What's Up You Cool Babies? - My Brother My Brother And Me

[Tegan]

General discussion thread for the (terrible) advice show hosted everyone's favourite equestrian comedy siblings,

So it looks like the McElboys will be starting off 2021 by choosing not only a new annual title (I'm excited because every odd-numbered year tends to be a really aggressive one and those are my favourites) but also by choosing a new theme song, as the composer and lead singer of the theme song they've been using for nine years suddenly Milkshake Duck'd harder and faster than anyone I've ever seen before.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1345853609175560193

So... new Lin Manuel Miranda theme song or new Jimmy Buffet theme song?

 

[Johnny Unusual]

At first I was like "Oh, so the Mountain Goats did something wrong" because I conflate the bands since I feel like they both have strong podcast presence. But John Roderick appeared on a number of Judge John Hodgman eps.

 

[Zef]

I'm curious about this podcast because I had never heard of it until I started compiling all of the pop culture references in, of all places, Guacamelee 2, where an NPC little girl goes, "Shrimp, Heaven, Now!" in Spanish and I was baffled for weeks until I found the source. What's it about? Is it interesting?

 

[estragon]

I'm curious about this podcast because I had never heard of it until I started compiling all of the pop culture references in, of all places, Guacamelee 2, where an NPC little girl goes, "Shrimp, Heaven, Now!" in Spanish and I was baffled for weeks until I found the source. What's it about? Is it interesting?

It's ostensibly an advice podcast but the questions are just an excuse for the hosts to do jokes, so it's not really about anything in particular. So, it's worth a listen if you like podcasts that are basically just the hosts riffing. It is very popular among the genre of "three guys making jokes," but it's hard to say whether or not comedy will click with someone or not. (It's popular enough that each of the brothers also has spinoff shows, and also they do a table-top RPG podcast that ended up being more popular than the main show.)

Personally, I enjoyed it for many episodes, but eventually I started to be irritated by everyone in the extended McElroy podcast universe except for Griffin and Clint (their father) and stopped listening. Nothing in particular happened and their shows had if anything improved, I just had enough and stopped finding it funny. (Sometimes you listen to a couple hundred hours of the same people making jokes and you start to get diminishing returns.) If you do give it a try, don't start at the beginning, just try a recent episode or ask someone for a personal favorite. The earliest episodes are a real mixed bag.

 

[Octopus Prime]

My personal favourites are The Best in the Biz (#250) and Coyotes Ate Our Dad (280-something), but I don’t think there’s a dud in the bunch after the first hundred 100 or so. The McElboys themselves strongly urge you not to go trawling in deeper waters than that.

Possibly except for the episodes where they deviate from the formula, not strongly inclined to relisten to those.

There’s also the short lived tv show, airing on third tier streaming services and also iTunes in certain markets. That’s great too.

 

[karzac]

It's ostensibly an advice podcast but the questions are just an excuse for the hosts to do jokes, so it's not really about anything in particular. So, it's worth a listen if you like podcasts that are basically just the hosts riffing. It is very popular among the genre of "three guys making jokes," but it's hard to say whether or not comedy will click with someone or not. (It's popular enough that each of the brothers also has spinoff shows, and also they do a table-top RPG podcast that ended up being more popular than the main show.)

Personally, I enjoyed it for many episodes, but eventually I started to be irritated by everyone in the extended McElroy podcast universe except for Griffin and Clint (their father) and stopped listening. Nothing in particular happened and their shows had if anything improved, I just had enough and stopped finding it funny. (Sometimes you listen to a couple hundred hours of the same people making jokes and you start to get diminishing returns.) If you do give it a try, don't start at the beginning, just try a recent episode or ask someone for a personal favorite. The earliest episodes are a real mixed bag.

This is me too. I binged the first hundred or so episodes around 2012 and then burned out hard. These days, I'll listen to an episode or two every year or so.

 

[Olli]

You can find the "Shrimp, heaven, now!" bit here in animated format:

; it's a pretty good example of what the show is like at its best

 

[Octopus Prime]

Honestly... kind of hoping they keep the interim theme song.

I don't know how many NEW listeners it will keep, but it's... very on brand

 

[Zef]

You can find the "Shrimp, heaven, now!" bit here in animated format:

; it's a pretty good example of what the show is like at its best

That was a lot less... interesting than I thought it'd be. Especially since the hosts kept interrupting themselves by laughing at the joke before they even finished telling it, making it harder to tell what was going on.

 

[Tegan]

Honestly... kind of hoping they keep the interim theme song.

I don't know how many NEW listeners it will keep, but it's... very on brand

It's more beautiful than I could have imagined.

Also, dunno what to think of this completely batshit new annual theme.

 

[Octopus Prime]

It’s attainable, that’s what I like about it.

 

[Paul le Fou]

I had heard of Bean Dad, but I had no idea it was John Roderick ofthelongwintersfortheuseofourthemesongIt'sADepartureoffthealbumputtingthedaystobed. Damn. I really liked that theme song.

I don't know what the new one is OR what the theme is. I really really gotta catch up ASAP!

 

[JBear]

That was a lot less... interesting than I thought it'd be. Especially since the hosts kept interrupting themselves by laughing at the joke before they even finished telling it, making it harder to tell what was going on.

FWIW, I love MBMBaM and have never once laughed at any of these contextless animatic clips that people post to YT.

 

[Patrick]

I think they’re funnier if you’ve heard the episode. Also, Louie Zong is the only animator that I like.

Anyway, today’s episode was great and the moment when they picked the name made me laugh so hard that I had tears streaming down my face.

 

[Adrenaline]

MBMBaM is a show I mostly listen to out of habit but they'll still have a bit that will have me crying tears of laughter often enough that I'm always glad to continue.

 

[pudik]

I haven't listened in a while but i really appreciate them laughing at the jokes and breaking themselves on it because really im listening to podcasts in the car or something and i don't have time to think. laugh for me and I'll join in i'm not doing anything else.

 

[gorha]

I love this show, but Shrimp Heaven Now doesn't do it for me for whatever reason. I've been gradually listening through the enormous backlog of MBMBaM and several of the spinoffs, and I saw references to it before getting to that episode, and when I finally heard it, I was like, really? Out of all the goofs from this show, y'all latched onto this one? I don't think I would have become a fan if that were my first exposure to the show.

As others have said, pretty much any episode after the first year or two is good (probably including Shrimp Heaven Now, the episode, although I can rarely remember what bits other than the titular ones come from each episode). I'm going to recommend #304, Chicken Soup for Boys, as a starting point, mainly because it has the first Munch Squad, a recurring bit where they make fun of fast food promotions. They do it in almost every episode nowadays, so enjoying it or not will have a big effect on your opinion of the show.

 

[MCBanjoMike]

When did they replace the intro narration? Was that actor also harboring shady internet secrets?

 

[Patrick]

I bet they don’t have a copy of it without the theme song. I think that was the same guy, though.

 

[JBear]

IIRC, the intro narration is from "Bob Ball", who, AFAIK, has not milkshaked any ducks.

 

[spines]

there's one segment i've thought about a surprisingly large number of times since i heard it, feels like it was a year or so ago since i haven't really listened to it (save for an occasional random thing someone mentions) since i started working from home, where they were talking about a chili cook-off and one of them came up with the idea for "the opposite of spicy chili"-not mild chili, but like...menthol cool chili. which, as a spicy food lover, vegetarian chili enjoyer, and someone with a terrible habit of sucking down on caffeinated, menthol-flavored black*black tablets, is such an incredible and terrifying concept that i absolutely love it. they really sold the absurdity in the moment better than i'm doing as well.

year theme's usually a good bit, i'll have to check that out if nothing else. (20 spine teen!) i wonder if there's a "it's a christmas to me" i missed too.

 

[Sprite]

This very NSFW bit is always my goto:

 

[Tegan]

I'm a fan of the time that the stars aligned and they had to do an ad read for a hardcore sex shop during their family-friendly holiday special.

 

[Nich]

I’m fond of the bonus “ASMR” episode that Teg tipped me off to, where Casper mattresses sponsored the entire thing so they spend 40 minutes whispering and trying extremely hard not to laugh.

 

[Patrick]

That’s a good one! The Totinos sponsored episode is also great.

 

[Octopus Prime]

The best part about the ASMR episode was that it was originally supposed to be a Halloween episode but it got rescheduled, so all the questions are still Halloween themed

 

[Tegan]

This week's episode is probably the most explicitly political thing the McElboys have ever done, with the best part being like a solid ten minutes of them dragging Ted Cruz.

 

[Behemoth]

I agree that it's hit and miss, and if you don't like shows where the hosts crack themselves/each other up more often than not than this is not for you, but when they hit they HIT (for me, at least).

For example, this one makes me cry tears of laughter every time:

 

[Octopus Prime]

On a similar note;

 

[Tegan]

I can't believe that Travis is still tapping into his awful, awful alien character for the third week of ad reads in a row (albeit in a much reduced capacity). It isn't him messing with his brothers like a lot of his other bits, it's just bad improv.