My first official blog addition to my Wardrobe is Good Mythical Morning!
I am no stranger to YouTube. I love Dan Howell (previously danisnotonfire) and AmazingPhil. I'm part of Nerdfighteria, a Sprinkle-o-rino, and an avid fan of Markiplier. I also devotedly watch many educational channels including CGP Grey, Crash Course, and Numberphile. This doesn't even include how many talk shows like Late Night with Stephen Colbert and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver I watch, or how many music videos I consume. By far, I watch more YouTube than movies or television shows combined in my daily life. Therefore, although I had never watched Good Mythical Morning, I certainly knew of them.
One of the biggest YouTube channels around, I had watched an episode back in 2014 when they had Daniel Radcliffe on their show. However, I didn't like them very much. I thought the humour was flat and the chemistry between the three of them was awkward, stilted, and forced. I clicked on another episode with just the two co-hosts, Rhett and Link, but I still wasn't a fan. I also wasn't sure how a YouTube talk-show format could be so popular. Consequently, I found my attention diverted back to Dan and Phil, (who I still believe reign supreme as YouTube comedy duo kings).
However, last week I was watching some sort of educational video on YouTube when the suggested video list recommended: "5 Strange Languages Still Spoken Today". Deciding to give the channel another shot, I found myself pleasantly surprised by how much I liked Good Mythical Morning (GMM). In fact, this past week I have binge watched nothing but Rhett and Link (on all of their various channels). Like anything I enjoy, I threw myself wholeheartedly into learning everything I could about GMM. So I did some "boopity boop boop boop research" about these two and I quickly realised why these guys purportedly earn around $5 million per year.
No amateurs to media, they've been in the film-making game for quite some time. The original Rhett and Link channel was founded in 6/5/2006 (just over a year from the founding of YouTube on 2/14/2005). However, they also contributed to many other commercial, television, and other studio/YouTube work over the years as well. They performed as "The Fabulous Bentley Brothers" with JellyTv in 2009, created humourous ad campaigns for local businesses (documented on IFC's docu-series "Rhett & Link: Commercial Kings") in 2011, and made music videos like "My Hair Goes Up" in 2012.
The best example of their impressive media resume, however, is definitely with their most well-known and successful channel at "youtube.com/rhettandlink2": Good Mythical Morning. With clickbait thumbnails and attention grabbing titles, the show offers a variety of excellent comedic content. Although the channel was founded on 9/17/2008, the show (proper) was started in January 2012. They now have over 12.4 million subscribers and boasts an average 100 million views per month.
Their website states that they are the most-watched daily show online, and I have no doubt that it's true. They provide a new video every morning (Monday through Friday) along with a "show after the show" video at the "Good Mythical More" channel. Not to mention all their other various projects like their new project "This is Mythical", their behind the scenes videos entitled "Good Mythical Crew", their podcast "Ear Biscuits", and their YouTube RED scripted show "Rhett & Link's Buddy System".
The last of which Variety wrote an article about, stating, "since its debut in Oct 2016, the first episode of 'Buddy System' has generated more than 7.5 million views. In early March, the show ranked as the No. 1 most 'in-demand' digital series as measured by Parrot Analytics, ahead of originals from Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu." [x] Although it also notes that while "Rhett & Link's Buddy System", "may have led the digital field...it's not even close to the most in-demand TV shows. For March 4-11, 2017 'Buddy System' averaged 7.1 million demand expressions in the US. AMC's 'The Walking Dead' averaged 62.6 million over the same time period, followed by HBO's 'Game of Thrones' with 33.2 million and FX's 'Legion' with 30.2 million." [x] I would like to note, however, that allowing for a difference in production scales and budgets, "Rhett & Link's Buddy System" certainly gets a bang for their buck. The show has a loyal viewership and comparative demand to the relatively cheap cost of production.
To me, the best thing by far about their show is that it has a variety of material everyone from five years old to a hundred and five years old can enjoy. They try ridiculous food combinations, play games, do crazy Internet challenges, sing songs, and do a bunch of other solid family-friendly comedy work. My personal favourite episodes are when they play games in which one of the duo will come up with a list of something like “6 Really Messed Up Fairy Tales”. Some of the fairy tales they list are true, but others are their own invention. The other person then has to guess which fairy tales are true and which ones are made up. At the end of the game, one, both, or neither of them can win a prize. In short, it's a fun, educational game that increases my knowledge of random trivia. Truly the kind of educat-ainment I desire. Although, in full disclosure, my top two favourite videos by them are not trivia-based. You should watch them all the same ("Does Dancing Increase Your Pain Tolerance" and "Extreme Yoga Challenge").
My other favourite thing about the show is that it has no qualms about being seen AS a professional show. On a YouNow show, Dan Howell discussed his re-branding as a Vlogger. In particular, he cited how he could hire a graphic designer for creating his new YouTube channel header. However, Vlogging has a "do-it-yourself" spirit that he wanted to adhere to, and therefore he designed it himself with his own limited Photoshop skills. Yet anyone worth their film-making/consuming salt knows that the "do-it-yourself-in-your-parents-basement" YouTube style is from a bygone era. Now there are teams of people that are responsible for maintaining a channel. This is not to mention all the other sponsorships, merchandising, and touring deals that YouTubers also capitalise on to make their revenue. The fact that Vloggers feel uncomfortable talking about how hard it is to BE a Vlogger( with a capital V) is something that I dislike. I understand that it's not part of the Vlogger genre, but I still think they should be honest about how much hard work it takes. Vlogging is not just a career that "anyone can do". To be a YouTuber means lots of hard work, time, money, and talent.
Rhett and Link's daily show format allows for that vlogging taboo to instead be embraced and become a part of their format. They are able to do so by constantly thanking their "Mythical Crew", by unashamedly having episodes sponsored by companies like Geico and Lynda.com, and constantly promoting their own merchandise. These are two men who are not ashamed of having talent, putting in hard work, and expecting a profit from it. What a Vlogger jokes about as "selling out", these two fully embrace - expecting compensation for hard work. Not only that, but they are also able to show that YouTube is a legitimate, serious platform just like any other big-budget summer blockbuster film.
Finally, I love that they’re two guys from North Carolina who (I believe) are also Christians. Although they're quiet about their Faith, I believe that it informs all that they do. Their show is full of clean humour and originality, and it gives me, a fellow Christian filmmaker, great encouragement. I love that I am able to see something like their show be so successful. It shows that as a Christian you don't need to make something that is "In-Your-Face-Jesus-y", or even directly related to Christianity. You can make something like a daily comedy variety/talk show that over 12.4 million people decide to create a community around, and know that bringing people together over a laugh is just as worthwhile as any other work.
And finally, I do want to note that Link is my favourite of the duo. He is adorable, relatable, and must be protected.
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