Good Mythical Morning creators and hosts Rhett & Link return to WIRED to answer an updated batch of their most searched for questions on Google. What did Rhett and Link do before Good Mythical Morning? What academic degrees have the duo earned? Why did Rhett & Link sell Smosh? Why don’t Rhett & Link feed themselves while on camera? When did Rhett & Link first get popular? Will they ever retire? Answers to these questions and plenty more await on the WIRED Autocomplete Interview with Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal.Wonderhole premiered August 23 on YouTube with new episodes released weekly on Fridays https://www.youtube.com/@rhettandlinkDirector: Justin WolfsonDirector of Photography: Ricardo PomaresEditor: Michael Suyeda; Louis LalireTalent: Link Neal; Rhett McLaughlinLine Producer: Joseph BuscemiAssociate Producer: Paul GulyasProduction Manager: Peter BrunetteProduction Coordinator: Rhyan LarkTalent Booker: Mica MedoffCamera Operator: Shay Eberle-GunstSound Mixer: Justin FoxProduction Assistant: Faith Evans; Spencer MathesenPost Production Supervisor: Christian OlguinPost Production Coordinator: Ian BryantSupervising Editor: Doug LarsenAssistant Editor: Justin Symonds
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TechTranscript
00:00I'm Rhett.
00:01And I'm Link. And this is the Wired Autocomplete Interview.
00:04♪♪
00:07I thought you were gonna do it.
00:08But then right when he came up here and we spoke,
00:11we decided that you were gonna do it.
00:12I was looking at his shoes.
00:13♪♪
00:16What?!
00:17What did Rhett and Link do before GMM?
00:22We graduated from college.
00:24We became engineers.
00:25Yes.
00:26We made the logical transition to full-time Christian missionaries.
00:29Yes.
00:30Then we made the logical transition to full-time YouTubers.
00:32We made music videos.
00:34We made internet stuff.
00:39And then we made Good Mythical Morning.
00:41So that's it.
00:42Yeah.
00:44What degrees do Rhett and Link have?
00:47I tend to run a little bit cooler than the average person.
00:50Legitimately.
00:51He has a degree in comedy.
00:52Can you tell?
00:53I have an industrial engineering degree.
00:56I designed not how any... not the make...
00:59What is that?
01:00What did I do?
01:01He has a civil engineering degree.
01:02I have a civil engineering degree.
01:05What rings do Rhett and Link wear?
01:07People call this our friendship ring.
01:09It's an Aura ring, not a sponsor.
01:11But we did invest in Aura rings.
01:12Yeah, we did.
01:13I mean, they're not paying us to say it.
01:15It says, wear it on your index finger.
01:17So we both got these rings and we both put them on the same finger.
01:20And people think that it's a friendship ring.
01:23And we're fine with them thinking that.
01:24And we're fine with them thinking that, but it doesn't seem like I am.
01:28This is my wedding ring.
01:30This is my wedding ring.
01:31We're each married to a wife.
01:34What time do Rhett and Link film GMM?
01:37We begin filming at 2 a.m. Pacific time.
01:40Every single day.
01:41Right.
01:42Live to tape.
01:43It is edited.
01:44It is spit out on the internet immediately.
01:48At least that's what people seem to want to believe, so that's what I'm telling you.
01:51But we get to start our weekends early.
01:52Right.
01:53For that reason.
01:55What do we have here?
01:57When did Rhett and Link...
02:01When did Rhett and Link get popular?
02:03I mean, that's better than how on earth did Rhett and Link get popular.
02:07Well, you don't know.
02:08That might be next.
02:09I think it was freshman year in high school.
02:11Yes.
02:12When we somehow talked those sophomore girls, Tabitha and Jamie, into being our girlfriends.
02:19And everybody was like, well, hold on now.
02:21And Rhett's parents had to drive us to the movie theater.
02:24All four of us in the back seat.
02:26How do you fit four high schoolers in the back of a Dodge Dynasty?
02:30I don't know. We did it.
02:31Hey, nothing wrong with a little smoosh action on a first date.
02:34You know what I'm saying?
02:35And then when we were on the way back from the movie, it got a little bit quiet.
02:40No one knew what to say.
02:42And Link said, it sure will be nice when they make this road four lanes.
02:46And you know what?
02:47They did make it four lanes.
02:50And it was nice.
02:51It was nice, but it's not like you made it happen.
02:53Pull the next one.
02:55Okay.
02:56And read it to me, because I can't read it.
02:58When did Rhett and Link deconstruct?
03:01When did Rhett and Link spiritually implode?
03:06You want to be serious about this for a moment?
03:08Sure will be nice when they make this road four lanes.
03:13Our spiritual deconstruction was a long, grueling process.
03:17Painful in many ways.
03:18The most difficult thing I've ever done in my life.
03:21Me too.
03:22We were steeped in Southern Bible Belt evangelicalism.
03:28Like the tea bags that we were.
03:32Please continue with this analogy.
03:34Well, we brewed for a long time, and then we started to weaken and seep out.
03:40It was a long, painful, scary process.
03:46I'm glad I was there for Rhett through the whole thing.
03:48I don't think he would have made it without me.
03:52I'm very grateful for where I came from and who it made me to be,
03:57but also the parts that I shed over the years.
04:01So I'm in a good spot now.
04:04Me too.
04:06When is Rhett and Link's birthday?
04:08Well, we don't have the same birthday.
04:10We did have the same first girlfriend.
04:12We also lost our virginity in the same hotel.
04:15Not the same hotel room, though.
04:17I don't think.
04:18Not at the same time.
04:19Not at the same time.
04:20One year apart.
04:21One year apart.
04:22Link had to get Tim, one of our friends, to go to the CVS to get three types of lube.
04:27Why do you need three?
04:29I was like, bring options.
04:31Okay.
04:32And a lot of it.
04:33I sort of made things happen that we didn't need a drugstore to be involved in.
04:42When will Rhett and Link retire?
04:46How can you retire if you don't have a job?
04:48That's good, Link.
04:49I mean, we're sitting here living the dream.
04:52At a young age, we were literally dreaming about this in abstract,
04:58not really knowing what YouTube could be
05:02or that anyone else would think we were capable of being entertaining or engaging.
05:08Well, I think that every YouTuber is on a collision course with either retirement or irrelevance.
05:14And we've been running...
05:16From both.
05:17Forever.
05:18Right.
05:19So we'll see which one gets to us first.
05:20Yes!
05:22Would you like to peel?
05:24How are Rhett and Link as bosses?
05:28Well, I would say, A, figuring it out as we go along.
05:32There did come a point where we were like, I think we're running a company.
05:36Maybe we should read a book about that.
05:38Right.
05:39We were not just leading our audience of fans,
05:44but we were leading a group of employees and building a culture.
05:50I mean, once you start to realize that the actions you take have ripple effects through people's livelihoods,
05:56it becomes very intimidating.
05:59And it makes you read a few books.
06:02It makes you hire some coaches.
06:05Why did Rhett and Link sell Smosh?
06:11You know, their future was extremely uncertain.
06:14We ended up buying Smosh and creating an environment where they could stay on their feet and grow.
06:22Anthony came back into the picture, met with Ian.
06:27They came to us and said, hey guys, what if we bought this thing back?
06:31And we were like, we think that would be amazing.
06:34We continue to want to be a positive force in the creator community
06:40and share what we've learned and expand what mythical means,
06:45but also benefit other creators and kind of show the way as we're fumbling forwards lots of times, honestly.
06:53Are Rhett and Link no longer best friends?
06:58Or just friends. Don't even say best.
07:00You added a little best in there.
07:02I think that people have this tendency.
07:07They want to believe that it is an impossibility for two people who have been friends since they were first graders,
07:16who have worked together all this time to still actually be friends when their friendship has become monetized.
07:24I think I understand why people would think, well, really, isn't it just a business now?
07:28What we ended up realizing is that we actually have to focus on the friendship apart from the business
07:36in order to make sure that the friendship doesn't just exist for the business.
07:40I actually think it's a really healthy thing that we have to keep coming back together
07:43and we have to keep having a good time together because then we end up having a good time together.
07:48We can't help ourselves, can we?
07:49Right.
07:50You gotta saddle that horse.
07:51That's right.
07:53Rhett and Link, inspirational quotes.
07:57Okay.
07:58What?
07:59A man once said...
08:00I just need some inspirational quotes.
08:02At the intersection of doubt and hope is where growth happens.
08:08When life gives you lemons, make orange juice and let the world wonder how you did it.
08:16Wow. I'm actually kind of inspired by that.
08:19Yeah, I can't help myself.
08:22Oh, I get to rip them again.
08:25Who owns Rhett and Link?
08:28In the context of Good Mythical Morning, using the parlance of our times,
08:35I would say that Stevie owns us quite frequently.
08:39Puts us in our place.
08:40Yeah.
08:41She called us boys for a long time and then Rhett had a problem with that.
08:44So then she started calling us everything else under the sun.
08:49I think she called us queef biscuits once.
08:52Yeah, she did.
08:53I actually kind of like that one.
08:55Nobody owns us.
08:57Mythical Entertainment is an independent organization owned by...
09:02Me.
09:03Us.
09:04And him.
09:05Who's Rhett?
09:07And who's Link?
09:08Our first thing that we ever did was perform live comedy music.
09:12I played a guitar.
09:13I'm right-handed.
09:14The neck of the guitar goes this way.
09:16It would be right here, so I didn't like that.
09:18And then we went and performed at this place.
09:20But we were always known as Rhett and Link.
09:21Yeah, but they had a Rhett and Link logo on a screen behind us one time we were performing.
09:27And we were like,
09:28Oh, now I realize that they're gonna think that you're Rhett and I'm Link.
09:31And that's the last thing I want is for people to think I'm Rhett.
09:34Right.
09:35And so we switched places and we have stayed that way ever since.
09:39When you get stopped in public, what do people call you?
09:43They call me Rhett.
09:45They call me Rhett, too.
09:46Yeah.
09:48Why don't Rhett and Link...
09:50Oh, that's a long one.
09:51...feed themselves?
09:53Oh, yeah.
09:54Why are these grown-ass men getting employees to reach onto the camera and feed them?
10:03Yeah, that's a great question.
10:04Speed!
10:05We thought it was funnier that way.
10:07Even when we're on another channel...
10:09Right.
10:10...there's a hand ready to feed us.
10:12KG has very, very clean hands.
10:15I don't.
10:16Link doesn't as well.
10:17And when you've got dirty hands and you eat food, what happens is you taste your hands.
10:23You just want to taste the food.
10:24You don't want to taste hand.
10:26Rhett and Link handshake.
10:29Our senior year, we went to prom.
10:31And we didn't dress up much in those days.
10:33So when we put on tuxes, especially tuxes with tails,
10:37when you're dressed in that fashion, you feel like you need to shake hands with someone who's also dressed in that fashion.
10:43I bet you we didn't even talk about it.
10:45I bet you it's just something that just happened, you know?
10:48It's like, hey, my girlfriend's dad taking our picture.
10:52And we got tuxes on, so, I don't know, you just lift a leg.
10:55Every time we take a photo...
10:57Every time we dress up.
10:58...like a red carpet, you know?
11:00Because, I mean, we practically live on a red carpet.
11:04We always do that pose.
11:06It's the pose.
11:07Rhett and Link, blood oath.
11:11This was when we were...
11:14Between 14 and 16, we went out to the cow pasture that we frequented.
11:19We basically had this discussion back and forth.
11:22And we decided we were going to do something big together.
11:26But we wrote it down on a sheet of paper.
11:29And then we got a sharp rock.
11:31That was all that was available.
11:33And we cut our fingers and we signed an oath in blood.
11:38And because people are now Googling this,
11:41I feel like we should create an image for people.
11:46So when they search Rhett and Link blood oath, they can actually see it.
11:50We have a box cutter.
11:51Okay.
11:52We're going to do it later.
11:54Okay, Link, you got your own board.
11:56This is what people are wondering about.
11:58People want to know about me, not about you.
12:00Link Neal III.
12:03Three I's.
12:04Link Neal III?
12:05Yeah, yeah, yeah.
12:06Charles Lincoln Neal III, that's me.
12:07I've always gone by Link.
12:09Except my Nana would call me Little Link because her husband was Lincoln.
12:12Pull me off.
12:13I mean, just let's keep going.
12:15Why can't Link Neal use knives?
12:18Yeah, what's up with that?
12:20Because sometimes I get my hand on a knife and things go sideways.
12:25Sometimes we do let him use a knife.
12:27We gave him a knife on his birthday.
12:28It was like giving a little baby a cake.
12:30It was beautiful.
12:32Is Link Neal a DJ?
12:34Oh, enough about me.
12:36A little more about me.
12:38I am not a DJ, but my alter ego Elkhound Snuggle Baby is a DJ.
12:46He's not charging money for the parties that he DJs because he just doesn't think he can.
12:52What does Link Neal's tattoo say?
12:55This tattoo says, Ahoy, B'gork.
13:00It's Elvish. It says, You're special.
13:02It's a matching tattoo that I have with my daughter.
13:05She was like, Dad, I want to give you the gift of us getting matching tattoos.
13:12For my birthday, I believe it was.
13:14And that's how I got talked into getting a tattoo.
13:17And then I couldn't stop.
13:18I could talk about me forever, but...
13:21Oh, no. The Rhett board.
13:23The Rhett board.
13:24My turn.
13:25What shoe size does Rhett McLaughlin...
13:28Answer that, man.
13:30Oh.
13:31Where?
13:32Where?
13:33I don't know if this is going to disappoint you, but it's only 12 and a half.
13:37You're lying, dude.
13:39You're wearing 11.
13:41What are you talking about?
13:42We have the same shoe size.
13:44I wear a 12 and a half. Are you crazy?
13:46Take the shoe off. What size is it?
13:48Hold on. Just what size is the shoe?
13:50This is a 12.
13:51Because not every brand makes a 12 and a half.
13:54I just stand up for the truth. I'm all about justice.
13:57Rhett McLaughlin basketball record.
14:00Oh, God.
14:01How much time do you have?
14:03I mean, I can't go outside without people coming up to me and saying,
14:07Oh, hey, hey, hey.
14:09Are you the guy that holds the single season three-point record
14:12at Harnett Central High School from the year 1996?
14:1477 made three-pointers in one season?
14:17What? You're so tall. You have a 12 and a half shoe.
14:19How does a guy like that make 77 threes?
14:22Wow.
14:25Rhett McLaughlin smile.
14:28I can also smile with my mouth open,
14:31but you won't see my teeth.
14:33I think that's what it should be.
14:34Rhett McLaughlin teeth.
14:36Does he have any?
14:37Rhett McLaughlin hair routine.
14:40My hair routine is wake up, put a little water on it,
14:43put some curl trigger on it,
14:46walk out the door.
14:47You gotta get the curl trigger if you wanna get the girls triggered.
14:51You know what I'm saying?
14:53That's just what it says on the bottle.
14:58That's all the boards.
15:00Hopefully we won't regret anything that Link said today.
15:03I am just flattered that people Google us.
15:06Thank you for being interested in me.
15:10And him a little bit.
15:11Yeah, and me.