PsychicPebbles Opens His Brain For us (Patreon)

We start off our 2+ hour biannual neurological exam of PsychicPebbles’ lizard brain with a grim comparison of the Smiling Friends and Vsauce fandoms – and a realization about the rewatchability of both endeavors. Jimmy Carter is set to trade in the peanut farm and Habitat for Humanity for a brief cameo on the show, but he might be in line behind Putin and Kim Jong Un. Kevin wants Shaq to listen to the podcast, and we unite in our hatred of Big Cheese.

Smiling Friends has received a shocking level of support online. Its community is huge and active to the point where the tattoos are starting to roll in. A Brian Peppers/Smiling Friends mashup tattoo would be pretty sweet, and probably even better than the RIP Brian Family Guy tattoos from the past. It’s just a different era now – YouTube used to be loaded with all sorts of crazy and edgy stuff, which eventually moved on to LiveLeak and BitChute and who knows where else.

We start to get deep by probing the value of seeing really awful things online. Does being exposed to tragedy, whether it’s visual or experienced, actually help? Rick Beato had a good take on this, and Kevin’s got 5 sons with the same name. Matt wonders about the future of Choose Your Own Adventure style AI content, and Zach’s living it to some degree right now. What we do know for sure is that the sheer amount of information available to creators, which only seems to be increasing, is going to matter.

Resilience matters. Matt’s got a mystery pipe going back over 50 years, and Zach’s fairly sure it’s the only flow of air directly into the mouth of an underground captive. But the philosophical elements of all this carry weight when it comes to creativity and community – because if you’re bragging about being the biggest guy in the Transformers sphere, you’re severely broken.

Zach and Matt bond over Milton Friedman, who’s apparently sitting next to Karl Marx in the Pebbles Library. Matt draws value from William F. Buckley’s Firing Line, and it all adds up to a fascination with people, places, and past that the three of us share – and which we use to navigate the present. It shows up in Smiling Friends, Vsauce2, and literally everything we do.

The Great Ptomaine Panic of 2022 has begun. We’re scared, but Pim is TERRIFIED. Matt quotes the Bible during a full-on Ptomaine Party, and there’s no guarantee of survival – so before we expire, we rush to a lightning round of questions that cover memes in art, Smiling Friends deadlines, Cream the Slug, Pebbles’ worldview, and how to break into entertainment.

There’s really no one better to learn from regarding creative endeavors and how to work with other people successfully than Zach. That’s why we keep talking to him – every episode mines more and more solid gold, and we haven’t even begun to scratch the surface.

We had a massive turnout for the live show. It was INCREDIBLE, and we’re excited to get to know so many new people. Thanks to everyone who decided to plunk down a few bucks for the Patreon, and especially for the long-term support that so many in this community have given us. It means everything, and it keeps this show going week after week. You really are the best.