How Rhett & Link Turned a Childhood Friendship Into Mythical Entertainment

Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal have been creating things together since they were six years old. But over the past two decades, they've turned that childhood friendship into one of the biggest businesses in the Creator economy.

After graduating college with engineering degrees, the duo eventually put their traditional careers in the back seat and focused their creativity online, uploading comedy sketches and other videos to YouTube back when the platform was still getting started.

Since then, their small operation has grown into Mythical Entertainment, a self-funded media company with more than 100 employees. 

Today, the business includes their flagship daily show, Good Mythical Morning, along with venture investments, publishing, live tours, television deals, and a slew of brand partnerships.

Their journey shows how two Creators turned an early YouTube channel into a much larger entertainment company while continuing to find new ways to grow. Here's how they did it.

Rhett & Link's Early Years: A Blood Oath, Engineering Degrees, and a First YouTube Channel

Rhett and Link's friendship goes back to Buies Creek, North Carolina, where they met in the first grade. However, one of the more unusual moments in their story happened when they were 14.

The two teens made a blood oath to stay committed to their friendship while standing in a cow pasture, using the sharpest rock they could find. 

They made their pact on a makeshift set of talking stones, where they had decided they could only speak openly while standing on the larger stone.

They even wrote the agreement down on a piece of paper. Unfortunately, that paper later disappeared along with Link's wallet, something Rhett has continued to jokingly hold against him.

As strange as the story sounds, it also says a lot about their friendship, which eventually became the foundation of their business. 

Rhett has compared their creative partnership to a marriage, explaining that they tend to have plenty of small disagreements rather than letting problems build into major fights that could threaten their relationship.

That friendship eventually took them both to NC State, where they chose practical career paths that their parents supported. Rhett studied civil engineering, while Link studied industrial engineering.

After graduating, they spent a few years working separate corporate jobs before realizing they wanted to pursue entertainment instead. 

In 2006, they officially launched their first YouTube channel, Rhett & Link, and began trying to turn their creative partnership into a career. 

Within a few years of posting their first video, Rhett and Link formed Rhett & Link, Inc., a production and lifestyle company that would eventually grow into Mythical Entertainment, the larger media company that now oversees the duo’s shows, podcasts, merchandise, live events, and other business ventures.

Their early content was far from the large productions they're known for today.

Before video podcasts were even a thing, the duo used YouTube to post episodes of their podcast, including sketches, random interviews with public figures, and funny music videos, while experimenting with unusual ideas like an early video in which they threw a boulder off a dam in Tennessee.

And though they didn’t have a viral video that built them a massive following overnight, their audience and business eventually grew over time, letting them take whatever opportunities they could find and gradually build toward something much bigger.

How Rhett & Link Landed Early Sponsorships by Cold-Calling Brands

Before brand deals became a normal part of being a Creator, Rhett and Link spent much of their early years reaching out to companies and asking for paid sponsorships for their videos. 

One of their earliest deals came from AJC Cornhole, a cornhole manufacturing company for which they created a song and video, making it one of their earliest most-watched videos with 1.8 million views. 

But instead of receiving one traditional sponsorship payment, the deal included an upfront production fee along with additional money based on how many views the video received.

That hands-on approach helped many of their early partnerships come together. 

Rhett and Link weren't waiting for brands or agencies to discover them. They were contacting businesses directly, pitching creative ideas, and figuring out how to turn their videos into a source of income.

When their flagship show, Good Mythical Morning, officially launched in January 2012, they used that self-marketing experience to land OraBrush as the show’s first official sponsor. 

However, that sponsorship ad was relatively small, with the duo earning only $300 for the company’s ad placement. 

The money itself wasn't the most important part. By including sponsors from the beginning, Rhett and Link introduced their audience to advertising as a regular part of Good Mythical Morning. 

Now, years later, sponsorships and brand partnerships have become an integral part of the show's format. That early decision became especially important as their audience grew and larger sponsorship opportunities followed.

Good Mythical Morning's Format: Recurring Segments That Keep Viewers Coming Back

One reason why Good Mythical Morning has lasted for so long is that Rhett and Link have never centered the show around one idea.

Each episode pulls from a growing collection of recurring segments like food challenges, taste tests, and fun games that keep viewers engaged. That gives audiences something familiar to return to while still letting Rhett and Link change things up enough that every episode feels different.

One of the best examples is "Will It?," a long-running segment built around a simple question: Can an unexpected food or object be turned into something else? 

Episodes have included everything from "Will It Taco?" to "Will It Knife?," with Rhett and Link tasting increasingly strange creations to find out.

Taste tests and product comparisons have also become a major part of the show. Those experiments eventually led to recurring "food feud" episodes, where the duo compare competing restaurant chains or products to decide which ones they prefer.

Then there is the Wheel of Mythicality, one of the show's longest-running traditions. 

At the end of each episode, Rhett and Link spin a giant prize wheel that decides how the episode ends, usually rewarding one host and punishing the other. Fans get to participate in this segment by submitting intro videos that play before each spin.

The tradition became so important to the show that the duo even found a way to keep it going during COVID by filming separately and flipping a coin that they dubbed the "Coin of Mythicality" to see who would perform a penalty or challenge.

When it comes to YouTube series, Good Morning Mythical has tried to maintain the same structure while evolving with the times, whether it's coming up with new segments welcoming popular guests like Jack Black, Post Malone, Amy Schumer, Daniel Radcliffe, and Megan Fox. 

In fact, the show has rarely missed a scheduled release since its premiere, with one notable exception of when Rhett and Link joined a one-day internet blackout protesting the Stop Online Piracy Act, better known as SOPA.

And no matter what kind of silly games they play, or the amount of crazy taste tests they experiment with, their segments are only part of the reason why audiences keep watching.

At its core, Good Mythical Morning is still a show about two longtime friends hanging out and talking. Sure, the games give Rhett and Link something to do, but their conversations and chemistry are what tie everything together. 

Over the years, viewers have heard them talk about their families, beliefs, current events, their friendship, and everyday topics they feel worth discussing. 

That relationship has helped turn the audience into something closer to a community. Fans even adopted the name "Mythical Beasts," creating an identity that goes beyond simply subscribing to a YouTube channel.

For Creators, the lesson here is that a repeatable format doesn't have to mean making the exact same video over and over again. Rhett and Link built a structure viewers recognize, then gave themselves enough room within it to experiment. 

How Mythical Took Good Mythical Morning Beyond YouTube: Batch Filming, Food Network, and Netflix

By 2024, Rhett and Link had produced more than 2,600 episodes, turning what started as a YouTube show into one of the platform's longest-running Creator-led series.

The show has even earned a place in the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. Rhett and Link donated several original Good Mythical Morning props, including their taste-test blindfolds and a microphone, to the museum's Entertainment Nation collection.

"That's right, your boys are museum-worthy," Link joked when announcing the news, with Rhett adding, "It means the Smithsonian knows what time it is."

Keeping a show running consistently takes more than simply showing up every morning. Mythical has built an entire production system around making it possible.

Today, the company produces roughly 240 Good Mythical Morning episodes each year. Instead of filming every day, the team shoots episodes in batches, packing about a month's worth of filming into a single week. 

That gives Rhett and Link more time to work on other projects without slowing down the show's release schedule.

But behind that production system is a much simpler idea. Rhett has explained that they try to make things they genuinely enjoy themselves, trusting that people with similar interests and senses of humor will eventually find them.

Over time, that audience became large enough for Good Mythical Morning to expand beyond YouTube.

In 2022, Food Network greenlit Inside Eats with Rhett & Link, a series that took the pair behind the scenes at some of America's biggest food companies. 

The project brought their familiar food-focused personalities from YouTube to Food Network and Discovery+, showing that the format and audience they spent years building online could also translate to traditional television.

Their transition into new media has continued with their recent deal to bring Good Morning Mythical, Mythical Kitchen, and Last Meals to Netflix, with new episodes becoming available to stream as of September 2026.

The deal came after nearly 14 years of Good Mythical Morning, with the show generating more than 10 billion views. Rhett and Link have also pushed for Creator-led shows like theirs to receive more recognition from traditional television institutions, including the Emmys.

For Rhett and Link, that expansion didn't require abandoning the show that made them successful. Instead, they built a production system that allowed Good Mythical Morning to keep running while giving Mythical the time and resources to pursue bigger opportunities around it.

Mythical Creator Accelerator, Smosh, and Hot Ones: How Rhett & Link Invest in Creators

Around 2021, Rhett and Link had spent more than a better part of a decade figuring out how to turn their audience into a much larger business. 

They eventually decided to use their industry experience to help other Creators build something for themselves with the Mythical Creator Accelerator, a $5 million investment fund created to invest directly in Creator-owned media companies. 

If someone has a strong audience, a clear vision, and a business with room to grow, the duo believes that a Creator can also be a worthwhile investment.

Some of Mythical's early investments included commentator Jarvis Johnson, who added nearly 60 million views following the investment, as well as musician and comedian Daniel Thrasher, and the DIY and interior design YouTube channel The Sorry Girls. 

Link summed up the idea simply: "we believe in Creators because we believe in ourselves."

That same belief in helping Creators build and control their own businesses can also be seen in two of Mythical Entertainment’s biggest acquisition deals in the past seven years:

• Smosh (2019–2023): Mythical purchased Smosh for roughly $10 million after its parent company, Defy Media, shut down. The acquisition gave the longtime YouTube comedy brand a new home when its future was uncertain. Mythical operated Smosh for about four years before selling the company back to original co-founders Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla in 2023, putting the brand back in the hands of the Creators who started it.
• Hot Ones / First We Feast (2024): Mythical was also part of a group of investors that acquired Hot Ones parent company, First We Feast, from BuzzFeed in a deal reportedly worth $82.5 million. The group, which also included Soros Fund Management, helped turn First We Feast into an independent company rather than leaving it under a larger media corporation.

For Rhett and Link, these deals are about more than adding other successful brands to Mythical's portfolio. They reflect their belief that Creators should have the opportunity to own and control the businesses they spent years building.

While discussing the Hot Ones deal on The Ankler podcast in 2025, Link explained that Mythical wanted to be part of stories where Creators regain control of their work and can lead their businesses themselves.

During that same conversation, Hot Ones host Sean Evans described Rhett and Link as "the blueprint" for this approach. 

After nearly two decades of building Mythical on their own terms, Rhett and Link are now using that experience to help other Creators do the same by turning their audiences into businesses they can own, grow, and continue leading themselves.

How Mythical Entertainment Makes Money Beyond YouTube: Merch, Memberships, Books, Tours, and Podcasts

At this point, describing Rhett and Link as simply two guys who make YouTube videos doesn't really capture the size of what they've built.

Mythical Entertainment has grown into a self-funded entertainment company with more than 100 full-time employees in Burbank. 

While Good Mythical Morning remains at the center of the business, Mythical has spent years building other ways to make money and connect with its audience beyond YouTube.

Mythical Store Merch: Apparel, Toys, and a Collectible Pin Subscription

Merch has become a major part of the Mythical brand, with their Mythical Store selling premium apparel, toys, and accessories like graphic tees, work jackets, color block hoodies, ornaments, puzzles, stickers, and cookbooks. 

The company has also expanded beyond standard Creator merch with products tied to different parts of the Mythical universe. 

That includes a monthly collectible pin subscription, a dedicated Mythical Kitchen product line, and a Pride collection that donates proceeds to charity. 

Mythical Society: The Paid Membership for Mythical's Biggest Fans

Mythical has also built its own paid membership program called the Mythical Society, which launched before paid memberships became common among Creators. 

With the Mythical Society, members get access to exclusive content, early access to tickets, and special collectibles not available to the general audience, giving its biggest fans more ways to participate in the community. 

Books and Live Tours: New York Times Bestsellers and a Multi-Country Tour

Rhett and Link have also taken their brand beyond YouTube and ventured into publishing and live entertainment.

They have released multiple New York Times bestselling books like 2017’s Rhett & Link's Book of Mythicality: A Field Guide to Curiosity, Creativity, and Tomfoolery and 2019’s The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek. 

And as of June 2026, they expanded into children's publishing with their newest book, Spaghetti Head & Chicken Fingers, aimed at younger readers.

Moreover, their live shows have also turned their online audience into an in-person community. ‘The Good Morning Mythical Tour with Rhett & Link’ has toured multiple countries and brings the best of Good Morning Mythical (segments, games, music, and special appearances) to live audiences. 

Podcasts: Ear Biscuits and the Mythical Podcast Lineup

Their weekly podcast, Ear Biscuits, gives the pair more room for longer and more personal conversations than Good Mythical Morning. 

They even expanded the Mythical brand into the podcast sphere with a lineup of shows such as Good Mythical Crew The Podcast and the food-focused A Hot Dog Is a Sandwich, hosted by Mythical chef Josh Scherer.

Together, these different parts of the business show how Mythical has grown beyond relying on one YouTube show or advertising for its success. 

6 Lessons Creators Can Take From Rhett & Link's Career

Rhett and Link's career has included everything from YouTube and brand deals to memberships, merch, television, and investments. 

But underneath all of those projects are a few lessons other Creators can apply to their own businesses:

• Build partnerships around what you already do. Some of Rhett and Link's strongest brand relationships, including Wix, Etsy, and Burger King, grew naturally from content they were already making. The brand fit into their world rather than forcing them to completely change their content for a sponsorship.
• Don't accept every deal that comes your way. Rhett and Link have been selective about the companies they work with. Saying no to partnerships that don't fit their brand helps make the sponsorships they do accept feel more natural and trustworthy to their audience.
• Create a schedule you can actually maintain. Producing content consistently doesn't mean you have to work nonstop. By filming Good Mythical Morning episodes in batches, Rhett and Link created a production schedule that allowed them to keep a weekday show running for more than a decade while still having time for other projects.
• Don't rely on one way to make money. Mythical didn't wait for YouTube advertising to stop working before branching out. The company expanded into memberships, merchandise, books, podcasts, touring, television, and other areas, giving the business several sources of revenue instead of depending entirely on views and ads.
• Use your success to support other Creators. Through the Mythical Accelerator and investments in brands like Smosh and Hot Ones, Rhett and Link have used what they learned from building Mythical to help other Creator-led businesses grow and maintain more control over what they built.
• Take care of the relationship behind the business. Rhett and Link have worked together for decades, and that partnership hasn't lasted because they always agree. They deal with smaller disagreements as they happen rather than letting problems build into something bigger.

Rhett and Link's career shows that building a lasting Creator business isn't necessarily about creating a viral moment that provides you with a big break.

It’s about building something you can maintain until you reach that point in your career where you can turn an audience into something much bigger.

Nearly two decades later, the platforms and opportunities may look completely different, but the foundation hasn't changed. 

Keep creating, build around what your audience already loves, and grow at a pace that lets you keep doing it years from now.