Posted in: streaming, TV, YouTube | Tagged: Ear Biscuits, gmm, Good Mythical Morning, Link Neal, mythical kitchen, Rhett and link, Rhett McLaughlin, youtube

Good Mythical Morning: Talking 10 Years of Fun with Rhett & Link

Good Mythical Morning (also known as GMM by fans) began a journey into the world of YouTube when lifelong friends Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal began the channel. 10 years, 17.4 million subscribers, and over 7 billion total views later the original channel has branched into a whole company, Mythical. The variety of content under the Mythical umbrella includes their podcasts Ear Biscuits and A Hot Dog Is A Sandwich, another channel Mythical Kitchen dedicates itself to the ins and outs of the food innovations of Josh Scherer and crew, two seasons of Rhett & Link's Buddy System scripted original series, and the 2019 acquisition of the another popular YouTube channel, Smosh. The series description on the Mythical site reads, "Every Monday through Friday on Good Mythical Morning (GMM) and its after-show Good Mythical More (GMMore), Rhett & Link eat truly unbelievable things, explore surprising new products and trends, compete in original games with celebrity guests, implement serious experiments in hilarious ways, and more." Below, I got to ask some questions regarding a 10-year celebration of content and friendship with the founders themselves.

Bleeding Cool: First Off, I wanna say a big congratulations on "Good Mythical Morning's" 10 year anniversary! So much has developed from the main YouTube channel but what has been your favorite branch of content added to the tree that is "Good Mythical Morning"?

Rhett & Link: That's like asking us to choose a favorite child! But if we must, we'd say that we're most excited about Mythical Kitchen. It represents something that fully captures the Mythical ethos but stands completely on its own, with its own personalities and ideas. We're excited about growing more in that way.

BC: What initially inspired the logo as well as the intro for "Good Mythical Morning"? And, what's the process like for changing it?

R&L: Sometimes our answers to questions can involve complicated backstories. Here's the short-ish answer: our fans call themselves the Mythical Beasts, and the cockatrice is an actual mythological creature (a fire-breathing chicken to be exact) that sorta became the mascot of GMM. Our first animated intro featured the cockatrice breathing the logo into existence, so that's where the fire logo came from. We decided to update the logo later to simplify it and make it more iconic. As for the intro itself, we update it every couple of years to mix things up. This latest intro serves as a celebration of ten years of GMM by combining elements of all the previous intros, and it's our favorite yet.

BC: Rhett & Link, what do you hope for audiences to walk away with after watching the show? And, has that changed at all for you over the last ten years?

R&L: We've come to realize that most people take away a sense of having spent time with friends. We didn't understand that at the beginning. Back then, we were hoping that the audience would primarily be interested in what we were saying or doing. And while that may be the case for many, we think the "hang time" is why most people latch onto the show and make it a part of their daily routine. These days, we embrace that fully.

BC: I myself, an individual who has and is still going through religious deconstruction. I was wondering why do you feel like topics such as that, sexuality, and more are important to discuss on "Ear Biscuits"?

R&L: Each time we've taken a step toward vulnerability, we've received so many messages saying that it has made people feel less alone. Plus, we believe that hearing more perspectives and stories from more individuals is one of the best ways to grow as a person, whether the listener agrees with the speaker or not. When it comes to Christianity in particular, with its large and lasting impact on our culture and us personally, we think it's healthy to explore the ideology in an honest way.

BC: How do you decide what topics to explore on "Good Mythical Morning"?

R&L: We have an incredible team of writers who are students of the internet and are full of ideas for ways to explore them on the show. They tell us what they're thinking and we figure out if it's something we can get excited to do ourselves. It usually works out!

BC: The Wheel of Mythicality has become an important staple of the show, what has been a favorite moment of yours from spinning the wheel?

R&L: It's easier to answer our least favorite moment, and that's the time it landed on "slap each other." We did, and a real fight almost broke out. We took that spot off the wheel.

BC: Many LGBTQ+ fans have considered GMM a safe space for them, why do you think this is the case?

R&L: We've been very outspoken in our support of the community and we have many LGBTQ+ members of the Mythical crew. We do our best to cultivate a fan culture of belonging. We're just happy that so many people from so many walks of life have found a place within Mythical.

BC: A popular segment of GMM has become the "International Taste Test". How are these devised and do you have a favorite one?

R&L: As long as there are foods that are enjoyed differently around the world, our team can come up with an episode. Hard to narrow it down to one, but one of our favorite things about this series is what we introduced last year, where we've found a way to incorporate our parents' voices. The fans love them.

BC: Is there a favorite character of yours that has made recurring appearances? (Ex: Cotton Candy Randy)

R&L: A favorite character as of late is Moochele, the cow that comes in and dances with us if we choose the most expensive food during our Fast vs. Fancy vs. Frozen taste test videos. Like most recurring bits on the show, it doesn't really make any sense unless you were there the first time.

BC: What are your plans for "Good Mythical Morning" in the coming months of 2022?

R&L: We're most excited about having celebrity guests back on the show since we haven't been able to throughout the pandemic. We recently had Tony Hawk as our first guest of the year and we look forward to many more. Not only is it cool to get to talk to people besides each other (let's face it, we see enough of one another), but bringing on guests always challenges us to come up with new ways to play games with three people. This often leads to new ideas that we end up loving and returning to later.

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