed Dr. Come on.

Come on my, this is going to become a bigger problem. This is a huge problem. Meanwhile, we got Scarlet Witch and we got all these little side projects with like, there's this other guy. Don't throw another guy on there when we haven't sidled the Dr. Doom issue yet. And at the end of every preceding movie was another like post-credit scene of Dr. Doom, like smoking a cigarette, flicking it and saying a different thing. Like, yeah, I'm thinking I'm back. Flick cigarette.

And they do the next movie and they would end with him being like, guess it's me? Here's Johnny. And he'd smash through the door. And they just kept doing that. They just kept doing that. Even on TV shows, every TV episode had a post credit sequence with Dr. Doom. Did you see the post credit on, the one that really bothered me the most? Yeah.

Was at the end of Wonder Man, Ben Kingsley knocks on the door and he's like, hello, it's me the Mandarin. I'm here to kill Dr. Doom. and he's got a knife and he's like, please answer. And he's like, oh, well, no luck. And he walks away. I was like, that's the worst try you guys have done yet. It feels like you're just checking a box at this point. Like, yes, someone attempted to kill Dr. Doom, but it wasn't successful.

And I mean, we've been waiting for so long at the after credit scene in Avengers had, you know, Loki goes down and then Thanos shows up and he's like, guess I'll do it myself. And then immediately after that, there's another end credit C where it zooms even further out. And you see Dr. Doom and he's smoking a cigarette. And he's like, you're not even ready for this shit yet. Yeah. I'll let him do it himself. And then I'll do it myself.

And then I'll do it myself. I do like in this trailer, they have to set the stakes. They're like, this is going to take everything we got. This is to be a miracle if we can face this, our mightiest foe yet. And it's like, that's a dude. That's a dude. And he's wearing armor. I'll grant you that.

There is some issues, I think, with his defensive capabilities you guys are going to run into. But the other one was a huge. huge alien who, a huge alien who killed half of the universe. You're telling me that this guy, this guy, this physician, this armored physician is going to be tougher than that? I don't know, guys. Why didn't we kill him? When they're like, this is going to be our tough as one, just cut to the fantastic four,

being like, we beat him by ourselves all the time. Kill him again, kill him as many times you need. What do you need today? Kill them tomorrow. Get a big magnet. He's fucked. Get a huge magnet. Hello, Magneto is in the trailer.

Magneto's in the trailer. Zip! He walks up, hey, what's up? Grip! Glep! He goes like this. Scop! Like a Dr. Evil, zip it.

He does one of those and he just like a can. Granted. The first scene of the movie, the second scene of the movie, because they do a flashback. Dr. Ngoom's, yeah. The movie forgot to kill me, bitch. And then the first scene of the movie is Magneto and the Fantastic Four both gets some of the mail. It's like, sweepstakes winner. You won an Oxpins is paid.

trip to Hawaii. So they immediately go to Hawaii first thing. They're not in it. They're not in it. They can't help. This is why, this is why I've been telling. Yeah, they'll cameo. They'll cameo for a hundred bucks a pop. Just one birthday message. You know, it sucks.

For a cameo. Listen, this is why I've been telling people, you got to watch Daredevil Born Again. Because the first episode of Daredevil Born Again, Kingpin kills Dr. Doom. And then if you watch all two seasons and then to end

Vincent and Offrey was like, and I'll tell you one other thing about my city. Zip Unzip. It was a costume. He was Dr. Doom the whole time. And that's why I was like, okay. Did he kill in the first episode? Did you not kill him

the first episode? It turns out he didn't. It was actually Kingpin was killed and then Dr. Doom made a Kingpin costume and wore it for two seasons. Made love to his wife. Oh, wow. As Kingpin as Vincent You would think she would be so confused because, you know, Vincent Thanofrio, she would be in the act of making love with him,

but she would hear the jangle, jangle of his armor inside the skin. Oh, PS, sorry about accidentally recounting the plot of Wonder Woman 84. I didn't mean to hard pivot into that, but I accidentally did just turn this into Wonder Woman 84. That is basically the plot. Dr. Doom's so strong that even in the DC universe, we got Batman versus Superman. And there's the scene where Batman's like, well, at least I'm not fighting Dr. Doom. Yeah, and he and Superman, like, agree. They agree.

I'd much rather fight you in armor than Dr. Doom in armor. And they're like, that's what bonds them. And they're like, oh, we're both afraid of Dr. Doom. Maybe we're not so different, you and I. I'm excited for the lines. I'm excited for all the lines. This trailer had a lot of lines. Yeah.

I'm excited for, I want to see Shang Chi up there saying, like, it looks like this is going to take all 10 of my rings. Like, cool shit. Like, I think I'd be good at, like, writing lines. for like the superheroes to say in the Avengers movies. I think we should also throw our hat in the ring to design the popcorn buckets. Hell yes. So many ideas.

Dr. Doom's mouth wide open. Yes. The thing's mouth wide open. Spider-Man's mouth wide open. Mystique turning into White Widow with her mouth wide open. Yeah. Kevin Feig and he's got his shirt stretched out like this and the popcorn is like in the shirt, like you're eating it out of his stretched out shirt.

Yeah, or you can just put money in there. You can put money in there if you want to. And that goes straight to Kevin. Straight to Kevin. Yeah, I mean, a lot of people watch that trailer and they're like, I don't know, this doesn't seem very cool. That seemed like a good moment to remind everybody that, like, comic books are not cool. Like, they're not. This is a good time.

Remember where everybody was like, I guess the nerds inherited the earth and everybody likes geek stuff? Maybe it's time for us bullies to rise again. You know what I mean? Like maybe us, maybe it's time to remind everybody that like, hey, this nerd stuff. It's for nerds. It was for nerds only. There was a period, I believe, in the late 90s where I think Superman got hit by an energy blast that separated him into two separate energy-based superman. Both men.

It was like all blue energy, all red energy. That went on for a really long time, you guys. So you need to know that comic books can sometimes be super dumb. It's nonsense. Yeah, it's all kind of nonsense. We got spoiled by a generation of almost. all pretty competent action blockbuster superhero movies it's not going to be that again but there's going to be lots to like the lines i didn't i didn't the buckets the buckets the buckets

i didn't see grute in this one i know he was in the mandolorean and grogoo but i didn't see grut in this one yeah i'm hoping that griff that was a tree i tried i tried to tell you no every tree in movie because I saw lots of trees in Wonder Man. Yeah. I was like, that's great, that's great. They're all connected. It's like that big Beobab farm, I think, that's down in, like, Florida, where it looks like thousands of trees, but it's one tree.

All trees are great. I bet if Groot went down to the mangroves, the swamp lands of Florida and plugged in, that would be like a nonstop just orgy for a big plant, just one shared root system just going fucking hogwash. He comes back with an accent that's like vaguely appropriated. You're like, I don't think so, Groot. Yeah, that would be Grute. Okay, you can live down there for two weeks, calm down.

That would be Groot. I hope they have a Groot in this one. I hope Steven Groot's in this one. He could. They can swap straight and root. He can do anything. He can do anything. He can be anything.

Comedy, action, drama. I have not been deeply invested in the Marvelverse since end game. I've watched some of this stuff since then. Some of it's been pretty cool. But if... Nine Wonder Man are great. If, if... If the movie ends with Dr. Doom taking off his mask,

it's not RDJ like we all expect, because he came out on stage during Comic-Con was like, what's up, I'm Dr. Doom? And yet they're kind of dancing around that in the trailer, which is wild, guys, we all saw the news. If instead Dr. June pulled off the mask and it was Stephen Root under there, and it was a huge twist, a huge gotcha surprise.

And he's like, I am Root. Yes. Yeah, yeah. Awesome. From Widows Bay? Not too late. It doesn't come out until next year. You can do reshoots.

Get re-routes. Get re-rots. There's time for re-rots. Just get them in there. Awesome. This is an advice show. We take your questions. We do our best to answer them. That's it.

I've been larping for almost seven years now. Continuously. I've had a ropy larp for almost seven years now. And my character has become well-known and respected in the game. taking on several leadership positions and often called upon when help is needed. And while I feel very lucky and grateful to hold these positions, I now spend most of my games in meetings and negotiations. It can barely make it ten steps in any direction before someone needs me.

I truly love what my character does, but I also miss the shenanigans I could get into. My character wasn't important. Brothers, what are some simple ways I can bring more fun and mischief in my escapism hobby without jeopardizing my character fantasy 9 to 5? That was from pretend politician in Southern California. This is classic warrior to king kind of shit, you know what I mean? Robert Barathean. Oh, you know.

The Barath. The Barath. I don't remember the show much. He just wanted to get out there and kill stags. Yeah, man. And yet, he had to get pulled into all this castle mischief, all this palace intrigue. I feel bad for him. It's weird that their symbol was a stag and he loved killing those bastards.

He loved it. He was his favorite. This is why Chris Gaines exists. Oh, this is why Chris Gaines exists because Garth got to imprisoned by the country music industry and he needed somebody without all the expectations. This is also why Chaddy exists. Chaddy is my alter ego. Oh. When the shackles of being daddy are too much, when I can't handle the burden anymore, I brush my hair down like this.

Yeah. And I'm chattie. And Chattie. That is all Chris Gaines did. That is all Garth did. And Chattie doesn't care about the rules. He doesn't enforce the rules. Chaddy's really cool.

The kids can do whatever they want when Chaddy's around, and I don't have to give a shit because I'm not daddy. I'm a completely different guy. Sometimes I'll hit on Sydney and the kids hate it. Okay. Which doesn't exist, right? They know. They know. You've developed your own cool stepdad.

Yes, I'm my own cool stepdad. And anytime it's getting like to be, the stress of parenting is too much, I can leave. Yeah. And Chattie can be here How does Sid feel about Chattie? How does Sid probably Chattie's cool has never washed a dish You know what I'm saying?

Like yeah, every girl thinks they want a Chattie But at the end of the day What you want is daddy at the end of the day But Chattie can be helpful when you just need a break From the expectations, right? Yeah This could be your little fucking shitbag rogue That everybody hates.

Even you. You hate most of all this little shitbag rogue running around stealing people's socks throwing them down the hill you know but it's yeah that's what they do in larp you what you could even go like vigilante right where bruce wayne he's helping through all the proper means right donations and charities and stuff and then you have a masked version of your character that no one knows is is you that's out there i don't know putting people in stocks i don't know i don't know what Well, I mean, you're touching, you're touching on something that I think could be extremely powerful.

It might actually be a good idea. I've never larp. So I don't know how normal this is for a larp, but I have to imagine, I mean, professional wrestling is LARP fighting basically, right? And that's not to denigrate it. I think it's a beautiful craft. No, I think LARP is medieval pro wrestling. Right. So it's time, it sounds like, if everyone depends on you and holds you in such high esteem, the slingshot effect,

of the heel turn that you could bust out right now would be fucking incredible just like just like Tony Stark is bitten by a radioactive suit of armor

Eastern European gentlemen and then becomes Dr. Doom you too must become the villain that these people then will band together to kick your ass because they are all hurt because they all needed you and depended on you so much

I don't know what happens I don't know what happens next in Doom in Dune, but I feel like something like that is going to happen in Dune. I don't know June, but I've only watched the first two Dune, but if I look at a little bit of the third Dune, I think something like that is going to happen with Timmy Chimmy. I'm a little worried. Timmy Chimmy is a unproblematic fave in that movie, dude. I do not know what you're talking about.

What an interesting, by the way, what an interesting timing on that to like have your character? He should have said, oh, man, his timing was a villain. I love Timmy Chimmy. Yeah. His timing was just a bit off. Dude, if he... It's a bit off, man. Could have get that...

Rode that Oscar wave and then just... And then started talking shit about the ballet, buddying up with more than one of the sharks from Shark Tank. Like, then we're all like, actually, wait a minute, Timmy, Chimmy. We'd buy him as a bad guy. Griffin, in pro wrestling, how often does a heel turn get blamed on, like, an evil curse or, like, magical possession? My dear, sweet Summerchild, half the time.

Yeah, that's why I ask, because I... I was going to make it a statement that, like, in LARPIN, too, at any moment, the curse can be broken. You can go back to your good self and blame everything on the curse, unlike pro wrestling. And then I thought, wait, I think I know just enough about pro wrestling to think magic is involved. There was a story arc where I think Bray Wyatt, Bray Wyatt famously can hypnotize people. Like, if they want to do a match between two people who are best buds, they used to just be able to get Bray Wyatt out there. and hold up his lantern and now all of a sudden

you know Alexa Bliss is is bad now like they used to be a lantern yeah he had a magic lantern Bray Wyatt was the fucking best man no one's ever done it like Bray God wrestling rules wrestling is very very good I'm pretty sure that when

John Sina like freaked out and went ham on Cody Rhodes that was also a magic there was a mad there was a supernatural element to that I think it was a smoke monster got him and made him do all that bad stuff. And then he retired to have an incredibly lucrative television and film career. And he wasn't hip, he wasn't like exercised or anything.

He just kind of was just like, all right, guys, thanks. It's been fun. I've been John Cena. This has all been play pretend. I wasn't actually hypnotized or cursed by Bray White's Magic Lantern. This is, but I'm off the movies. John Cena hasn't been in a Marvel movie, has he? John Cena has been in a Marvel movie.

Which one? I don't know, but it seems crazy to say he hasn't. Marvel movie. Well, because he was in Peacemaker. That's D.C. Oh, wow, no, he's never been in it. He's never been in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There's got to be, he must have done something.

Because everybody's been in it. Yeah. They keep asking Adam Driver. He keeps saying no. I love that. I saw that quote from an interview where Adam Driver's like, yeah, they keep asking me and it's like a standing invitation and I just keep turning it down. And it's like, I think it was actually Kevin Feast was talking about Adam Driver.

and like, that's cool. Can I say that too? Yeah. They keep trying to get me, guys. They keep trying to bring me in. They want me to be. I've never agreed to be in a Marvel cinematic. I have never ever greenlit put the rubber stamp on that.

Never once have I been asked and said yes. Because I need practical. I only work practical. And if they're going to put my, if they're going to put my head on a big, strong CGI body without my permission, I don't play like that. I also only shoot on 35 mil. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like, I don't do digital, I think.

So if you want to put me in a Marvel movie, it's all going to have to be on celluloid, um, screened at like indie theaters. Yeah. Did you guys know that when Mark Ruffalo showed up the first day of shooting for Avengers, he painted his body fully green. And they were like, you don't need to do that. We'll make you, we have a computer Hulk that we can do.

We already talked about, we can't just randomly go back and start talking about Avengers and Game Griffin. We've already talked about Avengers once today. You're right. You're right. No, you're right. Have you guys been watching Big Brother? No.

Never once. Me either. Me neither. But I saw a commercial for Big Brother this season, and I asked my friends John Ristie about it because they watched Big Brother. And I said, guys, I saw a commercial and Big Brother where there's portals. Is this accurate? And they're like, yeah, yeah.

This season, it's about time travel. And I was like, what are you talking about? And then I got distracted. So I went searching on Reddit. And I found a post about this season of Big Brother, right? Yeah. And I just wanted to, I'm hoping people can fill this in for me because I wanted to share it with you guys

because without context, I don't know what I've been missing. This show is unwatchable. This is from the Big Brother Reddit. Big Brother has had some wild themes in the past. It's no coincidence that the next most crazy one was the time laser. But they have taken it to an absurd degree. and there are some issues here that I feel are too big to ignore. Firstly, let me say, this is not an indictment of the dining table time machine or timetable.

I don't question that BBtonium exists. I don't question that BBtonium exists. That it can be used for time travel or even that Inzo is the one who is able to develop it. These things are all unbelievable, the last most of all, of course, but they can be accepted as truth. We will even handwave them being able to get camera footage across time and space. The problem is in the framing of the reality icons that they recruited with the timetable. Why would you need to go back in time to invite a teenage Angela to a future season of a show that doesn't yet exist? Especially knowing that she will already have been on the show.

That's... Especially knowing that she will already have been on the show prior to this season without any medley. Like, can they just ask her a month ago if she wanted to come back? You don't need a time machine. Guys, it's my constant secret fear. It's my constant secret fear that dope shit is happening in these corners of pop culture and entertainment that I can't, I can't possibly, I can't possibly be watching. I can't watch, I watch every episode of American Ninja Warrior. I can't also watch every episode of Big Brother.

and I hate that there's secret great stuff happening. This is why we need fucking goggle box here in America. Okay, yeah, they watch... Or the soup! Bring it back. For God's sake. Or the internet or TikTok, something, you know? I just need to see normal people like me reacting to wild shit sitting on their couch.

Not like... And don't get me wrong. I love YouTubers who do videos reacting to wild shit. We love YouTubers. But I want just sitting on a couch and seeing someone go, what the fuck is that? That's what I want. I'm sure that's also on YouTube for you if you like it.

I'm sure there's lots of different. There's like a cozy reaction. But even that's too much. I need a pill or something. The only way this makes sense is if the meddling truly is necessary, i.e., the letter not only includes instructions to come to this season, but also information about how to ensure she is cast on her original season after the show does come into existence. That's cool.

Maybe it's true that time travel is the only reason. reasonable explanation for Angela being cast. Actually, we should go back to that icon question. Does this imply that Angela was intentionally acting unhinged in her first appearance to make her worthy of her spot in the future? This was guidance. This is all from her future self. I do find it unlikely this plan would work, though, based on how she destroyed the letter without

even reading it. Clearly, this is meant to be a second reference to back to the future, along with Enzo hitting his head and unlocking the secrets of time travel. However, it makes much less sense for Angela as there was the exact opposite of a grand adventure camaraderie between her and the players before her departure. God damn. What is this show about?

It's about time travel. Obviously, terrifying thing that requires dim-depth analysis would be that if she goes time traveling and immediately dies and the show doesn't end? The players don't panic. They just gleefully go on? What's worse?

Does that happen? I've never seen. I've watched a lot. of reality shows. I've never seen someone suddenly die on one. What's worse is that Julie doesn't even consider going back to save her. Julie, the host, I think they're talking about the host of the show. Julie doesn't go back to save her. She just goes on to find a replacement. The lawsuits would be incredible to say the least. How can I take it seriously if the story isn't taking itself seriously? Yeah. Justin, are there comments reacting to this like in a shared way or is this one of those like

creepy pasta I remember a scary TV show for when I was a kid that doesn't exist. It's a background. No. Is this a backroom? Uh, no, this is not a back room. This is just a regular Reddit post. If I could just, I'm almost done with this one. By far, the most egregious error in spite of all this is how Julie can even use the

timetable right now. It's shown to travel with the players and they haven't come back yet. So there should be no table for her to use. No producers or cameramen are showing. sitting at the table. So we can't say that someone else took it back ahead of the players. I guess they have a second identical timetable? This fucking rules, man.

I guess they have a second identical timetable that production wheeled in and put in the exact same spot as the original for Julie to use. The existence of multiple time machines raises so many questions by itself that I can't possibly get into it. One big brother time machine. Okay. This is easily explained. Okay.

If you go back, right, then the table just sits there until it's in the present. It's the same with the Delorian. Read a fucking book. Okay. If you don't move it, then it eventually will make its way back home. That's interesting. It's the same table. It's just now, I don't know, 20 years older.

Yeah. Or you made two of them because if you're going to have a time machine, Why wouldn't you make fucking two of them? They always need a second one. I would definitely always have a second time machine. Because how many times does it happen that someone's been like, uh-oh, now we're stuck in time? Right. Have a second time machine, you dummy?

You made one. Yeah, I'd leave a note with you guys to be like, hey, hey, I'm stuck in the past again. Come pick me up. You need a spotter. I'm not going to watch it. I'm not. I'm not. But like, thank you for the update.

I'll read the novelization. Yeah, when they adapted into like McDonald's toys, I'll check those out. Sure. Let's take a quick break. Let's head to the money zone and do it right. We'll do more. You know, you walk around your home, your place of living every day, and take a look and really ask yourself, does this feel like you? Does this really feel like your space?

Is this a space where you really put your stamp on it? Do you love the things in there? And do they make you happy? every day. Is this simulation? Things can't make you happy, but some things can. You know what I mean? That's an interesting way of thinking about it.

Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy some. It can buy things that make you happy. For sure. I wanted to spend more time outside this summer. So I used Wayfair to find a lovely outdoor table for my family to use when we eat dinner outdoors. And so that's facilitated a lot of happiness in my life because I said, hey, I want this space to reflect me. I want this to feel like my family. And Waifer made it really easy.

They have seating. They have grills, appliances, storage, lighting, rugs, decor, whatever you need. It's there. You can get it at a Wayfar. And if putting it together sounds like a pain, they got delivery, they can handle insulation, even assembly. So I think it's going to make a really pleasant experience for you. I was very pleased. It arrived quickly.

I think it's a really good quality table. And I'm a big fan of it honestly. It's been out there for now it's been a year, actually, since I got that table from Wayfair. And it is just as lovely as the day I got it. It is a great table. It's a great table. Are you ready to upgrade your home for way less?

Head to Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home and get your space ready for less. That's W-A-Y-F-A-R.com. I have a confession, and I don't know if Warby Parker wants me to start out with this energy. He doesn't have for Warby Parker. But I've been wearing Warby Parker frames pretty exclusively now for a very long time, for years and years. And I needed some new glasses, and I had the thought, should I get out there and see what else, what else is happening in the world that is not this trusted brand that I rock with, like, so hard. So I went out and I looked at some other, I went to some glasses businesses, and I looked at. looked around and I tried some stuff on.

I couldn't find a lot of stuff I liked and then the stuff that I thought looked all right was like a thousand goddamn dollars for one pair of glasses everywhere I went. They were like, let me think, a thousand. Pretty much all of them, just outrageous prices and not a lot of great selection, especially for a gentleman with a, who has a carriage of head that is larger than medically appropriate. And you know what I did? I went to a Warby Parker. brick and mortar, which I had never done before.

I'd done all like the shopping online and doing the home try-on program, which is great. But I went into one and I tried on some frames. And I was like, how much are they? And they were like, not just a normal price, but a better than normal price. And it really, I realized like, I don't need anything else. I just need Warby Parker. Is that your full confession, Griffin? That's my full confession.

Is that I was tempted. Move in. Shit. I was tempted by the fruit of another. I was tempted by the fruit of another. but then I found out that there actually wasn't any good fruit and the fruit that was there, the wrinkled pruny, shitty fruit cost $1,000.

What's that? There's traffic? Just tell me to wait until the end of the episode because I need to get this. Actually, I'm doing besties right after this. If you could have them circle back around around 1230, that would be great. Do you want like a coffee or anything, growing? Yeah, that would be great.

I'm rocking the Santiago extra wide. I really like this frame. It's just $95, these glasses. Wow. Can you believe that? And it's like a dual color. It's like tortoiseshell up top, but then like blue, like baby blue to compliment the old the peepers.

I got another pair coming. More buddy Holly style. Very excited for those to come in. I got sunglasses from Orby Parker. Genuinely, like really great designs that look really good. And the price is just fucking unbeatable, gang. It's so, so good. And you should be using it too.

Also, every time they sell a pair of glasses, they give a pair to someone in need. That's like, they don't say, hey, someone in need. Do you got $1,000? They just give them the pair, like no questions asked. They distributed over 20 million pairs of glasses through the buy a pair, give a pair program. Dang. Warby Parker. It's all I need right now, buy one pair of glasses and get 20% off any additional pairs at warbyparker.com slash my brother.

That's 20% off any additional pairs when you purchase one pair at W-A-R-By-Parker.com slash my brother. I recently began working as an educator at a wildlife rehabilitation center slash museum in the Bay Area. eventually I will that's an interesting combination because I think that if the rehab doesn't work out you can just stuff them and be like dang remember hawks yeah sure the museum

part of it a zoo slash museum there's a pipeline there that no one's talking about yeah it's a very like that uses like all the parts you know nothing goes to waste with that no yeah it's unconnected it's like we have all these beautiful paintings and these fucking

Hawks tear them to shreds. What were we thinking? Eventually, I will have the opportunity to train with one of the raptors, birds of prey, and I'm really hoping to be paired with a one-eyed hawk named Odin. When I told this to my boss, she immediately said, oh, nobody

trains with Odin. He's too grumpy and unruly. Brothers, how do I convince my boss to let me live out my childhood dreams of developing a free will-y-esque relationship with this grouchy yet lovable hawk? That's from Bird Brain in the Bay. It's been a while since I've seen for Willie, but I don't remember it being, oh, free willie, he's grumpy and angry.

I don't remember it being like, yeah, yeah, yeah, no one fucks with free Willie. That guy, boo. I am glad. There was a part of this question where the question answer said, I'm really hoping to be paired with a one-eyed hawk named Odin. I am very glad that they had a one-eyed hawk named Odin at the rehabilitation center slash museum at which you work. Otherwise, you would be about to come to your boss.

a completely unreasonable request. I wish to train a one-eyed hawk named Odin. Well, we don't have that. We don't have that. Well, I'm willing to put in the work. Find a hawk. Get an ass. The next part's going to be.

Rename a klutzy one. I mean, I don't know what to tell you, man. Hope for the best. Hey. You could start wearing an iPatch in a show solidarity. Do you think they give the hawk couldn't eye patch? I think that'd be cool. I think it'd be nice.

the hawk a little lie-patch. Well, when they're doing the falconry, they put a little binder on it to start off with, right? And then removing, oh, ha, go. So this will just be half as much. Now, I will say if that would affect a hawk in the same way that it affects humans, I do think you need a certain amount of depth perception

when diving downward at the ground at 75 miles an hour to scoop up a little field mouse or something. You'll be his eyes. Like in how to train your dragon Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop! Hey, yeah! Oh, don't, slow, slow, slow, slow!

Slow down! Slow down! Oh, go down. The mouse is down, down, down, down. Down, down, down. Not that down. Oh, fuck. Fuck.

We'll work to train a no-eyed hawk named Odin. I'd like to train a one-eyed, no-boned, de-boned hawk. Oh, it can take the talents out too. Fuck, that hurts. Shit. Shit. Take his little fucking nails out. God damn, Odin.

Shit. Like to train a penguin. I want to train a really nice salamander that can fly. Do you know what this is? I don't want to be a pessimist. I try not to embody that energy in my life. But this reminds me of every time I pass by the sword and the stone at Magic Kingdom. And part of me that's like they don't give it to guys like me.

I understand that. And I'm not going to build a whole platform around that. I don't have a tight five. I might do about how they don't give it out to guys like me. but I do still have the thought of like what if I am chosen? Y'all we got to be careful when we're wearing black t-shirts

because like anything can and will be used clipped against this. You got to be careful. Okay, well I'll get low so you can't see. Let me raise my desk up. I see the sword and the stone and I think what if I'm the special chosen boy for today? And I never have, I've only done it like once or twice

before I realize like now I'm just embarrassing myself. I think if this works out for you, life altering life defining achievement I tamed the skies I tamed the one-eyed hawk

named Odin he was too surly and unruly for anyone else to fuck around with but now he is my familiar partner

he's my partner I think that's important tame I would take tame out of it take tame out of it entirely Odin's not gonna like it if Odin hears you say that

the margin of error here is non-existent if you fuck up once in front of Odin it's done he is not going to forgive you. You're going to need to treat Odin as an equal, which is a problem when it comes to ordering lunch and you take turns. And like one day you get tacos and then the next day you're eating moles. Like that's going to be a problem. But like that's the kind of commitment you need to have. Required.

I think you're missing the step where you have to get the boss on board first. Because if you just open up the cage and Odin flies away and you're like, well, shit, you're going to get in trouble. You got to have your boss's permission. I think first you've got to win Odin over with just little treats when nobody's looking. And then you go to the boss and you say, boss, good news. Watch how much Odin likes me. And they'll say, good job, Dustin. I'm proud of you.

but we have had complaints from the other staff that Odin has become thick and swallowed with Vienna sausages. Leden, they've called him. He's become leaden. He no longer takes disguise because he's become so swollen with Vienna sausages.

And I'll say, I don't know anything about that. They say, you've seen the cans in your car. He smokes clothes constantly. He smokes cloves constantly. Every day I give him 15 cigarettes. I've gotten to all convicted of clothes cigarettes. I started out hotbox in a... Yeah.

So eventually won't smoke him himself. I'm trying to work it into the show. Honestly, boss, you could have, forget the, forget the museum. Forget the conservatory. This is the all singing,

all dancing, all smoking Odin's show. He blows the smoke rings and then flies through them. Yeah. He's gonna love it. That's awesome. He can talk.

He can only say cigarettes. He doesn't fly. He says two things. He doesn't fly. He doesn't fly. He doesn't hunt. He goes, squam.

And he also goes, Cigarettes. And he goes, ha ha, ha, ha. The kids are going to love it. The kids will love it. I'll tell you,

I'll tell you a word for my man, Ash, catch him. When Pikachu didn't want to play along with him and become his familiar, is that then Pikachu got fucking jumped by a bunch of Spiros, maybe even a Fero,

and got fucked up. And then my man, Ash had to steal Misty's bike to get this little guy to a Pokemon center before he, actually died. And from that moment on,

Pikachu was like, that's my duty, saved my life. I would do anything for him I'm right or die. You need to save Odin's life and I don't see a way to organically have that happen

without you also causing the thing that happens that endangered is alive. Yeah, you're going to have to hire some birds to attack and might I suggest maybe cut out

a little bit of the middleman, just step in and kick the other bird's asses. Don't wait for them to kick Odin's ass and then save him. When he's like surrounded, you step up. in, the two of you go back to back, right?

And you, like, kick all these birds' asses. Yeah. I don't suppose it would be ethical to promise him a cybernetic hawk eye, would it? Like, if you... Ethics? Well... If you cooperate with me, I know some of the greatest scientists in Austria and they've been working at the forefront of, like, Hawk technology.

Yeah. Maybe we can help you out. I worry it's a bit short-sighted. You're not going to get anything for me for that. Okay. Because then eventually Odin will expect you to deliver on that. He's going to ask you about it a lot. Yeah, you can only sort of dangle that over him for so long before he's going to start asking.

It feels mean. It feels mean now that I've... It feels mean. Give him your eye. Oh, that's cool. It's not going to be the right size. Or is good. That'd be cool.

If I saw a hawk with one human eye, that's a, I'm ready for... If he rolls up... up to my spot, I'm gonna say, what's the prophecy, dude? Like, you've got a, if you got one big, bulging human eye, you got a prophecy or score an omen? You're doing an MLM? You want to be the president of my HOA? What's your deal, man?

I'm in, whatever you're doing. I'm in. I'm in. Yes. Thank you. I don't. I want a munch. Squat.

I want to Munch Squat. Welcome Munch Squads. Podcast within podcast, profiling, the latest and greatest in brand eating. And this week, we're going to be talking straight kids. Straight kids? Yep. What did they do?

We're going to be talking about... They did you pump up kicks? We're going to be talking about straight kids because B.BQ chicken is launching a new feel-crunch chicken in partnership with K-pop star Felix. Feel Crunch. Okay, so. So it is called Feel Crunch Chicken is the name of the new menu item, which is, let me check. Good.

I like it. That's good. Feel Crunch Chicken is good. I like to say it, and I would order it. Is it a play on words Felix, but it's feel crunch? I have no idea. It's launching a new menu item, and this is lowercase B, lowercase B, period, lowercase Q.

That's the name of the place. When I say BBQ, I'm talking about a chain, okay? Right. They're launching a new item, Field Crunch Chicken, in celebration of its new partnership with Felix, a member of the K-pop, the global K-pop group, Stray Kids. Can I say I love the wording of that as though the partnership and the chicken sandwich are separate things. We've partnered with him, and in celebration of that partnership, we're putting out a sandwich.

This isn't like, yeah, that's exactly right, Travis, whatever we're going to do in this partnership. This is more of a smashing the champagne bottle on the ship. Yeah. On the partnership. He actually has purchased a couple franchises that he's going to run and we're really excited about it. So we put out a sandwich.

Now, uh, the, let's talk, do you guys want to learn about, this is kind of like interactive. Do you want to learn about the chicken or Felix? Which do you want to learn about first? You're going to learn about both, but what do you want to learn about? I feel like learning about Felix first would be much more. Yeah, give me some content. I know about chicken. I know chicken. You know chicken. So,

So Felix is a member of Stray Kids and has been with the group since its inception, I believe. So Felix appeared on the M-Net Survival Show Stray Kids, a show which ultimately allowed him to debut as a Stray Kids member. He's a member of the main dance line of the group, which is a subunit currently referred to by the group in its fandom as the dance Racha, which is a play on the name. of Straight Kids Production Subunit 3 Racha. Now, I will say that he is a really well-known influencer in the world of fashion. He has cultivated an experimental image, according to Wikipedia, embracing color and accessories, including bags, jewelry, glasses, and platform sneakers. He has partnered with Louis Vuitton and a lot of other big-name fashion.

and even made his debut during Paris Fashion Week in 2024 as a runway model. Eating a big old sandwich. Big slop sandwich. Now I'm going to tell you about this chicken, guys. This new flavor is made with this sweet and savory caramelized onion sauce and then top with golden crunchy flakes, creating a unique combination of flavor and texture. Flakes of what? Flakes that, yeah, you can't just say a texture of flakes.

A color, a texture, and flakes. Yeah, guys. Tell me what the flakes are from. Yeah, guys. I know. Is it gold? Yeah, guys, I don't know. It's out there, though.

You can get it. They began a soft launch of feel crunch chicken at the select company operated locations across the U.S. on July 7th. And then the new menu item is officially launched on July 16th. Okay. It's there. A longtime fan of Korea's finest fried chicken, Felix is often raved about BBC chicken's menu items, including the crispy crunched butter chicken and the sweet and savory

Jamaica Sotioch Manna Chicken. Now he's excited to help bring beloved Korean flavors like feel crunch chicken to the U.S. for fans to experience for the very first time. As global interest in Korean culture continues to grow beyond streaming screens and on to fast

casual menus across the country, BBQ chicken wanted us to find an opportunity to celebrate its authentic space in both, said BBQ chicken U.S. spokesperson. Felix has a genuine obsession with BBQ chicken. which makes him the perfect fit for this brand ambassador role.

Have we heard from Felix yet? Because so far it sounds like just a lot of people talking about how stoked Felix is. They swear. They swear. It says, quote, Feel Crunch Chicken was actually handpicked by Felix himself. And it highlights different elements of his favorite BBQ chicken flavors. We're excited for his fans and other BBQ chicken fans to taste it for themselves.

Does it say in there Felix would say all this shit, But his mouth is just perpetually full of our great crunchy chicken. He can't talk right. You can't come to the phone right now because he's slamming a chicken sandwich. It was available at my U.S. location, but it wasn't on the physical menu. I had to show them the ad on the website and ask if they had it. They had a picture of Felix on the wall. It certainly was crunchy.

What are you reading right now? The reviews. Just the reviews. Just the reviews of the product. I just had this today. It was so delicious. My family loves spicy food and I had an amazing kick. Very crunchy, say the reviews.

Extremely crunchy. I put a link here in the chat to an image that might be the most clear example of photoshopping, like these two separate entities of Felix and the plate of chicken. For you see, they have placed it in such a way that makes it seem as though his hand has been swallowed by the plate of chicken. Like his hand or his hand is. turned into it. Like he's the team. Like he's the Terminator,

the silver Terminator. He can shape shift his body. He's turned his hand into a big plate of the crunchy. No joke, the crunchiest chicken I've ever seen. So I have a picture of Felix with the chicken. This is the promotional image that was shared with this story.

So this is, this is, it's Felix swears he like the chicken. He swears he likes his chicken. The wink makes it seem like I'm not really eating this. I don't really like chicken. It also seems like they're all trying to get a clip, like a noise of the crunch. Of the crunch, yeah.

The one-of-a-kind crunch feel crunch. I've got to stop talking about fried chicken this close to lunch. I feel like I've started to get in this groove where it's like, I make myself so hungry and it's like 11 o'clock and I've still got to do, you know. You want to do a follow-up? I ate the popcorn chicken. I ordered it and ate it right after the thing. Oh, yeah.

okay, but Justin is correct. It wasn't the popcorn chicken of our youth. Was that KFC? Yeah. KFC, yeah. It lacked any kind of variety. It lacked the like, this has been fried in such a way that it's terrible for you.

Yeah. Kind of feeling that I crave. Yeah. And I got some hot wings in there too, which I used to love. No flavor, all chemical heat. Nothing's good. Nothing's good anymore.

The brand partnership with Felix will continue beyond the launch as he will serve of the face of the brand. He will serve of the face of the brand? He's the face of it. If you go to a BBQ chicken, there's a big picture of Felix and then it says, this is my chicken. I made it. This is how these things start, by the way.

In 50 years, no one will remember stray kids. No one will remember their music. All they'll remember is chicken magnate Felix. Felix's BBQ and people like, did you know this guy used to be in K-pop before he became the world's biggest chicken? guy?

It's true. That's how it happens. Look at Kenny Rogers. You know he used to sing? That's crazy. Before he started roasting chicken? Look at the colonel. He used to be in the army, I think.

Yeah. Look at Randy Moss's Inde Juice. Did you know he used to play football? Before he started running a juice place? It's true. Those are the only two things he's known for. Look at Coach Bobby Pruitt's Steakhouse in Huntington, West Virginia. Did you know he was also the coach of the Marshall University football team and not just

the runner of Coach Bobby Pruitt's Steakhouse? Cal's? Did you know that Papa Shack used to be a basketball player? Not just a pizza man. Well, he was an actor first, and then he was a basketball player. Oh, yes, I always forget about his turn on the stage, trotting the boards. How about another question? Yeah, absolutely.

One of my close friends works at a fancy restaurant as a server. I recently hung out with her and her co-worker, the dang Sue Schiff, who mentioned they needed a line cook. and offer on-site training. Naturally, I asked if I could drop off a resume for the position, but before I could even print out my resume, I was told I'd be staging. Stodging.

Stodging. Staging in the kitchen. I learned about it from The Bear. I believe it's the bar. The bar. I've only had one good job at a failing sports bar before this. How do I show up and keep their expectations proportional to the amount of experience I have,

while also expressing genuine interest and willingness to learn. I really need the money. I got laid off my last job and this 2025 Civic won't pay for itself. That's from Lillian, Location Hunter in Las Vegas. I love this. Location Hunter. You, often

people will be like, how do I impress them? And what you've done is said, how do I keep their expectations proportional to the amount of skill that I have? While also showing that I'm dedicated to getting better. And I, we can

handle that. You, it's interesting. I hope you get this job, but you do have to understand that this particular technique was developed to catch people like you. Like, this is the thing you, like, the reason they do it like this is to keep. You are wise to ride us. I want to help you meet it because I don't know them. I only know you, but, right. Like, this is why it's like this, right? So you, you have to do it. Because I want to try to, I think what they're trying to get is somebody who can't do it. Mm-hmm. And who knows how to do it, maybe. But you run the risk of getting a really experienced person who's stuck in the ways of

like, this is how I learned it and my old job. It doesn't fit in. And you can come in just a rough lump of clay, right? And you're like, I don't know what I'm doing. And that's perfect. Shape me. I'll, I'll learn it however you want me to. Because I know nothing except like potato skins and like onion rings.

And if you want those, nothing to unlearn. Yeah, I could do that. No bad habits. No habits. No habits at all. Isn't, do you get paid for staging? I thought that was just sort of like an on-the-job training.

It's a volunteer position. It's a, yeah. So, I mean, the learning that is going to happen there will be your only compensation. So if you think about it that way. So everybody in the kitchen gets paid except for the stage? But yeah, you don't stage forever. I think some places pay staging. But from what I understand,

It's like the lowest, lowest sort of position because you're just kind of learning, you're learning the ropes. And if the bear is correct, it's like a week. It's not like you like a week and you learn everything you need to know. God, they can find a lot of stagos then. It's like 52 stages a week. A year, I mean, there's a lot of staging to then hire them full time, if I understand correctly.

Yeah. Or they're just on the job training because another restaurant has sent them to stage. Can you show up? the first day of staging, you've got bandages all over both your hands. You say, I was playing Mario Party with the boys. With my one-eyed friend, Odin.

And I, he got real pissed. I did the thing with the analog stick too hard, and now I have terrible blisters all over my hands. That way, when you do, if you do a bad job cooking, you can say, like,

if it weren't for these Mario Party blisters, you could say, like, just wait till I get my cast off, and then I'll, and now, then I'm, going to really rock ass. You might be let go by that point. But at least you have sort of plausible deniability.

And, you know, the fact that they just straight up were like, don't even need a resume, come stash, they think you're cool, right? Like a big part of getting any job is seeming like someone that people would want to work with, right? They wouldn't have invited you to come stage if they weren't interested in hiring you. Now, that desire may be somewhat diminished when they observe that you cannot do the job you're being able to do it. It's a good start.

There's worse foundations to build from. Maybe you've got skills from your job working at a failing sports bar. They've gotten too fucking highfalutin. They keep reaching for that miserable start. They're not getting it because there's something missing in the kitchen. And do you know what's missing in the kitchen is heart and a love and a love of the fun of food. A love of the fun of food. A diamond.

You show up. You're like, what about buffalo? You guys forgot about buffalo wings. forgot about mozzarella sticks and dipping sticks. Yeah, dude. And then they're like, what if we incorporated our high concept, high touch, high cuisine technique? But we did it with some mozzarella sticks and buffalo wings. And we put out a bowl of like old nuts that people can eat while we're making their food.

And without being asked, I went ahead and cut up all of these celery and carrot sticks. Yes. So you're going to just put them in the, I put them in the little preportion baggies. So I just throw them at people as they go through the chicken line. Yeah. I'm renaming the place, by the way, to chicken line. Hope you like it. Yeah. Cool.

I own this bar now. This is the weirdest bar rescue. It's not a bar? Okay. It's not a bar. It's weird. This whole time, I've been your boss. Yeah.

Did you know? No, that's not how undercover boss works. Sadly. I think it is. I think undercover boss. I'm pretty sure I do. I've never seen it, but I do think that's how it works. I've been your boss the whole time now.

Thank you so much for listening to our podcast. We hope you've enjoyed yourself. I hope you learned something. I hope you grew a little bit as a person. Thank you so much for sticking with us. Hey, listen, if you like video games or me and Griffin, The Besties, our video game podcast that I used to be on, Griffin continues to craft the Besties Live on Broadway is happening.

October 9th at the town hall in New York City. You can get your tickets now at bit.ly, forward slash besties on Broadway. Come to see us. We're going to talk about games. Also, I'm going to be at JANCon this weekend. Yeah. As you're listening to this, I'm doing a dungeon crawler Carl, like actual play, role-playing game Friday night with a lot of really cool people, including Matt

Deniman, who writes it, and Jeff Hayes, who does the voice work for the audiobooks. And so I'm going to be in that. Sunday morning, I'm going to guest as an NPC in a 20-sided tavern. I'm doing a bunch of other stuff. We'll post the schedule and everything. But come see me. Come hang out at Jinkon. What are you reading there?

Oh, you've caught me reading The Adventure Zone Story and Song Graphic Novel, the last entry in our adaptation of the Adventure Zone Balance saga that is out now and you can get at bookstores where fine books are sold or at the Adventure Zonecom.

This book is the biggest book ever written and has more pictures in it than any book ever illustrated by Carrie Peach, who is at the height of her power, and I'm so proud of it, and I kick so much ass if you like Taz, if you like Taz Balance. You got to read it. You simply must. It's the best thing we've ever done. So proud of it. Hey, we're going to be doing Clubhouse next week also when you're

hearing this. So join us on Tuesday. And every Tuesday on YouTube at the Macroy family, we do Clubhouse, and we also do a bunch of game stuff with the Super Macroy Brothers product. And we all do a bunch of different, like, individual streams. Justin's doing a retrospective Tim Curry. Travis, are you still playing Timberborn, Traff? Well, after this, I'm going to stream some Starty Valley. I got a, like, chill game sesh going. Kick ass.

I'm keeping a catalog of every video game I've ever played called Every Game Ever on Fridays. So we stream a lot. Follow the Macroy family on YouTube or Macroy Entertainment System on Instagram. You can find out when all that stuff is coming. We also got merch over at Macquariemerch.com. Travis has a beautiful little butterfly. I have a 3D printed butterfly that I can throw.

It's very fragile. Yeah. It's cute. I don't think it'll make a great... Do you have something cool you can throw it at that it'll make like a more resonant sort of sound? Yeah, so put the IHeart Radio Award right next to the microphone. Yeah. Like as close to the mic as you can get it.

And dink it off the... And dink it off that. Yeah, yeah. But can you lower your microphone so it's like right next to the trophy? Well, I still need as long as it is. Okay. That's good. Yeah, no, it's a small window, but you got it. Here we go.

Yeah. You fucking completely missed. Do it again. Okay. I need that dink. It's eternal. in the air. I need the dink, Travis.

How the fuck did it go? There it is. God. This is a podcast. Here, I'll do it from under the desk. Okay, but throw it hard, though. I need to hear that. I need the dink.

I know, Griffin? No, I think I know. Do you? There we go. There's that dink. That was more of a dank. My name was Justin Rackroy. I'm Travis McElroy.

I'm Griffin McElroy. This is my brother, my mother, my mother made kiss your dad square on the lips. Maximum Fun. A Worker Owned Network of Artist-owned shows. Supported directly by you. Thank you.