We Are Rhett & Link and This Is How We Work
Rhett and Link, hosts of Good Mythical Morning and creators of viral videos such asNOPE! Chuck Testa are two of YouTube’s most famous and well-behaved adults. They have been filming funny and interesting videos for years, and now they have several YouTube channels with millions of subscribers each . We asked them how they work and how they made such a dizzying career.
Location: Burbank, California. Current job: Creating LOTS of YouTube videos. One word that best describes how you work: Effective. Current computer: MacBook Pro.
First of all, tell us a little about your past, your first “big break,” and how you got to where you are today.
We’ve known each other since first grade and have been looking for the spotlight ever since. YouTube has given us the opportunity to reach a global audience beyond the friends / family we have had to endure our machinations for so long. We’ve been doing this for over a decade now, and there really wasn’t one big breakthrough, but there were many small ones that gave us the ability to run a company that makes everything we do.
Tell us about a recent work day.
A typical day for us is shooting everything needed for a Good Mythic Morning episode (often more than one episode to fit other things throughout the week). This takes more than half a day. We take a lunch break, but lately this “break” was just a meeting where we had lunch discussing an upcoming segment or snippet. When GMM is finished filming, we go directly to the writers’ meeting to schedule a few more shows.
At the end of the day, our assistant sends us an email with all outstanding tasks / issues requiring attention that we were unable to squeeze into the work day. We usually share and conquer these things after we put the children to bed and watched TV with our wives. And yes, these are both of our schedules (it may seem odd that we are doing basically the same thing – and we are – but this is the only way we can act).
What apps, gadgets or tools can’t you live without?
Our company relies heavily on Google Docs. We collaborate with our writers on everything, and the ability to discuss and make edits in real time (often while filming a show) has become absolutely essential. As a result, our phones and laptops are an integral part of our daily life. I think that makes us incredibly sane.
How is your workplace arranged?
We have buffet tables, but we usually sit at them. The only time we use the stand function is when someone walks into our office and we want to show them how the desk works. Our office has a meeting place with comfortable armchairs and a sofa. We should probably bring in a therapist and use the couch for this, but instead we just have meetings there. We have chairs in a secret attic in our office (no joke), but we slept twice in two years.
What’s your best time-saver or life hack?
A few years ago, we had a bright idea that we should divide our work between the two of us, and not work together on each separate task. It may sound simple and obvious, but for us it was a real breakthrough. We think it takes less than half the time than it would otherwise, because the creative process can be made much more efficient if one person picks something up off the ground while the other fine-tunes and fixes it.
Who are the people who help you achieve results, and how do you rely on them?
Given our engineering background, we are incredibly interested in having systems that increase our productivity. Everyone on our team, from producers to writers and contributors, has helped create and maintain these systems, and without their help, we cannot produce as much of the content that we do. We also paid a $ 50 witch in New Orleans once, and she put a chicken leg in her soup and said something in Creole. She probably helped too.
How do you replenish? What do you do when you want to forget about work?
We don’t get enough recharged, but we rely on massages, trips to sensory deprivation reservoirs, and family fun from time to time.
What are you reading now or what do you recommend?
I (Rhett) recently completed Sapiens: A Brief History of Humanity and believe it should be read by all sentient beings .
Fill in the blank: I would like _____ to answer these questions.
This dude is from the Primitive Technology YouTube channel.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
In Steve Martin’s book Born Standing Up, he said that he would like to return to his younger self and said, “Everything will be fine.” We talk a lot about this ourselves.