My Brother, My Brother and Me is a weekly comedy advice podcast distributed by the Maximum Fun network and hosted by brothers Justin, Travis, and Griffin McElroy. Regular episodes of the podcast feature the brothers comedically providing answers to questions either submitted by listeners or found on the Yahoo! Answers service. The show was independently produced and released by the McElroy brothers from April 2010 until it joined the Maximum Fun network of podcasts in January 2011. In 2010, the show was consistently listed among the top 10 comedy podcasts on iTunes. Writing for The A.V. Club, critics David Anthony and Colin Griffith both counted MBMBaM as one of their top 10 podcasts of 2012. A TV series based on the podcast premiered on Seeso in February 2017 and is currently hosted on VRV.
Format
Each week the McElroy brothers alternate between answering questions that have been directly submitted by listeners and questions that listeners have found on Yahoo! Answers. The second type of question is usually referred to by the brothers as a "Yahoo." Both kinds of questions will usually prompt the hosts into long humorous discussions. " Departure" by John Roderick & The Long Winters has served as the primary theme song for My Brother, My Brother and Me since the show joined the Maximum Fun network on January 17, 2011. Prior to this, the show's theme song was "Take a Chance on Me" by ABBA, while "Root to This" by Fear of Pop and later "Play Your Part " by Girl Talk was used as a closing theme.
Recurring segments
Beyond the typical format of humorously answering questions from users and from Yahoo Answers, the brothers host different recurring segments included randomly in episodes. Most live shows tend to include at least one occurrence of a segment such as Munch Squad or Haunted Doll Watch. Segments include:
"The Money Zone": A segment each episode, normally around the midpoint of the episode, including advertisements from corporate sponsors and paid messages from listeners read by the hosts on air.
"Minion Quotes": A segment in live shows wherein Justin reads platitudes while Griffin and Travis attempt to guess which cartoon character the platitude is serving as a caption for. If Griffin or Travis guesses correctly, Justin must post the meme on his Facebook page without comment, and cannot reply to the responses to the post. This has caused no small amount of distress to Justin.
"Munch Squad": A "podcast within a podcast" in which Justin recites and ridicules press releases from fast food companies about new products In recent episodes, Justin has claimed that Munch Squad is "winding down" though he continues to regularly perform the segment.
"Haunted Doll Watch": A segment which features Justin reading and critiquing eBay listings of apparently haunted, possessed, or cursed dolls.
"Sad Libs": A segment in which Travis creates tragic stories with blank spaces and completes them with nonsensical or uncomfortable words, resembling Mad Libs. Performed largely at live shows, the segment is ridiculed and despised by Justin and Griffin.
"That's a Christmas to Me": A segment in which Justin reads both real and fake Christmas movie synopses and asks the brothers to decide which description is fake.
"Riddle Me Piss": A segment in which Travis reads confusing and often nonsensical "riddles" from Riddles.com. While introducing the segment and reading the riddle, Travis will often adopt an exaggerated character voice. Justin and Griffin tend to try to apply logic to otherwise illogical riddles, leaving both exasperated and upset.
"Celebrity Wines, Why Not?":A game show-style segment in which Justin provides the name of a wine made by a celebrity, and Travis and Griffin attempt to guess the celebrity that makes the wine. The segment is typically introduced via singing.
"Reach for the Stars": A segment in which Travis reads Amazon reviews, along with their respective rating. Justin and Griffin's roles are to guess what products the reviews are for.
"Play Along At Home": A much-derided game show segment in which Travis asks Justin and Griffin trivia questions, while inviting the audience to "play along at home," in the style of a children’s television host. The questions cover a wide range of topics, but often end with an anecdotal question that Justin and Griffin would have no way of knowing. Travis started this segment shortly after having his second baby, and his brothers make it clear how much they dislike it.
"TikTok O'Clock": A segment in which the brothers attempt to create viral sounds for the app TikTok after finding out that an audio clip from their television show had started trending on the app.
Special episodes
Episodes of the show are occasionally performed and recorded in front of live audiences at venues in cities such as Los Angeles, New York City and Huntington; the format remains the same, including recurring segments such as Munch Squad, with the addition of a section where the brothers take questions from the audience. A special episode called "The Adventure Zone" was released on August 18, 2014, shortly after Justin and his wife Sydnee had a baby. It featured the brothers playing a game of Dungeons & Dragons with their father, Clint McElroy. The Adventure Zone was later spun off into its own podcast on the Maximum Fun network.
Guests
The show occasionally features guest experts who help the McElroy brothers answer questions. Notable past guests include:
Jimmy Buffett, musician
Bill Corbett, television and theatre writer, producer and performer
A television series based on the podcast was ordered for NBC's Seeso video streaming platform. Filming took place for three weeks during September 2016 in the McElroys' hometown of Huntington, West Virginia, with most of the episodes featuring scenes with mayor Stephen T. Williams. " Departure" by John Roderick and the Long Winters was retained as the theme song for the television series. The show ran for six episodes, all of which were released via Seeso on February 23, 2017. In June 2017, the series was sold to Otter Media for its streaming service VRV, alongside other former Seeso programs including HarmonQuest. The metal sign with the show's logo used in the primary set was auctioned off for charity in July 2020.
