transcript

Speaker 1:
[00:37] The bowl might be empty, but that just means that you can use it as a vehicle. I can't remember if it was little Nemo, or maybe the little prince that would sail through the Milky Way in his empty bowl. I'm not in Huntington today, but I'm still in West Virginia, and you may be at home, or you may not be, but otherwise, we're all together here in The Empty Bowl, the meditative podcast about cereal. My name is Justin McElroy. I'm in a hotel room in Morgantown, West Virginia, and I'm a cereal enthusiast.

Speaker 2:
[01:17] My name is Dan Goubert. I am in my bed still because my office ceiling is leaking. Water, not milk, but still. I'm a cereal-

Speaker 1:
[01:26] Dan, I'm sorry.

Speaker 2:
[01:27] No, it's okay. It's been like that. It's a new normal here. And again, it's very comfortable in my bed. It feels very thematically accurate. So I might just take a nap after this. Post up. I'm- I didn't get to say what I am.

Speaker 1:
[01:44] What are you, Dan?

Speaker 2:
[01:45] I'm a cereal scriar. I can read the fortunate future of a cereal just by the ripples in the milk.

Speaker 1:
[01:53] That's amazing. What a gift. I hope you're using it well. This is the basic order of things. We're going to do some news. We're going to talk about some things that we have tried. Then we are going to have some discussing, and then I think we should probably rank some serials. We have some interesting news on the Palatrines. Yeah, this is a big deal. Yeah, it's a big, it's a really big deal. We're, this is a stuffed show, and I think we should get right into it with root beer float, cinnamon toast crunch tan. What's this all about?

Speaker 2:
[02:38] Yeah, so we're all used to General Mills dropping new serial news right at the start of the year, but many will forget that they also do a second annual drop of news right before summertime, the old one-two crunch of serial news. And the leading headline here is, as you just said, a new soda-flavored cinnamon toast crunch. And talk about scrying. This one was predicted directly by our friend Gabe just last episode when he subbed in for you. He was talking about how much he really wanted a root beer-flavored cereal, and just like that, they tote one out. Uh, they tout one out too. Well, and it seems like soda-flavored cereals are really having a moment because we had, well, okay, this is a little bit of a diversion. Wait, deviation. I just can't find the right words today. It's the bed, I guess. But this is a second news story within the news story because I was going to say that the new mystery-flavored Cap'n Crunch, by all measures, according to us and just about anyone who tried it, was soda-flavored. But as of yesterday, the Cap'n did announce that it was officially cherry vanilla crunch, which I personally find insulting. Did you see this news?

Speaker 1:
[04:05] It's definitely soda-flavored. Yeah, well, I didn't see the news. I saw our very specific Legends of Cereal text thread talking about the, yeah, the, I think it's a cop-out. I think, I think, I don't remember which one was said that they just didn't want to put dirty on the box, but I think they just didn't want to call it dirty soda, Cap'n Crunch. I think they chickened out.

Speaker 3:
[04:29] Dan, can I ask you a question?

Speaker 1:
[04:33] Okay. This is a theory that I have based on this. What if the reason it was mystery crunch is that we're actually not wrong about this, right? Like, maybe it is dirty soda-flavored, but they didn't know if it would be on trend enough. So, like, they were making the cereal before they branded it, and then they had to make a last-minute call as to whether or not it was going to be dirty soda or whether that would be, like, too cringe. You know what I mean? Like, at that point, they didn't know maybe dirty soda's played, and they had to call it something else. So, I'm wondering if maybe the mystery crunch thing really was a result of it trying to be a flavor that was, like, so, so trendy.

Speaker 2:
[05:15] Yeah, there is a kind of a long lead time on production for things like this, which does make it hard to be truly topical. I know just now they're doing, like, six, seven-shaped chicken nuggets at Walmart, which is, like, you really nailed the timing with that one, guys. Yeah, my only other theory is that, so they're releasing these mystery crunch boxes in, like, volumes, basically, where the first mystery crunch was volume one, and the second mystery cherry vanilla crunch is volume two. But if you look at the back of the box, there's still a competition where you can do, essentially, Where's the Cap'n Again?, a campaign they did in the 90s and 2000s twice, where you can, you know, do a basically internet scavenger hunt to find out where the cap'n is and win a prize.

Speaker 1:
[06:02] I've just gone missing, which for somebody who is in charge of a vessel is pretty irresponsible. I mean, you have to assume there's some sort of boatswain on hand that can handle anchor watch and everything like that, but still, like, he should, people should know where he is. He's that cap'n.

Speaker 2:
[06:19] Yeah, we gotta put an air tag on that guy. But I guess my theory, then, is if Mystery Crunch was volume one and Mystery Cherry Vanilla Crunch is volume two, if you look at the box, there's still the word mystery covering up the top of the box. So I'm inclined to believe maybe they'll release this cereal a third time as, like, Soda Fountain Cherry Vanilla Crunch or something. Maybe the mystery isn't over yet. Or I just want to believe.

Speaker 1:
[06:45] The mystery is still being revealed.

Speaker 2:
[06:49] But, you know, that's all to say that Root Beer Float Cinnamon Toast Crunch is coming soon. And there was also, again, on the soda element, the K-pop demon hunter Saja Boyz cereal, which I believe you did try. And we will be talking about it later. So we'll get to that one.

Speaker 1:
[07:07] But, yeah.

Speaker 2:
[07:09] Which is all to say that I think Root Beer Float is kind of a genius idea for a Cinnamon Toast Crunch flavor, because as they continue to release these new Cinnamon Toast Crunch varieties that are steadfast in still including the cinnamon flavor element, they seem to be zeroing in on combinations that actually make that work. We had Strawberry Cinnamon Toast Crunch first, which like, Cinnamon and Strawberry do not work together. Then we had Cinnamon Toast Crunch Peanut Butter, which like, a little bit better, but also people were hoping for the more straightforward Peanut Butter Toast Crunch. But now we've got something where I feel that Cinnamon and Root Beer are sort of a similar shade in terms of flavor, so I think this will be really nice.

Speaker 1:
[07:56] Um, well, Dan, this is one of the rare times where I have to be a petulant little baby because I just don't like root beer.

Speaker 2:
[08:05] You don't like root beer?

Speaker 1:
[08:07] Dan, I don't like root beer, and so I wish they weren't making this cereal.

Speaker 2:
[08:14] What do you not like about root beer?

Speaker 1:
[08:16] The flavor.

Speaker 2:
[08:18] Is it just too rooty?

Speaker 1:
[08:20] The taste of it. I don't know. It's spicy, I guess. I don't know. It's rooty. It's spicy. And I don't like the flavor of root beer. So I wish they weren't making this cereal. I wish they would make a different one. I will be writing a letter.

Speaker 2:
[08:35] Yeah, maybe it's not too bad.

Speaker 1:
[08:39] I try to make this such a positive place. I know that that's a goal we both share. But I just feel like they shouldn't do this because I don't like root beer.

Speaker 2:
[08:46] Tell them that root beer is not on trend anymore. Maybe they'll change their minds. It's not the 1890s anymore.

Speaker 3:
[08:53] Yeah, might as well do a sarsaparilla flavor.

Speaker 1:
[09:01] There's no mystery about why you would make Lucky Charms cotton candy flavor. There's nothing to puzzle out there, right? It's just... It is what it is.

Speaker 2:
[09:10] Yeah, there's a lot going on here. This is not just cotton candy Lucky Charms, but it also has three new unicorn marshmallows.

Speaker 1:
[09:19] They're going so hard.

Speaker 2:
[09:19] Which will appeal to children everywhere. It's interesting that this is the second time they've done the three new marshmallows varieties of an existing marshmallow variety gambit, where before they had three new rainbows, this was almost like 10 years ago, so it's interesting that they're bringing it back now. Now, we've got three new unicorns on top of a cotton candy flavor. And for once, the box doesn't specify whether this is a corn or oat-flavored Lucky Charms. I'm not going to get my hopes up, but maybe they've heard our complaints about the cornification of Lucky Charms and are willing to do something about it. It might be the biggest corn cope, corn acopia cope, that has ever been done, but I want to believe again.

Speaker 1:
[10:08] I want to have hope. The pieces look very much like the fruity Lucky Charms pieces.

Speaker 2:
[10:16] You can identify the base grain particulate matter of the cereal just by looking at it. Dan, when you've been in the game as long as I have, you can read the physiognomy of a cereal piece.

Speaker 1:
[10:30] Dan, it's bold words for a guy who claimed to be able to read The Ripples in the Milk about ten minutes ago.

Speaker 2:
[10:36] You read the cereal, I'll read the milk. That's why we make a good team. But I don't know, this is like...

Speaker 1:
[10:42] The two crunch, as you said.

Speaker 2:
[10:43] Exactly. There have been cotton candy cereals before. Most famously, Cap'n Crunch's Cotton Candy Crunch. And you know, as a kid, I really liked cotton candy flavored candy. So, I think this will maybe be okay. It's maybe gonna be a little too sweet for someone like me.

Speaker 1:
[11:02] It feels like a lot. It feels like the sugar on this will get a little... My, like, back teeth are aching just thinking about this cereal.

Speaker 2:
[11:09] It is interesting for things like cotton candy or bubble gum that there is, like, a universally accepted definition of what that tastes like, even though it tastes nothing like the actual thing. I wonder who came up with what artificial cotton candy kind of tastes like, and I don't know why. Artificial cotton candy kind of feels like that.

Speaker 1:
[11:28] Yeah, it feels...

Speaker 2:
[11:28] I think it's...

Speaker 1:
[11:30] Well, I know part of it is vanilla flavoring. I mean, that's typically what you're tasting in, like, the, like, pink, classic pink. And then there's also some light caramelization that's happening in the sugar, because the sugar is melting and that's getting it to that hard crack point. So you have a change in the sugar flavor as well. It's, like, not quite caramel flavored, but there's a change, I think, in the sugar flavor when it shifts to that, like, spun straw kind of texture.

Speaker 2:
[11:58] Is that how you would describe it? Like, the artificial version is caramelized? To me, it's almost like they invented a new fruit, like they did with Crunch Berries.

Speaker 1:
[12:06] It's, no, it's not caramelized, because it stops short of that, but heating up the sugar, I think, gives it a bit of a flavor, you know? Like, it changes the flavor of the sugar itself. It's not, like, that raw sugar flavor. I think there's, like, a little bit more structure to it. This is my best guess, I don't know.

Speaker 2:
[12:25] Hmm. Well, I'll know it when I taste it, I guess.

Speaker 1:
[12:30] I mean, you know what part of that might be, Dan? Smell, you know? Because there's a smell associated with the making of it, so maybe that's, like, part of the flavor of it. You know, you're definitely hit with, like, a big waft of whatever cotton candy air that is, when you open a bag or whatever.

Speaker 2:
[12:44] Of carnival ambience.

Speaker 1:
[12:47] Yeah. This is confusing to me, the birthday cake Cheerios. Can I say? The Cheerios, super sweet Cheerios, like this. Um, I'm having trouble zeroing in on the target demographic, Dan.

Speaker 2:
[13:05] You know what I mean?

Speaker 1:
[13:06] Like, Cheerios is the healthy choice. Who's wanting it to be birthday cake flavored? You know, it's like a hearty sort of, I don't know, it just seems like a weird pairing.

Speaker 2:
[13:15] Well, it's weird, first of all, that we just got Confetti Cheerios, like earlier this year. So I don't really know what the difference is going to be. And more so, like you said too, Frosted Cheerios already exists and it feels really hard to improve on the precedent that they've set with just being like a sweet, sweetened Cheerios. Like I don't know what Confetti or birthday cake can do that Frosted Cheerios hasn't already done better and it's probably like heartier-ly? More heartily?

Speaker 1:
[13:45] Heartierly, yes.

Speaker 2:
[13:47] So this just feels like it is indeed for no one and it might be the only thing on this list that I steadfastly refuse to try.

Speaker 1:
[13:56] Tell me, yeah, it just feels like I cannot figure out a way where that would be interesting to taste. Like I can't imagine it. I'm, you know, pretty creative when it comes to imagining a cereal flavor. I just can't get there.

Speaker 2:
[14:08] Birthday cake is like the realm of your bargain basement corn puff cereals, so it's kind of sad to see Cheerios stoop this low. This is beneath you, Cheerios.

Speaker 1:
[14:18] Side note, this is not for, I don't know, this is probably not even worth mentioning in the news, but there was a birthday cake, Fruity Pebbles, when I was at, I can't remember if it was Target or Walmart this week. And on the box, it had the big sticker on it that said, 55th Anniversary of Pebbles.

Speaker 3:
[14:43] It's like, guys, you can't, you cannot pretend that you were doing birthday cake pebbles in the beginning because it's your 55th anniversary.

Speaker 2:
[14:55] Well, Gabe and I were talking about that on the latest episode because this is a re-release from five years ago for the 50th anniversary of Pebbles.

Speaker 4:
[15:01] Yeah, it's so wild, man.

Speaker 3:
[15:02] It says 55th anniversary.

Speaker 4:
[15:04] It's so funny.

Speaker 2:
[15:06] And they'll be back for the 56th birthday.

Speaker 1:
[15:08] Oh, the 56th birthday next to you.

Speaker 2:
[15:10] Yeah, right?

Speaker 3:
[15:10] It's our 58th anniversary. And we had more lying around.

Speaker 2:
[15:16] Oh.

Speaker 3:
[15:18] Okay.

Speaker 1:
[15:18] Do you feel any differently about protein, honey nut Cheerios?

Speaker 2:
[15:22] I think I'm in the same boat where I don't understand who this could possibly be for. Because if you want honey nut Cheerios with more protein, just eat the Cheerios oat crunch that has more oats in it, which is going to taste better. I feel like a cereal like this risks ruining what's good about honey nut Cheerios for a very meager benefit. Because we saw with the protein honey bunches of oats, where you get a very marginal amount of protein added, but it also detracts from the main flavor by making it just a little bit more protein-y. Like, I don't know why they're not... It's like, you've got honey nut Cheerios. Do you not think there's a more obvious way to add more protein to that when you have the word nut in the name? Like, just throw more almonds in there.

Speaker 1:
[16:09] Rather than just like spraying protein powder on it or whatever. Yeah, I feel like this is not a... It's tough, Dan. I struggle with this because this is... We try really hard to not make this a show about nutrition, because it's a show about cereal that you really shouldn't like. But when they start touting things as like a protein, like the benefit is the protein, you have to kind of take it under that faith. And you're right. Like, in the grand scheme of what an adult is recommended to intake, eight grams of protein, you're lying to yourself, my friend. Like, this is not an impactful change you've made in your life. What you've done is what I worry. Some of these protein cereals, if you know what you're getting into, it's like, yeah, I'm going to eat something that's really protein-y. Okay, I'm making a choice there. I don't feel like Honey Nut Cheerios has enough room in the flavor to hide protein, right? At least with the Honey Bunches of Oats, you could hide it in the clusters and stuff like that. But I feel like Honey Nut Cheerios is one of the great recipes up there with Cap'n Crunch where it's just unmatched. I mean, it still hits so hard.

Speaker 2:
[17:27] Yeah, I mean, it's iconic. So any slight deviation from that norm will be immediately detectable, especially because this is one of those cereals that people have been eating for their entire life every day as ritual. Yeah, it's very good. Yeah, I know adding protein to everything, like we've said, is on trend. But I can already feel in the cultural discourse, the pendulum swinging back towards wanting fiber instead. So just mark my words, this time next year, there's going to be Honey Nut Cheerios fiber.

Speaker 1:
[18:04] Now, Dan, we come to, for me, the most hotly anticipated cereal of the year right now.

Speaker 2:
[18:13] I figured you might say that.

Speaker 1:
[18:15] You know me, I'm such a sucker for this kind of thing.

Speaker 2:
[18:17] You're always on Island Time, which is why you're so excited about Tropical Tricks featuring Moana-shaped pieces, which I think is just code for they're reusing a lot of the same flower-shaped pieces that they've used in other tricks varieties before.

Speaker 1:
[18:35] Yeah, and the flowers are the berry shapes just with the palette swap.

Speaker 3:
[18:40] So I applaud them.

Speaker 1:
[18:43] I mean, I will say this, it looks nice. I don't need different shapes or things. I will say that previous Moana led it, the lint itself to better serial shapes because the Heart of Te Fiti and their other, like, iconic shapes that they could include in the serial. So I don't know if this is specifically not tied to any specific Moana because the live-action Moana, I'm assuming, will be out about the same time, but it is not a serial based on the live-action Moana that will be out at about the same time.

Speaker 2:
[19:18] Wow, we've got a Moanologist over here.

Speaker 1:
[19:21] Yeah, well, no, it's interesting because there's this live-action Moana that The Rock is going to be appearing in this summer. And so it's notable to me that Disney is not tying this to a live-action Moana on the Tropical Tricks box. And I'm mentioning Moana 2, which was the last movie in the franchise. So I don't know, it's interesting. I mean, I would have loved to see a huge live-action Rock on this box, but I understand I don't always get what I want.

Speaker 2:
[19:50] When's the last time you've seen a real human on a cereal box for children? Now. And it would be a little uncanny.

Speaker 3:
[19:56] You know what? Reasy Pot?

Speaker 1:
[19:57] Reasy Pot is probably right.

Speaker 2:
[19:58] That is true. But yeah, I don't know. What do you think the tropical flavor profile is going to be here?

Speaker 1:
[20:06] If I am happy either way, I feel like there's two flavors that you can go... Well, really three. Coconut, pineapple, banana. To me, tropical is some mix of those three. Moana, you could get away with, you know, maybe some like passion fruit kind of vibes, but that seems a little ambitious. Is there anything in the press release about the specific notes? Fruit, refreshing, fruit-forward, tropical flavor.

Speaker 2:
[20:41] Hmm. I'm going to predict there's going to be, it's going to be mango forward.

Speaker 1:
[20:48] It's also got minerals and calcium.

Speaker 2:
[20:50] Oh, okay.

Speaker 1:
[20:51] It says in the press release that it's in partnership with Disney, which I have to applaud them. It would be pretty wild to do this without a...

Speaker 2:
[21:03] They won't know this.

Speaker 3:
[21:05] Just put one on there, what do we care? You know that is actually funny, Dan, side note.

Speaker 1:
[21:12] Disney itself did that one time in one of its camp, in one of the Fort Wilderness area of the park, which is its own resort, but where people can also camp. They set up a Bluey theme scavenger hunt all throughout, and then the management of that area was informed that they, while they do air Bluey on the Disney Channel, they do not have the rights to Bluey in the park itself, so they had to go back through and remove this entire scavenger hunt, that they in fact did not have the right to put up. Anyway, that is not serial-related.

Speaker 2:
[21:51] I'm sure if you work for Disney, you tend to forget all the things that you own at a certain point.

Speaker 1:
[21:56] It's like, can I make an Iron Man?

Speaker 4:
[21:57] I'd rather you didn't.

Speaker 3:
[21:58] It doesn't really fit, but okay.

Speaker 1:
[22:01] Now, Dan, what did these liquid death people stand for?

Speaker 2:
[22:06] Nothing but violence, apparently. This one really disappointed me because I actually thought it was just going to be Pop-Tarts flavored water, which is kind of sad that I was going to get excited about that.

Speaker 4:
[22:18] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[22:20] Because, you know, we had the liquid death partnering with Fruity Pebbles more recently, where they made a Fruity Pebbles-flavored sparkling water, or sorry, Fruity Pebbles and Milk-flavored sparkling water, and it was pretty heinous. And as someone who really likes drinking sparkling water, I have my own home carbonator and everything.

Speaker 4:
[22:40] Nice.

Speaker 2:
[22:40] I have always been hoping for more strawberry representation in the sparkling water aisle. Like, you have the strawberry bubbly, but there's no real clear competitor to that. So I was hoping that a strawberry toaster pastry, with sparkling water could be that. But it turns out I didn't look closely enough, and this is not a sparkling water, but rather Pop-Tarts, but rather Pop-Tarts Carnage, as they're calling it for some reason, because everything needs to be, you know, vaguely homocivil with this brand. It's a flat strawberry toaster pastry flavored iced tea, which just, you know, not for me. For some reason, I would want my liquid Pop-Tarts to be power washing my trachea.

Speaker 1:
[23:28] This really looks, see, I'm torn here. I don't like the unsweetened seltzers, like your La Croix and what have you. So I would need to taste how sweet this is.

Speaker 2:
[23:46] It's not even a seltzer though.

Speaker 1:
[23:48] Yeah, but if it's like really reduced sweetness, you know what I mean? I need some of the sweet flavor there. Even with a tea, I need some sugar. Yeah, I don't know. I'd give it a shot. Love refreshing. I like these mid-range beverages that are not the zero calorie diet stuff, but not the full sugar versions of it. I think that's an interesting sort of middle ground for some of these.

Speaker 2:
[24:17] What's going to be middle?

Speaker 1:
[24:17] I'll try it. Oh, there he goes. Going off again. Hey, let's talk about some of the stuff that we've been trying, Dan, because I'm interested to see a couple of these. What you make of them.

Speaker 2:
[24:32] It's been a storied month for my pantry. Let's just say that. So starting with one that I know you've also tried, this is Kellogg's Crunchy Nut Hot Honey from the UK. So Listener Kaz was kind enough to send us both a box of this from the UK. And I was really excited because as we've said multiple times, the international cereal game is so much more groundbreaking and innovative than what's going on here these days.

Speaker 1:
[25:02] So true.

Speaker 2:
[25:03] You know, although I don't see any other countries doing a root beer flavored cereal.

Speaker 1:
[25:07] Yeah, and God bless Lucky the Leprechaun. He really did get a lot of different sugar into that.

Speaker 4:
[25:13] Do his new cereal made three different unicorns? That's progress.

Speaker 2:
[25:19] But again, this comes hot, literally hot off the heels of the American failure of Sinafuego Toast Crunch. So I was excited again to see what other ways there are to do a spicy cereal. And I think this is exactly how you should do a spicy cereal where, you know, we don't have crunchy nut in America anymore. But in this case, it's basically just honey flavored corn flakes. And I'll start by saying that the texture of these corn flakes is divine. They're very smooth. They have a pleasant geometric scoop that fits on the tongue very pleasingly.

Speaker 1:
[25:52] And I might be in my like quisp. Have you ever tried when they've like re-released that? It's like that scoops sort of like a tiny scoop shape.

Speaker 2:
[26:05] Yeah, it's very pleasant. It's a very solid base for essentially a mild hot honey flavor that builds over time. So the spice only comes in the back end. It's not like that hot tamales, like over the top heat that you got from the Sinafuego. This is just a subtle burning spice on the back end that I found very novel and really fun to eat dry. I didn't really love it in milk just because there's no universe where spicy milk is appealing to me. But not every cereal needs to be enjoyable in milk.

Speaker 1:
[26:39] I agree with that, especially in this modern time, where I think cereal is as much a snack as it is a meal for a lot of folks. You know, it's interesting, Dan. This is not just a sweetened version or a hot version of a different cereal there. It looks like the shape itself is specific to this, what they're calling it, crunchies, is specific to just this hot version. So, the regular crunchy nut is the flakes, and then this is with the little things on them, and this is a different beast entirely.

Speaker 2:
[27:15] Well, they should be using this shape in more places.

Speaker 1:
[27:18] That is what my friend Slice said. I really like this, but this shape should be everywhere, too. This is like a great base. I was like, yeah, it looks really quite good.

Speaker 2:
[27:28] Can you imagine if the cereal had like some loose oats that would collect and pool inside the scoops?

Speaker 1:
[27:33] Ah, it's delicious. And I really do think that the spices is integrated in a nice way. I mean, it really is very pleasant to eat. I agree with you about the milk. I can't get there with spicy milk, you know? It just doesn't know, but I do like it dry a lot. It's good.

Speaker 2:
[27:51] Yeah, and this was a case where I took a page from your book and I ended up remixing this into a snack. So I made a snack, or a hot honey nut checks mix where I did a pretty basic checks mix recipe, added in some of these, added in some honey nut Cheerios, and it was just divine. A bunch of like cumin and stuff. Oh, amazing.

Speaker 1:
[28:13] Ooh, this sounds delicious. Yeah, it's a great, it's a really, it's really good. I, this is one that I was like bummed. I couldn't instantly go get another box of. It's quite good.

Speaker 2:
[28:26] Yes, well, thank you. Thank you, Kaz, for this experience. Thanks, Kaz. It's one that I treasure.

Speaker 1:
[28:30] Fantastic. What's main cereal?

Speaker 2:
[28:36] Finally, Justin. 25 years after the General Mills released Harmony, a cereal for women, there's finally a cereal for men, too. And it's called man cereal. It is the first.

Speaker 4:
[28:52] Sorry, I scrolled down to the picture of a man. There's a man bent over a counter eating cereal. He didn't even have time to get a chair. That's how much of a man he is. He's wearing all black.

Speaker 1:
[29:05] He's got a black wristband with a black bowl and a black spoon, and black hair, and a black wall, and a black counter, and he's eating.

Speaker 4:
[29:13] He's eating a spoonful of manned cereal, but he's not even sitting down.

Speaker 2:
[29:16] He's basically planking on the breakfast table.

Speaker 1:
[29:20] Yeah. This is very clearly a man that does not have a wife who's coming to him saying, hey, don't do that.

Speaker 3:
[29:27] Hey, hey, partner, get a chair.

Speaker 2:
[29:33] Yeah. It's billing itself as the first creatine infused cereal. It's got high protein. It's keto friendly. It's got zero sugar. It literally says, I have the maple bacon flavor. It literally says sweet, smoky, and sigma on the side. This is a cereal trying so hard to keep up with the current zeitgeist that almost comes across as pretty out of touch. It's been the subject of much mockery online for its minimalistic branding and cringy copyrighting.

Speaker 1:
[30:10] When you look at the page right now, we get too excited, folks. It does say that, like, the variety pack, due to high demand, this product is backordered and is estimated to start shipping on April 22nd. A manned cereal, I have a hard time believing you have been so inundated.

Speaker 4:
[30:26] Listen people wanting to purchase manned cereal that you were caught with your manned cereal down as it were, unable to meet this increasing demand.

Speaker 2:
[30:37] Yeah, it's hard to say maybe they're just not making a lot of it. Like, I have a lot to say about this in combination with the next thing on the list, trend-wise, when they get there. But the actual flavor is also not good. I spent $20 on this just so I could tell you guys that it is not good. It comes in three flavors of fruity, salted fudge, and the maple bacon that I had. I had to try the most, you know, alarming and controversial one of the bunch. And it'd be funnier if it was worse. It's just kind of mediocre. The bacon element isn't really there. I definitely get a lot of the maple. It's again, it's one of these like grain-free cereals that it just has a really bad texture that sort of like dissolves in your mouth into like a slurry or perhaps a paste, not pleasant in any way.

Speaker 1:
[31:33] It resets itself between your teeth for like hours on end.

Speaker 2:
[31:37] It returns to the primordial soup basically. The maple flavor is subdued. It tastes kind of just like a bland pancake batter. I imagine, ironically for a cereal that proudly does not contain soy or seed oils or anything, it reminded me of at least how people describe the taste of Soylent. I've never really had it, but all I've seen is that people say it tastes like bland pancake batter. So it's kind of what that tastes like to me, and that it's kind of like an un-food, like a nothing in my bowl, and not something that would be a pleasant post-workout. But granted, a lot of things, they recommend you eat post-workout, aren't very tasty.

Speaker 1:
[32:16] I'm worried they're not going to hire you as a spokesperson, Dan, with taglines like, it's the un-food, it's a nothing in my bowl.

Speaker 2:
[32:24] Dang, we're not going to get that limited edition Dan cereal.

Speaker 4:
[32:28] Dan?

Speaker 3:
[32:31] Okay, let's make a pledge now.

Speaker 1:
[32:32] If we do ever decide to make a vanity cereal for this podcast, we'll make it the Dan cereal, packed with creatine, more creatine than any sane person should be consuming.

Speaker 2:
[32:49] But yeah, I think man cereal dovetails pretty nicely into the next thing on the list, which is even more heinous. And it seems to be a product engineered to create BuzzFeed clickbait type headlines. Does BuzzFeed still do clickbait headlines? I don't know.

Speaker 1:
[33:04] But they are actually in charge of the Constitution now. So they don't do that news anymore. They tend to the Library of Congress.

Speaker 2:
[33:12] Well, this is Meaties cereal, and it's produced by a small independent manufacturer. I think they might be called Mighty Meats. It's really hard to tell from the box. But this is first cereal made with grass-fed American beef. And indeed, beef is the first thing on the ingredients list, which might I add has been stickered onto the box, and it's not actually a part of the box proper.

Speaker 1:
[33:38] So they weren't sure they were really going to do it until the last minute. It felt like a joke until.

Speaker 2:
[33:43] And I wasn't sure it was real either, and neither were a lot of people online because it started getting really popular on Instagram just because like, why does this exist? Does it really exist? There were some Instagram videos about how obviously the mascot is AI generated, but it's dubious whether the nutrition facts were also AI generated just because they spelled cholesterol wrong. And also there's no statement of it actually being FDA approved in any way. So no one knew if this was something that actually existed. Everyone was too scared to order it. But where others found fear, I found the bravery and resolved to try it myself. And again, I spent $14 on what is essentially a fun sized box of cereal. And so I don't really know how it's a sustainable purchase even if someone were to enjoy it, which is good because I didn't enjoy it.

Speaker 4:
[34:40] So it all worked out. It sounds like they gave you the exact right size box, Dan.

Speaker 2:
[34:47] So it looks kind of just like dirt, like chunky dirt, which maybe is kind of like how I'd expect dried ground beef to look. And this comes in two flavors, also maple cinnamon and the chocolate peanut butter. So I tried some of this and again, I expected it to be worse. It is pretty bad. But in the upfront notes, well, talking about the texture first, it kind of is unique in that respect where it's like, you know how they've started converting a lot of playgrounds from like a wood chip to like this mulchy texture?

Speaker 1:
[35:24] Not a great start, but keep going.

Speaker 2:
[35:27] It's got like a rubbery chew to it, but also a bit of crispness upfront. Maybe sort of like old soggy coffee grounds is a good analog.

Speaker 1:
[35:35] Okay.

Speaker 2:
[35:36] And the initial-

Speaker 3:
[35:36] Like a half wet cookie.

Speaker 2:
[35:38] Yeah, yeah, in a sense. And the foretaste isn't awful. It's kind of just like a really like unsweet Oreo cake or like an Oreo pie or cake crust, maybe. But as you begin, as you start to chew it or perhaps gnaw on it is more accurate, is when this like sweetly smoked beef jerky aftertaste starts to creep in. And it's just not what I'd expect out of a cereal. I did briefly try it in milk and it only really emphasized just how jarring that is. Again, it'd be funnier if it was even worse. But as it stands, it's just something that I didn't enjoy eating in any sense of the word. And in terms of like a cereal cultural trends between this and the man cereal, it's kind of troubling. Like, I don't know why there's this like manosphere, like literal manosphere for the man cereal, because there's spheres like manosphere, maha, incursion into the cereal aisle. It seems less like something that was authentically done to make breakfast healthy or whatever, and more wholesome, and more just like a capitalization on like an underserved niche. Like there's a lot of these independent manufacturers, I think, who are trying to capitalize on this desire in the supermarket to be more wholesome and pure in what you eat. And instead of wanting to do something that has utility, they just did like, okay, no one's done like a cereal for men yet. No one has done meat for cereal yet. Let's do that while the iron is hot.

Speaker 1:
[37:17] Meat for men.

Speaker 2:
[37:18] Yeah. And so I just don't think this is something that even their target market is interested in. Because if you're looking for creatine and high protein, you're probably not going to look for it in a $14 cereal. And if you're looking for more like protein rich beef in your breakfast, you're probably just going to eat meat for breakfast.

Speaker 1:
[37:39] You're probably a wolf. I mean, nobody wants this.

Speaker 2:
[37:43] There's a lot more ways to get like whole proteins into your breakfast, whether it's oatmeal or sausage or whatever. And a very economically unfriendly cereal box is not going to do it.

Speaker 1:
[37:59] Do you want me to talk about the K-Pop Demon Hunter cereals real quick? This is more of a curiosity than anything else.

Speaker 2:
[38:04] Please do cleanse my palate with a cereal that actually sounds like a cereal.

Speaker 1:
[38:09] Yeah. So thank you to Gabe of Serial Time for sending these my way. I was very, very kind of him, especially since my daughters are like huge K-Pop Demon Hunter fans. And I feel like it's a real shame that these cereals are not widely available. It's very confusing to me. Unless this is like an early tease or something, I really don't know. But it seems weird with characters that are such a big deal and so popular, that this is not going to be a widely released serial. But just the very brief overview of the K-Pop Demon Hunters is, it is a pop group that is carrying on a long tradition of also being a group of demon hunters. It's following along with like Korean mythology, and these demon hunters are also a band and they have to keep the demons at bay and protect their home. So the demons also have their own band called the Saja Boys, and they are trying to win the hearts and minds of people by basically with bad vibes. And our friends in Huntrix, those are the good guys. They are more about positivity, and then the two bands are competing for the hearts and minds of the people. But in serial format, you've got the Saja Boys with their secret flavor, and Huntrix with a hidden flavor. The idea of hidden identities is a very big part thematically of the movie, but it's also, I feel like this trend of not telling people what flavor they're getting into. So you're kind of left to your own devices a little bit.

Speaker 2:
[39:56] But apparently, so as General Mills said, the respective groups' biggest songs are the clue to what the flavor is.

Speaker 1:
[40:05] Right. So the biggest hit from Huntrix is Golden, and the biggest hit from the Saja Boys is Soda Pop. So, let's start with the Soda Pop first.

Speaker 2:
[40:16] It was a...

Speaker 1:
[40:19] It tastes like a more muted version of the Cap'n Crunch dirty soda cereal.

Speaker 2:
[40:25] Thank you for calling it by its Christian name.

Speaker 1:
[40:28] Thank you, yeah. We will officially recognize this Cap'n Crunch dirty soda. But it tastes like a more muted version of that. But with the... It is... I'll tell you, though, with the light, crisp texture of, like, the rice in the cinnamon toast crunch pieces, it's such a good combo with the soda flavor. Like, I'm really looking forward to the root beer, actually, because for people that like root beer, I think you will really enjoy it, because I think that soda plus cinnamon toast crunch combination is super good.

Speaker 2:
[41:02] So the cinnamon is still palpable? It's...

Speaker 1:
[41:09] It's not super prominent. Like, it's very light. If there's cinnamon there, I'll say it's very... I wish I had it here to try, but if there was cinnamon in it, it did not pop through notably. Um, similar to golden, the golden flavor, you know, based flavor, was really interesting. My daughters and Sid and I all got kind of like a melon kind of vibe within the... like a golden... It seemed like a honeydew or something like that, like that kind of flavor in there. It was kind of... it was very sweet, kind of a honey flavor, um, but it's surprisingly like really, really good. It made me want to keep trying it and keep tasting it, try to figure out what exactly I was tasting. Um, but I thought they were both really, really good, and I think it's a real shame they're not going to be more widely available.

Speaker 2:
[42:04] Yeah, I hope I could have tried it at some point. That sounds very novel. They really seem like they're not... they don't want money at this point.

Speaker 1:
[42:12] It's very confusing. Unless it was, like, too expensive to get the license for a wide release.

Speaker 2:
[42:19] Maybe.

Speaker 1:
[42:20] Merchandising for this movie has been really weird, because Netflix was kind of caught unawares by how popular it was, and there was, like, a huge Christmas last year that they absolutely missed out on. Like, they absolutely could have dominated, and there was no real merchandise. So if you've seen, like, on the shelves of stores, a lot of fake K-pop Demon Hunters merch, that's why, because there still is very little actual K-pop Demon Hunters merch. So I don't know, maybe it's some sort of weirdness with the license.

Speaker 2:
[42:47] Maybe General Mills didn't realize they don't own the license.

Speaker 1:
[42:51] Yeah, right. Okay, Dan. I'm stuffed. I can't go on. I can't do any more show, Dan. I'm stuffed.

Speaker 2:
[43:01] Yeah, it's Stuffcon5 over here. This is me sneaking...

Speaker 1:
[43:05] No, wait. We must go on. We must continue.

Speaker 2:
[43:09] This is me sneaking in one more news item into the show with an accompanying question. So Pop Tarts is releasing super stuffed Pop Tarts. These allegedly have 50% more filling per Pop Tart. And I think to the average Pop Tarts consumer, this is the best possible outcome because I imagine there's people out there who like the crust best or the icing best, but it's probably a fair assumption that the filling is the most popular part of the Pop Tart, right?

Speaker 1:
[43:41] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[43:43] And so it's great that we're now getting more of it. And these super stuffed Pop Tarts are coming in three flavors, Molten Lava Cake, Strawberry Blast, as well as Cinnamon Caramel, which are all pretty exciting to me. I mean, Molten Lava Cake, I imagine, will just be an adaptation of Chocolate Fudge Pop Tart, where Strawberry Blast, of course, just, you know, doing more of the Strawberry Pop Tart we love. But Cinnamon Caramel is a first for Pop Tarts. They had a number of Caramel cereals. There's been Chocolate Caramel. There's been Pretzel Caramel. There's been Caramel Apple. And there's even been Girl Scouts Coconut Caramel. But Cinnamon Caramel is the hot new meta. So I am really excited for that one. How do you feel about this as a more casual Pop Tarts enjoyer?

Speaker 1:
[44:35] These all look good. I'll try any Pop Tart. I actually have a review here from my friend Tommy Redd, who grew up next to me on 10th Street. Oh, okay. We're young folks. He's in Columbus now, which is a hotbed of testing these products. Here's his review. Picked it up at Croker, ate one right out of the package before unloading the rest of the groceries, and it slapped. Heated up another as a little good job treat for going to the store, and it was even better. Would kill for a blueberry one. So that's your hot review from Ohio.

Speaker 2:
[45:12] Okay, okay. There's no empirical study done of the stuffing content.

Speaker 1:
[45:19] No, no. I only actually got a box shot, which I'll have to harangue him about later. I need that stuffing bowl.

Speaker 2:
[45:30] Well, this raised an interesting question to me is, I'm sure we've all dreamt before of wanting more parts of a cereal that we already love. I was just talking about how I love Honey Nut Cheerios with more nutty flavor. For sure. Obviously, people want more of certain things. It's how we got Honey Bunches of Oats, Just Bunches, or of course, Oops All Berries. So, my question that I wanted to pose to you is, what would your dream more cereal be? A cereal that you already love, that you want more of a certain element of it.

Speaker 1:
[46:06] Okay. Give me a second to puzzle through because I need to take some time. Because there's obvious, I mean, pretty much anything with clusters. I love so many clusters. Oops All Clusters, I think is, well, that's granola, isn't it?

Speaker 2:
[46:29] I would love, I mean, obviously, a lot of these ideas that we're going to generate are probably things you could just make yourself by either picking out certain parts or having multiple boxes of a thing. But I would like a custom dial that lets me choose the distribution of Cap'n Crunch versus Crunch Berries because I don't always want Oops All Berries. I don't always want just Cap'n Crunch. It'd be nice to have a Coke-free style machine where you can decide the actual distribution of Cap'n Crunch and Crunch Berries.

Speaker 1:
[47:06] That would be nice, like a slider, where you can say like 20% peanut butter, 20% cinnamon. A bit of a blend.

Speaker 2:
[47:16] More of...

Speaker 1:
[47:18] I feel like every time I eat a cereal with tiny dried blueberries in it, I always wish there was like five times as many of those batteries. There's never no... You know, sometimes when you eat a cereal with dried blueberries in it, you get a bite right at the bottom that's like almost all dried blueberries, and it's like, whoa, why haven't I been eating this the whole time? Well, this cereal does that.

Speaker 2:
[47:43] Man, there's actually so many. I would want frosted mini-wheats with more frosting. Frosted mini-wheats with more of that dust at the bottom of the box, as you mentioned.

Speaker 1:
[47:55] There's a market, I think, for like unavoidable frosted mini-wheats where you cannot scientifically get a bite without frosting. Like it's just impossible. They've baked frosting inside of it.

Speaker 2:
[48:10] It's the mobius mini-wheat.

Speaker 1:
[48:13] What about this? You know, they do the stuffed mini-wheat sometimes. I would love to pair this with that like double stuffed mini-wheats. You know what I'm saying? Like, sort of like our pop tarts. But we're getting double or stuffing the mini-wheats with like raisin or whatever, but we're double stuffing them. They're like even more stuffed.

Speaker 2:
[48:37] Hear me out. What about thick crave? Like it's crave that's just-

Speaker 1:
[48:42] Sorry, we got disconnected for a second. Dan, we've got disconnected for a second. It sounds like you said thick crave.

Speaker 2:
[48:48] Imagine like a bulbous crave piece that's just like bloated and swollen, slapping its big belly. It's got so much chocolate in it.

Speaker 1:
[49:01] Oh, poor crave. Well, Dan, this has been a lot of fun this episode. There's a lot going on in the cereal world. And honestly, it was kind of a bummer to be sitting here in this hotel room. So I'm happy that we're getting to do this. Do you wonder, hey, you know what? Why don't we rank a couple of cereals? It's been a while since we've done an episode. Let's make this a long one.

Speaker 2:
[49:25] Sure, let's pack it in. But you know, you're in a hotel. Do they not have those cereal dispensers downstairs? Those are great.

Speaker 1:
[49:33] I love those. I do love those. No, it's in that weird, it's a conference, it's here, so I didn't have much choice in the. It's a Marriott, it's like just too fancy for those kinds of conveniences. You know what I mean? Like I need a Holiday Inn Express. That's where I shine with the cereal dispensers. You can also make a combo, which I love. It's also a good time to reintroduce yourself. There's something that's so novel. I'm still pulling up these things, so don't worry. There's something so novel about when you see fruit loops, especially in one of those machines. It's like, I don't know, for some reason, I find that so appetizing again. It's like, oh, you're right. Those are really great cereals. It's really tasty and it smells really good. It looks great.

Speaker 2:
[50:22] Because talking about the flavor dust element, you know those machines are going to grind up a couple pieces of fruit loops and basically make a sprinkled dusting of fruit loops on top of your fruit loops.

Speaker 1:
[50:32] Yeah. You can do that yourself if you want. You can just turn the dial back and forth. Eventually, management is going to be like, we wish you wouldn't, but whatever. Okay. I got our list of all serials. I'm going to get our random number generator out. I have a stick mic because I'm in this hotel room, so I'm typing one-handed. It's incredibly impressive. Trust me. I have to keep reminding myself that gabs of silence are perfectly permissible here on The Empty Bowl. 931. Well, thank you. I'll be danged. Six. Didn't even seem right. So, such a low number, but six. Oh, and it is a classic, Dan, that I'm looking forward to talking about with you. Alphabits.

Speaker 2:
[51:35] Alphabits. That's a tough one.

Speaker 1:
[51:37] Alphabits. Alphabits is interesting to me because, okay, first of all, if you don't know, alphabits is an oat cereal that was frosted. The texture was not, I would say it's not like Cheerios, not quite as hardy as Cheerios. You think that's fair?

Speaker 2:
[52:01] I would say so, yeah. It's meant for little kids, so it's very, very bland and like not very sweet.

Speaker 1:
[52:10] It is fun and undeniably so that the shapes are letters. So you can spell out words in the cereal pieces, which is excellent and funny often because bad words are completely possible with alphabits.

Speaker 2:
[52:27] To the shake of the box.

Speaker 1:
[52:29] Yeah, you never know what you're gonna get.

Speaker 2:
[52:31] This is a tough one for me because when I first had alphabits as an adult, I guess, I still found it to be very, very tasty because as you get older, you tend to find an appreciation for those milder, more mild-mannered cereals that focus on the hardiness of the grain or just the purity of it. But alphabits is one of those cereals that kind of tarnished its own legacy down near the end by doing a new and improved flavor, which basically just like blended a bunch of corn into it and made it worse and made everyone hate it a lot more. So near the end there had a much more puffed airy texture, which I think took away from a lot of the crunch factor and the simplicity that people liked from it. So I got to focus on everything that alphabits was versus what it became at the end. But even then, it was never something that's so stunning that I think it's like a really high caliber. Yes, it has the clout that does automatically kind of give it a position in the top half of the list. But it kind of makes me think a lot of Count Chocula, who we have down all the way there at 22, just because he's kind of a shell of what he once was.

Speaker 1:
[53:46] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[53:47] So that's kind of the realm that I'm thinking.

Speaker 1:
[53:50] You know there was a Marshmallow Alphabets.

Speaker 2:
[53:52] Were the Marshmallows shaped like letters too?

Speaker 1:
[53:54] They were. They were. Yeah. It was so good. Oh my God. Um, I feel like... Yeah, I mean, Alphabets... Feels like above Batman Returns, at least, right? Like, it's an icon, but probably not better than Count Chocula.

Speaker 2:
[54:16] No, I think that's exactly the right place to put it.

Speaker 1:
[54:19] Yeah. Okay. Alphabets. Alphabets had a great tagline. They're A, B, C delicious. That's good. Good stuff. Let's do another one here. 57. 57, oh.

Speaker 2:
[54:45] Ooh, I love to hear that.

Speaker 1:
[54:47] Oh, Dan, it's good. It's so good. It's C3PO's.

Speaker 2:
[54:51] Oh, bro. Oh.

Speaker 1:
[54:55] This gets me, this is like, you wanna talk about primo, cereal, nostalgia. This is it. C3PO's is an all-timer in terms of like, being a kid. I mean, it's just, it's impossible.

Speaker 2:
[55:13] Yeah, I never had this one, definitely before my time, but I'm very familiar with its much beloved legacy.

Speaker 1:
[55:20] Yeah. It is, of course, based on the robot from Star Wars, C3PO. It is hysterical that they are called C3PO's. It's like the kind of joke that would be in baseballs, but it is the real thing that it is, is that they're C3PO's.

Speaker 2:
[55:36] It's kind of a relic of its time too, because you could never get away with that now with copyright, because they would insist on it being C3PO's now.

Speaker 1:
[55:45] Right. It was a honey sweetened oat, wheat, and corn. Don't make them like that anymore, for real. They're in a figure eight kind of shape. The back of the box had a mask that you could cut out from the Star Wars universe. And tie some string on to and eat. It was a very delicious cereal. The commercials were great. It's a great one.

Speaker 2:
[56:16] And you had this, you're saying?

Speaker 1:
[56:18] Yeah, I had this in 1984. So I would have been a young four or five year old Justin enjoying this one. Interesting thing to think about also is that C3PO's, let's see, 1984.

Speaker 3:
[56:33] I don't know how long they ran for.

Speaker 1:
[56:35] I don't know if this was a limited time type cereal or if it was a, well, it was a short run, let's say. I know that because it's a very much one of those 80s coded like cereals. It feels like something that would pop up on like Stranger Things or what have you, because it's very.

Speaker 2:
[56:56] Yeah, to me, it belongs in the same esteemed lineages, say Donkey Kong Jr. when we talk about cereals that represent everything that a cereal historically and culturally has been.

Speaker 1:
[57:08] I agree. I would say for me, C3PO is like, I could see it as a three or a four. For me, either one of those would work. I don't think it boxes out grape nuts. For me, I just feel like grape nuts is an all-timer and the cabin is the cabin. I would be okay at three, but I don't know how you feel.

Speaker 2:
[57:37] As much as I love Donkey Kong Jr., I think this one has more recognizable. So I'm willing to agree with that.

Speaker 1:
[57:46] It was also really good to eat the tasty, tasty cereal. I missed those kinds of combos. I mean, three different grains. Thank you, C-Therapia. Thank you so much.

Speaker 2:
[58:00] I just know there's somebody out there listening to this show that's like Donkey Kong Jr. cereal wasn't even good. The one person listening to this who's tasted it.

Speaker 3:
[58:10] That's fine.

Speaker 1:
[58:11] That's their prerogative, of course. I understand. I didn't taste it either, but I promise it was great.

Speaker 3:
[58:17] I couldn't just tell.

Speaker 1:
[58:19] Thank you so much for listening to our podcast, The Empty Bowl. We hope you've enjoyed yourself and learned a lot. Dan, who do we owe gratitude to this week?

Speaker 2:
[58:30] We'd like to thank Chris Zabriskie for our opening theme of The Sun Is Scheduled to Come Out Tomorrow, Bria Davis for creating our amazing podcast branding, M. Loper and Samuel Rarden for designing our empty bowl merchandise, Justin McElroy for co-hosting Even When He's Far From Home, you, the listener, for listening, and Serial for being there for us when we need it most. If you would like to send us a message, you can do so at mail at bowl.rest. Tell us what you've been eating lately, what you've seen in the supermarket, or just what you think Donkey Kong Jr. tasted like. If you'd like, you can follow along with our Serial Ranking Series at tinyurl.com/tebrank. If you want to support us on Patreon and get some bonus content every month, you can do so at patreon.com/theemptybowl. And I have an exciting new announcement this time too, is that as of this episode, all of our previous episodes have now also been uploaded to YouTube if you want to watch them there. If you know someone who might like The Empty Bowl but is more of a YouTube viewer, you can direct them to our YouTube channel at youtube.com/atemptybowlshow.

Speaker 3:
[59:49] That's a great idea.

Speaker 1:
[59:51] You know what? People should do make a playlist on there. How nice would that be to fall asleep to?

Speaker 2:
[59:56] Make a playlist of Empty Bowl hype moments and aura.

Speaker 3:
[60:03] Make a playlist of Empty Bowl biggest fails, force, admin abuse, teacher pranks, all the greats.

Speaker 2:
[60:13] All the moments where a live taste test goes wrong.

Speaker 1:
[60:17] This is the Empty Bowl. Thank you so much for listening and as my friend, my name is Justin McElroy. That's Dan Goubert.

Speaker 2:
[60:24] As Dan says at the end of every episode, don't forget to drink directly from the Hotel Skim Milk Dispenser. Or maybe do forget.