YouTube’s Good Mythical Morning does an almost entirely silent episode

Running since early 2011, Good Mythical Morning has become a familiar fixture on YouTube. For the uninitiated, it’s basically a morning talk show in miniature form. From behind a wooden desk in a set filled with bric-a-brac (much of it Lionel Richie-themed), amiable Southern-born hosts Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal, the masterminds behind the Chuck Testa meme, eat weird foods, answer viewers’ questions, exchange arcane trivia, and generally bust each other’s chops. Occasionally, celebrities like Kevin Smith and Daniel Radcliffe stop by to chat. For their April 1, 2016 episode, however, McLaughlin and Neal decided to attempt something a little bit more avant garde. Titled “11 Minutes Of Silence,” it evokes composer John Cage’s ultra-minimalist “4’33.” For the entire running time, the hosts simply sit and stare, interacting neither with the audience nor each other. For these two confirmed motormouths, the episode represents an incredible display of discipline. The only words spoken by either of them are a handful of standard catchphrases, including “Let’s talk about that!” and “You know what that means!”