(bright music)
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- I'm Rhett. - And I'm Link.
- And this is our episode of "Spectrum".
(upbeat music)
We're Rhett and Link from "Good Mythical Morning".
- "Good Mythical Morning".
- This is where we make our show, right here at this desk.
- I wasn't repeating the name of the show.
I was actually greeting you.
Rhett and Link, "Good Mythical Morning".
- Rhett and Link. Good Mythical Morning.
- [Moderator] Here is the first prompt.
Our wives get jealous of our friendship.
Three, two, one, go.
- Let's see. So agree is over here.
- [Rhett] I'm just on agree.
- I mean, we've known each other since first grade.
(camera shutter clicking)
I met my wife my sophomore year in college.
I think she gets a little fed up
with all of the inside jokes,
all the experiences that we have from childhood
that she's just kind of left out.
- Well, my wife has specifically confirmed
this several times.
Because sometimes, I'll get home,
and she'll ask me about something.
I'll be like, "I don't really wanna talk about this
because I like already talked about it on "Ear Biscuits",
(laughs) or like, or I already talked
about it "Good Mythical Morning".
- And she's like, "Oh, you've already spent all day
with your best friend talking about what you
wanted to talk about, and now, you're not willing to-"
- Just listen to my podcast.
- "Crack the door open on conversation with me?"
- Yeah. It's kind of, that's how it is, yeah.
- When we go to parties or like public get-togethers,
people tend to associate the two of us with each other,
even if we're there with our wives.
You know, if I were Christy, I would feel this way too.
I understand why that's frustrating.
Christy and I will be married 22 years in May.
- No.
- Is it 21 years?
(people laughing)
We got married in the year 2000, so it should be easier.
What year is it? - Yes.
- 2022.
- Yeah, see.
- 21 years, our marriage is old enough to drink.
Boy, do we get sloshed.
- [Moderator] "Our show is getting repetitive."
(Rhett snickers)
Three, two, one, go.
(bright music)
- Huh.
- You think we're somewhat
repetitive? - We're at odds.
Okay, this is why I said somewhat agree
because I don't think that being somewhat repetitive
is necessarily a bad thing.
The repetitive nature of what we do
is actually one of the things that makes people
wanna watch it.
They know it's gonna be two guys sitting at a desk.
We're in our 10th year doing this show.
There is a familiarity with that that gives people comfort.
It's dependable.
- Yeah, I somewhat disagree with the answer
because people joke in the comments though.
"You guys are running out of ideas."
If it were just up to the two of us,
yeah, we probably would've ran out idea years ago,
but we got a great team that helps develop the concepts
and keep things fresh.
And hey, we're up for almost anything.
(Rhett laughing)
Listen, there is no bottom to the well of ideas.
It's not going to run dry.
- Right. Like fossil fuels.
- [Moderator] I have thought about quitting.
Three, two, one, go.
(bright music)
- Okay.
All right.
- I mean, first of all, I'm living the dream.
I hang out with my best friends since first grade,
and people just put stuff in front of me to eat
and discuss and experience.
We're very fortunate to have a lot of artistic
and business independence.
"Mythical" is ours.
- Yes. We're living the dream.
Is it very difficult and taxing?
Yes. 100%.
It requires putting yourself out there,
trying a bunch of other things that people never see,
trying to manage a growing company.
I mean, the reason I started going to therapy
was it was when we were doing what we call "GMM 22".
It was four or five videos every single day.
I just remember all of a sudden,
I couldn't see out of one eye.
I went to the doctor.
It's basically when your retina has fluid behind it.
And it is thought to be a stress-induced condition.
In fact, I would tell my wife,
I'm like, "I'm not stressed out."
It's like, "I can handle anything."
And she was like, "Yeah, but your back is messed up.
You've got like skin issues.
'Cause I can tell that there's something on your mind
when you're at home.
And now you've got this thing where you can't see
out of one eye.
You know, there's something called a physical manifestation
of stress for people who are not good processing
their emotions and feelings that they're having.
You should go see a therapist."
And so that was the beginning of me understanding
that like, oh yeah, I haven't been actually dealing
with how much we commit to and how constantly
we are engaging with things.
It was just too much to manage.
- Well, I've got hemorrhoids.
- Yeah. Yeah, there's that.
- [Moderator] LA has changed us.
Three, two, one, go.
(bright music)
- Anything goes here, man.
(Rhett laughs)
I mean, you don't bat at eye at anything.
Back home, lots of eyes were batted at lots of things.
In rural North Carolina,
you're not exposed to as many perspectives.
Once we moved out here, you meet people that are different
and that have different experiences
and they become your friends.
Anything that you can keep at arm's length
is not gonna impact you in the same way
that if it's a trusted friend, somebody that you love.
- And we just celebrated our 10th year in Los Angeles.
The only reason I didn't put strongly agree
is there's certain things about who I am
that are never gonna change
just based on where I come from, you know?
We even said that in the video that we made
when we were coming across the country,
that it was like,
"We're not gonna let LA change us."
One of the things that people around North Carolina
have seemed to expressed a little concern about
is like, we tell 'em what we're doing,
and they're like, "Don't you boys go Hollywood on us now.
Don't forget where you're from."
I've kind of come to the conclusion that stagnation,
staying the same is bad.
Don't you want to constantly be evolving?
Don't you wanna constantly be becoming the next
and better version of yourself?
And it can happen anywhere,
but it's happened in a slightly different way
in Los Angeles and I'm happy with it.
- [Moderator] Is there anything
that you guys miss about home?
- I guess not.
No, no. (laughing)
I mean, there's plenty of stuff that I miss.
My family and Bojangles.
I gotta add to that list as well.
You know, getting some of that fried chicken and dirty rice.
(upbeat music)
Oh gosh, get me back there, baby.
Oh, I miss home so much.
I gotta have some dirty rice.
I don't know why.
All of a sudden I took on this character.
- [Moderator] I am glad we opened up
about leaving Christianity.
Three, two, one, go.
(bright music)
- Huh.
For sure, the decision to open up about leaving Christianity
was one that was, it wasn't an easy decision.
And we did experience backlash.
We did experience people saying,
"Never watching another one of your videos."
"I'm no longer a fan."
We had some new people come in and say,
"Hey, I didn't know you guys had this side to you,
and so I'm kind of interested in
what you might have to say."
- Yeah, I can safely say that I don't have any regrets
in deciding to share my spiritual deconstruction story
and the journey that I'm still on,
and kind of fill in the gaps for mythical beasts
who didn't understand a big chunk of what made us
who we each are as individuals now.
It started to feel kinda like a secret.
Now on the other side of that
I experience a freedom that I didn't have
to be more of myself.
You know, when you find yourself talking
about things and just crying, you're like,
oh, this is a new place we haven't been before.
- Right.
It was almost like pulling a cork out or releasing a valve.
Let's just lean into this vulnerability
and invite people into the process and see what happens.
And there's just been a freedom
and sort of this feeling that like a burden has been lifted.
But when it comes to these spiritual things,
it's like I don't have it figured out.
Every day that passes, I'm more and more overwhelmed
with what I don't know,
what I don't know about the nature of the world,
what I don't know about anything.
And so it's kind of cool
to be like, "Hey, let's just make a connection."
- And that can be a beautiful thing,
as we are experiencing, but it's not a decisive thing.
And it's certainly not a divisive thing.
- Yeah.
Yeah.
- [Moderator] There have been challenges
that almost ended our friendship.
Three, two, one, go.
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- I didn't want to give the impression
that we don't have heavy conversations,
that we don't get into things.
Like, oh, you hurt my feelings when you did this,
or professionally, I'm seeing our business trajectory
in this way, but it's nothing that has ever threatened
the foundation of our friendship
or our working relationship.
The relationship is only trumped by our relationships
with our wives.
- We talk about our relationship
being a lot like a marriage,
where there's sort of a commitment
that underlies and proceeds the relationship.
- I did not go all the way to strongly disagree
because I reserved
the right for us to- - Break up.
- Break up.
I'm not gonna say it's impossible.
There's a healthy assessment of reality associated
with us saying, you know what?
It could happen.
We're not gonna ignore that it could happen.
We're gonna make sure it doesn't happen.
- [Moderator] I see myself making videos in 10 years.
Three, two, one, go.
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- Making videos is a very broad thing to me.
That just means making something
that the final form is visual entertainment.
I don't know if it's gonna be "Good Mythical Morning",
and "Ear Biscuits".
I don't know if YouTube will be around.
- Sometimes, I just think I could just like buy a van
and just live in it.
- And you don't think you'd make videos in that van?
- And not even make videos in it.
- I mean, 10 years is a long time.
I'll be 53 years old.
I mean, first of all, who really wants to see a 53-year-old?
I feel like I'm gonna be making videos
for myself by that point, regardless of what happens.
I don't have any plans of being like, you know what?
I think I'm just done creating
because creating is gonna be my hobby
until I can no longer move.
- I strongly agree that this was a rewarding experience.
- And I strongly disagree that I don't agree with you.
I feel like I should incorporate this system
into every conversation with my wife and children.
- Yeah.
- Instead of sitting down at the table and saying,
"How was your day?
And what'd you do at school today,"
and getting nothing.
- We're gonna bite
your format. - I want this to be
my kitchen table.
- Thanks for searching our souls.
Hope we didn't say anything
we're gonna have to retract later.
- Yeah, like no one has ever slid into my DMS to be like,
"Hey, I want to tower over you."
(upbeat music)
- [Moderator] I've sent or received nudes.
- Wait, how do you not like send or receive news?
Like, wait, wait, wait, are we saying nudes?
- Yes. - Nudes.
(guy laughing) - Oh my god!
I thought we were saying news.
N-E-W-S. - Nudes.
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