My Brother, My Brother And Me: MBMBaM 479: Face 2 Face: A Spectral, Horny Build-A-Bear

October 1, 2019 6:16 AM

This live show, from our recent tour stop in Pittsburgh, will probably go down in history as "the one where we unknowingly distributed 100 KFC Doughnut Chicken Sandwiches to our audience, who, for some reason did not instantly turn against us." We like to think of it ... well, we don't like to think of it. We did an unconscionable thing to you, our dear, dear listeners.
posted by Tevin (8 comments total)

"A book is just word chili" made me laugh and laugh.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 8:03 PM on October 1, 2019 [1 favorite]

Did I miss the explanation for where the hundred sandwiches came from? Like, who is responsible for that terrible deed?

I can't imagine the wait time to getting one of those sandwiches was in any way complimentary to the chicken. It sounded bad enough for the boys, who got theirs halfway through the show.
posted by meese at 8:38 PM on October 1, 2019

I think they said that their tour manager Paul (who I think is Paul of Paul and Storm or he just sounds incredibly like him) bought all the sandwiches. Paul mentions that he "buried the lede, they gave me 97 more when buying 3" or something to that effect.

Great audience questions this episode. Loved the ska band one!
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 11:32 PM on October 1, 2019

I figured the idea of Paul buying them was just a goof.

I mean, did KFC set this all up with the brothers?
posted by meese at 7:07 AM on October 2, 2019

no, paul bought them 100 sandwiches. sometimes the bit is exactly what it says on the box. (and yes, he is paul of paul and storm)
posted by JimBennett at 7:21 AM on October 2, 2019 [3 favorites]

I doubt KFC would pay them to say "I don't want to take a second bite" and "How did they fuck this up" and "get them the fuck out of this building" and "It's funnier in concept" and "not food" lol.

Lots of great stuff in this one. I love it when they talk about ghosts, and cavemen, so the caveman ghost stuff was great. Travis's observation about unfinished business was pretty astute.
posted by bleep at 12:33 PM on October 2, 2019

I can't tell if this was an especially good live show, or if I just think so because I was there. Even listening to it later, I was like, no, yeah, this is really funny.

The KFC thing was bonkers; everyone was confused when Paul started it, given that Justin was protesting but they basically sound the same. Their body language throughout (and especially Griffin's when he went to see if the boxes were empty) was...painful to watch. Gloriously painful.

I went with my brother, who's never listened to a show, and right before it started I gave him a run down of all the possible special events: haunted doll watch, riddle me piss, munch squad, being mean to Travis, farm wisdom. I never imagined we could get so many of them in one show.

Overall thoughts
- they keep things really in line; they're good at controlling the audience without being overbearing.
- the obvious affection between the three of them comes out in the audio, but physically it's there too; they're very comfortable and safe with each other.
- Travis is duck-like in his ability to absorb the hits.
- if you get the chance, go to a live show. It's a very good time. At some point early on, I started laughing and I just...didn't stop? I was having low-level giggles at least for a good forty minutes
- they didn't cut much, to my recollection. I've always wondered how much makes it into the show. Other people who have seen a long show, what was your experience?

Anyway, I loved it and I was so glad that they put up the show this quickly. I have listened to it three times.
posted by punchtothehead at 3:56 PM on October 3, 2019 [5 favorites]

some (most? all?) venues require that they cut at least one bit for the podcast, so that there's still some "exclusive" material at the live show (as if people wouldn't show up if they put the whole thing online?). other than that one bit they usually don't cut anything, if they do they're usually pretty upfront about it being an underwhelming/problematic show, or if they combine multiple shows into one episode, etc.
posted by JimBennett at 10:38 PM on October 3, 2019