The Travis McElroy Guarantee

Hello friends! There is so much huge news happening that I thought it would be easier to compile it all in one place!

First, old news! We launched two new podcasts! The Adventure Zone with Justin, Travis, Griffin and Clint McElroy! Join the Brothers (and Father) McElroy every other week as we play Dungeons and Dragons! http://bit.ly/maxfunadventure Also, Bunker Buddies with Travis and Andie Bolt! Join us as every Wednesday as we discuss the end of the world but in a funny way! http://bit.ly/maxfunbunker

I have also made several appearances on podcasts since arriving in LA! Wham Bam Pow, Jordan Jesse Go, Lady to Lady, and Throwing Shade! http://www.travismcelroy.com/podcasts.html

NEW NEWS! We're announcing a ton of live shows! There's the one coming up on Dec. 21st in Huntington, WV: http://t.co/CimoWQu7TM We will also be performing at SF Sketchfest of Feb. 7th! http://bit.ly/mbmbamsketchfest AND the night before (Feb 6th), we'll be performing in Los Angeles with Sawbones! http://bit.ly/mbmbamla AAAAAAAND on Jan. 6th, Bunker Buddies is doing a live show in LA at UCB! SO MANY LIVE SHOWS!

People often ask me "Whatever happened to In Case of Emergency? Are you gonna do more?" For those of you who don't know, ICOE was a podcast that my friends Jeremy, Miranda and I did in which we produced step by step plans to escape all kinds of disasters. It was super fun to make, but unfortunately our schedules got the better of us. It became a remarkable hassle to find time to record every week. In retrospect, I wish we had continued to do it, but cut it back to once a month. I also hate to admit it, but even after almost 40 episodes, it never really took off in popularity. So the moral of the story is: if you love a podcast, be sure to tell all your friends about it! You are the best advertisement a podcast has. You never know, you could be responsible for saving something you love!

So, long story short, I don't think ICOE is coming back. If it does, it'll probably be much different than it was the first time around. I am moving which is going to make it tricky to record with Jeremy and Miranda. Not only that, but it's been almost two years since our last episode. Needless to say, we have lost momentum! Since then, I have tried to develop other ideas for podcasts, but none of them have been quite up to snuff. There may be another in the future, but I'm waiting for the right inspiration. For now, MBMBaM keeps me plenty busy! If you would like to listen to In Case of Emergency, it is still available on iTunes! You can also listen to it here: http://icoecast.libsyn.com/

This is, without a doubt, one of the creepiest things I've ever seen. Trust me, it's creepy on every level. I was reading a very funny/creepy blog call straightwhiteboystexting.tumblr.com (highly recommend if you can deal dudes creepin' HARD) and they posted a link to this video. I watched the whole thing with a horrified look on my face. Here are the levels upon which it skeeved me out.

1) It uses every single buzz word and key phrase you could possibly think of to rope in a lonely dude. It runs together 26 different "sad lonely guy who just can't figure out what he's doing wrong" stories. It's so blatant, and yet I know that there will definitely be dudes that pay $197 for this "system".

2) If this dude's story is true, he QUIT HIS JOB TO STUDY WITH A "PICK UP ARTIST" FULL TIME. Then he discovered erotic literature which according to him, EVERY WOMAN GETS OFF TO CONSTANTLY. So he then SPENT MONTHS STUDYING EROTIC LITERATURE. Finally, he was able TO WRITE OUT THE OBSESSION STORY ON A WHITE BOARD. This should not end with a girlfriend. It should end with a hefty prison sentence.

3) It treats women as not only puzzles to be solved, but blatantly refers to them as "the enemy". The basic theory is that it's hard to pick up women because they don't actually know what they want. The dude tells a story of rolling up to a girl's house that he was obsessed with. You see, she had given him a pretty blatant cold shoulder that even he was surprised he didn't "get". So he rolls up with a "$50 sushi plate", an expensive flower arrangement and some sexy/comfy pj's from Victoria's Secret. She is with a new dude and yells at old dude for not calling ahead. And all this after spending $600 on three days. WHAT DID HE DO WRONG?!?! If only he had this system! Or he probably could just be less of a d-bag and not blame it on women.

Every so often we do a bit on #MBMBaM that people really enjoy and they leap to discuss it on various social networks. I am always very honored when the goof is one of mine.

When we first started the show, I very much felt like I was not carrying my weight. As crazy as it sounds, for a while I feared that my brothers might cut me from the show because I was really bad about talking over them and wasn’t listening. I started really working at listening to my brothers and making them my “other”. In acting class, I was taught to focus on my other. Be it my scene partner, the audience or a chair: my other was my focus. A good actor strives to get something from their other. A good actor WANTS something from their other. They vary their tactics to achieve their objective. A bad actor strives to feel something within themselves. A bad actor tries to be something rather than do something.

So I decided very early on that my objective on the show was not to BE funny, but instead to make my brothers laugh. No one wants to laugh when they are being ignored and having their jokes walked all over. No one wants to laugh when they are being joked AT rather than joked WITH.  This isn’t to say that I now perfectly listen and never step on their lines. In fact, I’m still awful at it. The difference is that now I know I’m doing it and try to do better.

So, when people enjoy a goof I do I am honored. I am honored because it’s always a joke that cracked my brothers up on the show. As much as I love our audience (I love you!), my favorite audience members are two guys sitting in Huntington and Austin. If they think something I said was funny, then I know I’m doing something right.