“Do you want to see the map?” asks Travis McElroy—he’s practically already out of his chair, and yeah, I really, really do want to see it. He walks to his back wall, takes down a framed print of a hypothetical Cincinnati transit diagram (think if our abandoned subway project ever opened and operated into the 2030s) and brings it into focus at his webcam. He points out quick connections from CVG to West Chester, laments connections that could have been, and adds that it’ll all probably come crashing down anyway. “One of these days, man, everything underneath, all those tunnels, are going to collapse. And Cincinnati’s gonna sink down like 10 feet.”
McElroy, the world-famous podcaster, transit enthusiast, and now doomsday prophesier, is speaking from his Cincinnati office studio where he hosts My Brother, My Brother, & Me with his eldest brother Justin and “sweet baby brother” Griffin. For 13 years on this advice podcast “for the modren [sic] era,” the trio has doled out unique tips for thwarting life’s biggest quandaries: Are shrimp baby lobsters? What’s our national soup? Got any one-liners in case I meet Dave Matthews? For millions of Maximum Fun independent podcast network listeners, the family churns out hundreds of hours of content yearly in a lineup that also includes the popular tabletop RPG podcast The Adventure Zone featuring their dad, Clint. You might have caught the brothers’ cameo in Trolls 2: Trolls World Tour, or you may know them for their namesake Appalachian millipede, Nannaria mcelroyorum (for real, look it up).
How did a nice kid like Travis end up in a place like this where the ground’s gonna cave in and we’ll likely be invaded by tunnel-dwelling mole people? The Huntington, West Virginia-born McElroy remembers early childhood visits to Reds games and Kings Island, but he first moved here in 2009 to become technical director for Cincinnati Shakespeare Company. After six years of set design, carpentry, rediscovering his love of theater, and doing a little bit of everything for CSC, he and his wife moved to Los Angeles to produce podcasts full-time. They always knew it would be a two-year detour, but where would they land next?
“We ended up coming back to Cincinnati because we both really liked the city,” Travis says. “It had a lot going on in regard to the arts and theatre, which we both love very much, and it’s close to family.” Now he holds a seat on the CSC board—“I’ve basically come full circle”—and he, his wife, and their two children spend their time gardening, trying the bevy of new restaurants around town. McElroy is also getting into blacksmithing at Blue Hell Studios. “We’re not going anywhere for a while,” he says.
They may not be moving away, but they’re certainly moving up. As MBMBaM’s listenership grows (did I mention they were in Trolls 2?), Travis, Justin, and Griffin continue to sift through the weirdness of adult life to find silly yet earnest solutions for our odd society each week. “If anything, I think the thing that we’ve done most is to make people feel more comfortable being awkward.… Everybody, apparently, in the world is awkward and doesn’t know how to talk to anyone else,” he says. And advising others is a responsibility that the “middlest” brother holds in the highest regard. “When we try to do comedy, it’s not Oh, we’re punching down at this person, or there’s a victim to this joke. It’s just trying to be silly and fun and nice.”
On a broader scale, McElroy also ponders the personal impacts of an increasingly personal internet, including podcasts and vlogs that show more curated slices of life. “It’s easy to compare yourself to people you see as successful and influencers and be like, They’re happy, they’re successful, they have everything, and I don’t. And it’s like, well, that’s not true—you’re only seeing a brief snapshot of what their day is like, what their week is like,” he says. There are thousands of hours of Travis McElroy content out there, but it still doesn’t show the full picture of the guy. And that’s by design.
For anyone aspiring to be like the brothers McElroy, Travis stresses the importance of setting your own boundaries. “If you are interested in being any kind of online presence, from the first day, the thing you keep in mind is that your mental health matters, that you matter as much as whatever audience you’re growing or impact you’re trying to have, so that you don’t burn yourself out and so you don’t put yourself in dangerous situations,” he says.
While he’s no doubt a creator, the term “influencer,” or the stereotype of an emergent media personality who takes selfies and snaps of food and clothes, doesn’t fit the brothers’ kind of influence. “I think that [internet influencing] expands to the way we treat each other, comedy influencing society, and the way that we interact with each other and kindness.” It’s not really the food and fashion thing, but hosting an advice pod is a different, personal, and perhaps “special-er” type of influence. “I’d like to think that we’ve increased the amount of positivity and kindness and good humor in the world”—he notes that at the very least, people might be inspired to paint their nails like him or color their hair like his trademark purple ’do, or give Dungeons & Dragons a go—“But like, I don’t know. And it feels weird to say I definitely have made the world a better place, and you’re all welcome,” he laughs.
Speaking of personal connections, this writer/longtime listener had a parting query for Travis: How do you make new connections when you move to a strange place, and how do you stay connected to your home? The expert’s first idea: Have a kid, force them to make friends, and then befriend your progeny’s parents. “That works, that one works.” Or, “You could become very old and see about mentoring a 30-year-old writer like in Tuesdays with Morrie.” Or, make a foray into theater. “That’s how I’ve made almost all my friends in my entire life.” Or, start competing in Magic the Gathering tournaments. “I bet they’re all pretty close. I’ve never done it, but I bet that’s a great way to meet people.” But seriously: “Whatever the thing you like doing as a hobby or as a passion, try to find places where people get together and do it on a regular basis. And then go to that place and start being a regular at that thing, whether it’s karaoke, or Magic the Gathering, or blacksmithing, or community gardening.”
And as far as staying in touch with your roots: “Try to think about the aspects of where you’re from that you’re really proud of, because it’ll come up. When you move to a new city and you tell people where you’re from, and they’re like, Cincinnati, what? And you’re like, Well, yeah, but let me tell you about the abandoned underground subway.”
Facebook Comments