My Brother, My Brother and Me Review: Candle Nights & Vape Ape (Season 1 Episode 6)

It’s Candle Nights on the season finale of My Brother, My Brother and Me!

A little backstory on Candle Nights, the holiday that the McElroys celebrate on My Brother, My Brother and Me Season 1 Episode 6.

Back in the early days of their podcast, Justin, Travis, and Griffin decided to create an annual all-encompassing holiday episode of their show – one that wouldn’t include any cursing.

During this episode of the podcast, any and all curse words are edited over with the sweet family-friendly sounds of jingle bells.

This carries over onto their Seeso show for a fun and heartwarming finale to a fantastic freshman season of My Brother, My Brother and Me.

And what season finale is complete without a celebrity guest?

The McElroys pull out all the stops, calling in their friend (and the podcast’s biggest fan) Hamilton‘s Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Miranda has been a long-time listener of the show, and has even been seen on various live shows doing the podcast-specific ‘great job’ horn move. (He most recently did his signature ‘beep-beep’ gesture at the Oscars.)

It’s really no surprise that Miranda narrates the action of “Candle Nights & Vape Ape.”

While it’s sad that we DON’T get to see an episode about vaping, it is nice for listeners of the podcast to instead see a live show dedicated to Candle Nights, and the action that goes down prior to the event taking place.

After visiting Mayor Williams and dropping off some holiday Brita water filters and a legally-binding construction paper card that makes the McElroys the new Mayors of Huntington, the brothers begin getting the word out about their holiday and live show.

Travis insists that he needs to create a Candle Nights miracle, and he does – with the help of Weird Al Yankovic.

Weird Al’s appearance in the episode is amazing. He sincerely seems charmed by Travis, by the idea of Candle Nights, and the idea that he’s a mentor for miracles. I can only keep my fingers crossed for an album crossover in the near future.

Griffin sets out to decorate Huntington for the holiday, and gives up after being electrocuted. Sincerely. He was actually electrocuted while filming this segment. (TheMcElroys are not experts and also don’t have stuntmen.)

Justin needs to come up with a kick-ass backstory for Candle Nights. After hastily drawing a cartoon photo of himself and his brothers (with basketballs and 13 inch dongs), he decides to call Lin-Manuel (who has a beep-beep ring tone) for help.

Justin: It’s just the visual imagery – I’m worried the dongs are too prominent, cause they’ve all got giant dongs, and I’m wondering how you toned back the dongs in Hamilton.
Lin-Manuel: Well, Justin, every first draft has a lot of dongs. Any screenwriter will tell you that. I’m in the middle of filming your thing for your show. I really don’t have time to help you with it. I mean, you’ve got two brothers. There’s got to be a dong you can lose among the three of you.
Justin: Listen, if your dong is super prominent in the thing you’re doing, please ask them to tone it back, because this is really dong heavy material already.

Here’s the long and short of it: the live show goes off without a hitch. There’s even a cameo from Clown Box. *shudder*

The real miracle of Candle Nights is that Seeso gave the McElroys a chance to bring their comedy to the world on a platform that works. Watching the brothers sit together and reminisce on the season brings Justin to tears – and he’s not alone. It gets dusty in my living room as well.

The McElroys have reminded us all season that they aren’t experts.

However, if there’s anything we’ve learned from Season 1 of My Brother, My Brother and Me, it’s that they ARE experts.

They are experts in comedy, in family dynamics to aspire to, and in staying humble and grounded in your roots when success comes calling.

With a formula like this, there can be no doubt that we’re destined for a second season of McElroy humor – and we can’t wait to see what they’ll bring for it.

What did you think of Season 1 of My Brother, My Brother and Me? Will you be celebrating Candle Nights with them again? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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My Brother, My Brother and Me Season 1 is available for streaming on Seeso.

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