- Can we celebrate
Midsummer like true Swedes? (Rhett speaking in a foreign language) (upbeat music) Gooooood Mythical Morning. - And happy Midsummer Eve's eve. More on that in a second. - Did you just wish me a happy douche day? - Well, okay. Maybe. - A few months ago, we did
an episode with Agnes Mo all about Indonesian street food. You remember that? It was a lot of fun, and we got a lot of
international attention. In fact, Indonesia's
official Minister of Tourism shared clips of the episode on his professional Instagram account. - [Rhett] Yeah. - I'm talking 8.7
million followers, y'all. And that essentially makes this show a part of Indonesia's tourism campaign. - Well done, show. - Whoops.
- And that got us thinking- - I mean, yes. - What other national tourism
campaigns can we scheme, or earn our way onto? - Luckily Reddit user buttercrotchpie (crew laughing) had the answer over on the GMM subreddit. Buttercrotchpie wrote, "As
a Sweden, I would just love if they did a midsummer episode. Good Mythical Midsummer. - Well, it's your lucky
day, madame crotchpie, sir, because consider this episode
not only an obvious attempt to get on Sweden's
national tourism campaign, but, more importantly, an
Ikea instruction manual on how to celebrate Midsummer
like a proper Sweden. - All right. Yeah, I guess that is how you say it. - Mm-hmm.
- Is it? All right, let's get our flower crowns on and create some summer magic. It's time for Midsummer is here, it's the happiest day of our lives. As long as the loser
isn't put in a bear suit and tragically burned alive. Welcome to the Midsummer meadow zone. Look at this place. - Very flowery. - Festive. - Now for the truly uninitiated, Midsummer is a globally
celebrated occasion that coincides with the summer solstice. But no one does it like they do in Sweden. - Woop woop! - There the holiday began as a means of welcoming the season of fertility. Uh-huh, fertility. And it's since evolved into a Christmas and summer-like celebration
where everyone migrates to the countryside to
enjoy the literal magic of nature only found at that time of year. - This sounds so much fun. - Yeah. - We're gonna partake in three rounds of games and challenges that will test our completely non-existent
knowledge of Midsummer. And maybe we'll learn
something about the holiday along the way, but I'm not promising that you're gonna learn anything. I'm not promising that this
is gonna be entertaining. - This is not an educational program? - No, but by the looks
of all these flowers, you might sneeze. - I told... I've been telling my parents all along that I do educational programming. And they said, "That's
why we're proud of you." - They're never going to
approve of you, Rhett. - Okay. We're gonna be competing
individually each round, and the winner will be named
Man-Maiden of Midsummer and win an official Swedish congrats from Honorary Consul of
Sweden, Gudrun Giddings, who we invited to help us along the way. Hello, Gudrun. (crew applauding) - Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited. I'm so excited to be here. - We gave you your own throne. - I love this. I have never ever had a
throne and I feel proud and I just don't ever
want this day to end. - Well, don't speak too
soon 'cause I don't know. I dunno if we're gonna
be jumping off cliffs to our death, or... I don't know what's gonna happen. Well, first of all, the Consul
of Sweden, this is legit? - Yes, it is. - What does that mean? - It means we do consular errands on behalf of Sweden in Los
Angeles and Southern California. - Oh.
- Oh, this made me nervous. - So yes.
- So official. - So please, you know, yeah,
don't say anything wrong or... - That's what you're here for. - 'Cause, yeah, I'm here- - Is to correct everything. - Did you just try to
hypnotize us when we said that? - Jedi mind trick.
- Don't say anything wrong. - It's Midsummer tomorrow, so- - Listen, I saw that movie. He's afraid to watch it, but
I'm a little uneasy right now. - My daughter, she's 19. How old is she? - She's 19. - She saw the movie and I was like, "Just tell me about it,
'cause I don't think I'm ever gonna watch it." And then she proceeded to
tell me every single thing about it and I was sitting on her bed just like creeping out. - [Gudrun] Yeah. - We are dead.
- That's what we do. - Is that what we're about to do? - Yeah. You didn't know? - I hope not, man. (gentle music) Okay, first up we're dealing
with what we understand is a very important part
of Midsummer celebrations. The food. Gudrun, obviously we're
talking about Swedish fish, am I right? - Yes. And the food is one of
the most important things. - But it's all Swedish fish, right? - You don't eat that
Swedish fish on Midsummer. - I thought everybody had
like red tongues and just... - No.
- Going at it. - No. - Okay. All right. You learn something new every day, Link. - It's Lazy Susan's day off but luckily we have Swedish Lazy Ingrid. Today she'll be serving us
two authentic Swedish dishes. They're already under here. But only one will be a delicious staple of Midsummer cuisine. - [Rhett] Yeah, 'cause you know how we do- - Both Swedish. One Midsummer. - You know how we do,
the other will be infused with a secret ingredient to make it taste in authentically gross. Whoever draws the longest maypole gets to decide who eats what. - Oh, a maypole. All right, which one do you want? Are you pointing at it? - That one? - I want this one. (crew laughing) (Link exclaiming) - A little Swedish fish on the end. Only in my dreams. ♪ I got the short one ♪ - My maypole is longer than yours. - Crap. Okay. - So... So we're gonna reveal-
- Shall we reveal? - [Stevie] Yeah. - Reveal? - [Stevie] I didn't tell you
guys, you look so pretty today. - Oh thank you. - [Stevie] Yeah. - Thank you. - So this is some sort of fish with onion, which is not how they say it in Sweden. - [Link] Onion? - That's how they say it in Louisiana. And, hold on. Let go, man. - I'm not touching it. - Control freak, let go. - I'm not. - [Rhett] And this is... What do you call that? A pancake? Or something like that. - Looks like an egg to me. - I can barely see it- - [Rhett] Egg patty. - [Stevie] These are just Swedish dishes, you don't know what they're called. - But this is probably
lingonberries, like at Ikea. - Spin away if you want to. - So, again, fish with
onion on it, which... A little bit nasty already. Right? And then this? Man, it feels like they could
have done a lot to that. You know what I'm saying? So I think I'm gonna make you eat. - The Linkoln berries. - The Linkoln berries. Link gets the Linkoln berries. - I mean, is this custard? Is it eggs? I can't even tell if it's
supposed to be sweet. I'm not gonna be shy
on this lingonberries. - Dink it and sink it.
- Dink it and sink it. (Link exclaiming)
(crew laughing) - Oh, that's bitter. Oh, me! - That's pretty nice. - Oh, that's not good. - I mean it's strong. It's a strong, fishy flavor. But other than that, it's pretty good. How's yours? - Oh. Oh. I'd say it's low summer. Not mid summer. - [Stevie] Okay, so Rhett you just had- - Oh, oh, come on. She's right there. Gudrun's watching you just
spit out her country's food. - Look, turn away. (Stevie speaking in a foreign language) - [Stevie] Right? (speaking in a foreign language) (Gudrun speaking in a foreign language) - And it's pickled herring,
and it's at every single table and at every single
Midsummer tomorrow in Sweden. Every Swede will have what you ate. - [Stevie] And then Link, you had (speaking in a foreign language). (Gudrun speaking in a foreign language) - See, it's pretty good. I mean your pronunciation, you know. - [Stevie] I'm trying. - What's this supposed to taste like? 'Cause it's not supposed to be that- - It's really, really good. It's like potato and
it has things in there, and then obviously the lingonberries. That is very Swedish as well. I guess they maybe messed it up for you. - [Stevie] Yeah, in this case
it had bile and Bitrex in it. - The old B and B combo. I love it. - Oh God. (upbeat music) (Link speaking in a foreign language) Oh, let's do this first. - Oh, you're right. You
pick whatever one you want. - I want you to pick
whichever one I want what. - You want me to pick the one for you? - [Link] Yeah. - You pick this one. - Okay. Ha, there's no way you're gonna beat that. Ah, dang it. You lucky dog, man. - Hey, I... You told me to do it, man. - All right, let's see
what we're working with. - Oh, that was nice. Okay, so looks like we
got what I would call strawberry shortcake, but I'm
sure it's not called that. And then we've got what
I would call some donuts that got a little over pressurized. You took 'em on a flight. - Yeah, 'cause it- - You took 'em on a
Spirit Airlines flight. - Looks like they cut a
triangle and it just popped out. Like something just kind
of erupted out of it. Don't do me wrong, man. Come on, have pity. - Have pity? - I'm not touching anything. You know what? - Except your heartstrings. - You look like a guy that
wants to eat whatever that is. - I'm really... I'm really scared of this one. - You look like a guy who's
gonna take a real big, healthy bite out of it. Right, Gudrun? - Yeah, absolutely. I think you should go for it. - [Rhett] Yeah. - [Gudrun] For those we do
eat almost the whole thing all at once. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, you heard her, man. Don't insult the country. Yeah, this is pretty good. - What is this? It's powder. - He's having a tough time. Oh! Oh! - [Gudrun] Oh my gosh. - Oh, is that malic acid? - [Stevie] That's just straight up salt. - [Gudrun] Oh, no. - Do you normally put
that much salt on 'em? - No, I'm sorry. - I'd rather get elderly
and jump off a cliff. - Oh, come on. - I don't know. I don't know the rules of this, but that's usually normally
really, really good. And there's no salt in those things. - Yeah, there's... Well, I think they overdid it on the salt. They also did not mix the salt at all. It's just... It's sort of just inserted in there. - They must've read the recipe in Swedish. - [Stevie] So, Rhett, you just had... Oh, this is gonna be a bad one. (speaking in a foreign language) (Gudrun speaking in a foreign language) - [Rhett] Yeah, exactly. - [Stevie] This dessert is
super popular during Midsummer. - [Gudrun] It's a must. - [Stevie] And it's partially
responsible, I guess, for the cost of strawberries
skyrocketing in Sweden during the lead up to the holiday. - Really? - Yeah, and also because
the Swedish strawberries are known to be the best in the world. And the higher up in Sweden
you are, the sweeter they get. Because of the climate
and all of these things. - [Stevie] Link, you had
(speaking in a foreign language). (Gudrun speaking in a foreign language) (Stevie speaking in a foreign language) - And that's usually... It is very, very Swedish
and those are fantastic. - No, they're not.
- Normally. Yeah, they really are. (upbeat music) - Now we're gonna decide
if some unfamiliar games are part of a typical
Midsummer celebration or if they have nothing
to do with Sweden at all. Speaking of games,
Gudrun, are you familiar with the very popular game,
catch the fish with granddad? - No. - Oh, she... No, she probably is familiar with catch the Swedish fish with granddad. - Yeah, exactly. - Allow us to demonstrate. - [Gudrun] Huh? - But just picture me having
a Swedish fish in my hand. - Come on, Grandad, I'm
trying to catch your fish. - Oh, he got it. There, he got it. There, he got it. See, that was it. - Okay. - [Rhett] We do that all
summer, not just Midsummer. - I might have to implement that one, and put a Swedish fish in the hands. - So we're gonna learn and
play three different games. Again, one of 'em is
played during Midsummer. Okay? - So this is the first
game, read it on the card. Let's see. - This is (speaking in
a foreign language). Yeah? Each player takes turns using
the narrow end of a hammer to hammer a nail into a stump of wood. Whoever gets their nail flush
to the wood first, wins. - Is this the narrow end? - I think this is the narrow end. - It's already started, so
I don't really need to put my other hand here. But you could hold it for me. - There's blood on this already. - [Stevie] I'm gonna give
you a three, two, one. But Link has to remove all of
his appendages from the area. - [Link] Okay. - Three, two, one, go. - [Rhett] Done. - Yours isn't all the way in. - [Rhett] I mean, it's flush, man. - Okay, all right. You won. But I did pretty good. I mean, mine was in there flush. - It was very, very close. Very close. Very close.
- So that's the first game. Man. I'm just tasting nasty. This one is pronounced (speaking
in a foreign language). Two teams take turns tossing sticks at each other's five blocks, AKA (speaking in a foreign language), in an attempt to knock each one over. Once a team has knocked over all five of their opponents (speaking
in a foreign language) they can take aim at the king (speaking in a
foreign language) in the middle. - Oh, the king (speaking
in a foreign language). - Whichever team knocks over the king (speaking in a
foreign language) first wins. - So alternate. You know, Link- - So you would take all the sticks? - No. No, take it in turns. One and then the other. Alternating. So you had a rough day,
so you're gonna go first. - Watch those shins. - Yeah, Gudrun, you're in a
real tough spot right now. - No, I'm gonna be fine. - [Rhett] If I was on that
side, you'd have nothing to worry about. - I just feel like... Can you hide behind Rhett? - [Gudrun] Really? No. - [Rhett] I'll just. - You're not gonna... - [Rhett] I'm guarding it. I'm guarding it. - Hey, that was good.
- Wow! - Two.
- Ooh, that's actually really good. (crew laughing) - [Rhett] All right. - [Gudrun] Hm. (crew laughing) - [Rhett] Oh, God! - Okay, so now we gotta
retrieve these, bro. - [Rhett] Retrieving sticks. You're up? Nice. Nice. - Got one. You got two. See, now I got the split. - Oh, nice.
- Wow. - Oh. (Rhett exclaiming) - Oh, shoot. - [Rhett] Okay. Okay. Okay.
- You guys are good. - [Rhett] I'm moving on to the king (speaking in a foreign language). - You gotta go to the king
(speaking in a foreign language). - But it's... You're up. - Okay. - Well that was easy. Right at the end. All right, so you won the game but that probably wasn't even Swedish. - Yeah, probably not even Swedish. - All right, read about this then. - [Rhett] Okay. - The final game of the three. (speaking in a foreign language) She's laughing. - The goal is to launch the wooden hoop from one player to the other. To do so cross your rods, put them- - Cross our rods? - Cross your rods, put them
through the wooden hoop and then pull them apart
to launch the rod forward. The other player catches
the loop on one, or both, of their rods, and then repeat. So this is just a friendly game of catch. - This is cool. But so who wins? - I don't think there's a winner. I think this is cooperative. - Okay. Well let's cooperate.
- So I didn't see you do that. - So I went like- - Do whatever you did. - Oh, like... You went like that. - I went like this, and then check it out. - Okay. It really fires. Don't go too hard. - Yeah, it really does it. Doesn't it? - This is fun. - This is fun. Take me to Sweden. - There we go! Let me experience the catch. - Whoa! - Whoa! - So they're just like... You just turn on Swedish TV and there's just athletes just going. We could be famous, man. It's like, hey, we're like the
Steph Curry and Clay Thompson of Sweden right now. - Yeah. You're Clay Thompson. - [Rhett] Okay. - Oh, my ACL. - Okay. - Okay, we got it. We got it.
- [Rhett] I'm ready to guess. - Yeah, I feel like that was
almost a religious experience. What's the... Are most people in Sweden atheist? - [Gudrun] No. No. - What's the dominant religion? - Christianity. - Oh, cool. - [Gudrun] Yeah. - Yeah, but like not really. Yeah, but not really. - All right, so... We get to each choose
independently by standing. - [Stevie] I don't know how... Yeah, you wanna just stand
behind the game you think is- - Stand behind the game
that you believe is real. - Run behind it in three, two, one. Well it's gotta be this one
because this is the most fun. - This is so original. - All right, so do you wanna
change to try to take the lead? - No, man. I want this to be real, so bad. - Hammering nails. There's like, there's a bit of danger. - [Stevie] I mean, to be clear, Link, Rhett does have the lead
right now currently. - Do you want to move to take the lead? - I feel like it could be this one, and I've got to try. But, I mean, that... That just feels like it's it. - If this isn't a game and
y'all invented it here, somebody getting a raise. - No, this is right. It's gotta be. - [Stevie] I mean, you could
have stood behind the stump and you still both
would've been incorrect. - It's the (speaking
in a foreign language)? - [Stevie] Correct, yes. - Boo. - [Stevie] So the- - That's for atheists. - [Stevie] The game with
the hammers and the nails, the Swedish that we used
translates to beat that wood. It's actually a German game named (speaking in a foreign language). (Rhett speaking in a foreign language) - [Stevie] And then someone
just behind me goes, "Mm-hmm." The other game that you liked so much, we used a Swedish phrase that
translates to cross swords. Although- - Is that why you were laughing? - Yeah.
- Yeah. - Oh. - Sorry, plus, you know, I
wanted to just like, you know, maybe mislead you a little bit. - [Link] You did, and it worked. - It was pronounced really
funny when you said it. - As in, funny as in correct. - [Gudrun] Yeah. - So this is the real deal, (speaking in a foreign language)? - But it is, the game
that you like so much, is a 19th century game
from France called Graces. - Okay.
- But I... Can I make a suggestion? - [Stevie] Actually it's spelled graces, it's called (speaking
in a foreign language). (Rhett speaking in a foreign language) - I like it, 'cause you
guys were really good. And for when I do Midsummer
game, I'm gonna take this one and make it a Swedish game. - We're changing Midsummer. - You're changing Midsummer.
- Yes! - I'm actually gonna-
- You have that power. - Steal from France. See, I don't know if I have that power, but you guys were amazing. - You just show up with
these, and a little quill, and you're like. Take off your flower crown and boom. - I like it, and you guys were awesome. So, you know, honorary Swedish game. - Okay.
- From France. (gentle music) - Hey, Rhett, guess
who's out of the woods? - Taylor Swift. - Nope, my dad. - [Rhett] Oh, yeah. - And you know what he's doing? - [Rhett] Mm-hmm. - You heard about this podcast? - [Rhett] Yeah. - He's got a brand new podcast called "Dispatches from Myrtle
Beach" where he lives, where he tells me all about
his shaggin adventures. Yeah.
- Yep. That means a very specific
thing in South Carolina though. - The first two episodes are out. We're having a great time. It's the highlight of my week. So I invite you to check out
"Dispatches from Myrtle Beach," wherever you get your podcasts. They come out every Thursday. You can email him at
ratherbshaggin53@aol.com. It's not B-E, it's rather letter B. Shaggin, without a G.
- [Rhett] Got it. Got it. - People are having trouble. - Hey, Mikayla.
- Mikayla, what are you... - Shh! - I didn't know you were Swedish. - Shh. - Okay. Gudrun? - Yeah, I know what she's doing. - [Link] What is she doing? - Which is one of my
favorite things, actually. We can all speak, she just can't speak because she's picking seven flowers, which is a all time
tradition on Midsummer Eve. And then you sleep on it and you- - [Link] You sleep on it? - You put them under your pillow. - Which is why there's a bed, I guess. - And then you dream of your true love. So who wouldn't wanna do that? And it is a all time tradition. - So is this a way to find
out who you're gonna marry? Because your dreams will tell you things you don't really know. - In Sweden nature is very important, and has always been. And during, on Midsummer
Eve, all like plants and flowers and nature
has like magical powers and can predict futures. - Oh, she's asleep. She's dreaming. - Is this a Swedish
style of sweet sleeping? - No. - [Rhett] Is this Swedish posture? - Very upright. It's good for acid reflux. - [Rhett] Posturepedic. - Shh. - [Rhett] No she wasn't. - She doesn't want me to
tell about her acid reflux. - So what do we... Stevie, what are we doing? Are we... - Just watching her sleep? - Just watching Mikayla sleep? That's a good game. - You're-
- I don't know. - [Stevie] You're asking
yes or no questions to try and figure out
who she's dreaming of. - Oh.
- Oh. That's the game. - Mikayla, if you can hear me say, "Yes." - Yeah. - Oh, she is Swedish. - [Link] Okay, that's
my question, I guess. - [Rhett] Are you dreaming of a celebrity? - Yeah. - Is he predominantly a movie star? - Yeah. - Is he an action movie star? - Nah. - Is he a he? - Yeah. - Is he known for his acting chops? - Yeah. - Is he already taken though? - Nay. - Is he in something that people are talking about right now? - [Mikayla] Nay. - Does he have facial hair usually?
- Yeah. - Yes?
- Yeah. - Does he frequent superhero movies? - Nay. - I don't mean to make this
about race, but is he Asian? - Nah. - So now we're just gonna go through... I mean, you've kind of set me up here. - I did, didn't I? - Is he Caucasian? - Yeah. - Facial hair, acting,
white man, in movies. That really narrows it down. - Yeah, right. - Is he funny? - [Mikayla] Yeah. - And by saying funny, are you saying he is
primarily a comedic actor? - Yeah. - But did you ask, what... Is he from Sweden? Have you asked that question? - No, should I? Is he from Sweden? - [Mikayla] Yeah. - Oh! - I don't know who she's dreaming about. I'm just saying. - [Rhett] He's Swedish? Is Jim Carey Swedish? - That's your question. - Nay. - Is his last name Skarsgard? - Nay. - Oh! Yeah, but that's a good one
because there's two of 'em. - And one of 'em has to be funny. - There's like seven of them. All actors.
- Oh, really? - Yeah. - [Stevie] I feel like actor
is an interesting definition of the someone that you're
thinking of, Mikayla. Perhaps think about
that definition loosely. - He's a loose actor. - Is he more of a host? - [Mikayla] Nay. - [Stevie] I mean, lemme help you along. We'll say an on camera personality, would be a broad definition. - Is he in non-scripted content? - Nay. - Can I ask a question? - [Link] Yes. - Does he have like a special
gift, or skill, or whatever in this profession? - Yeah. - Oh, is he real? Is he human? - Nay. - Is he the Swedish Chef? - Yeah. - [Rhett] That's what you
were getting at, wasn't it? - [Link] You like that guy? - [Rhett] He's handsome. - Why not? Look at his beard. His big bow. - When you guys hook
up, if you wanna share how that goes, I am all ears. - I'm not giving you those details. - All right, Rhett, you won. You are the Man Maiden of Midsummer. Go over there and get
your reward from Gudrun, the Consul of Sweden. (speaking in a foreign language) - You are truly the
Man-Maiden of Midsummer. (crew applauding) - Woo, I'm feeling every bit of it. - We wanna thank the
Honorary Consul of Sweden, Gudrun Giddings for holding our hands through today's festivities. Thank you so much for being here. - My pleasure. Thank you. - And thank you for liking,
commenting and subscribing. - Now you say, "You know what time it is?" (speaking in a foreign language) - My name is (speaking
in a foreign language). - And my name is (speaking
in a foreign language). - And we're from Stockholm, Sweden. - And now it's time to spin
the wheel of mythicality. - Look at that. We talk about Sweden, we got
a Swedish mythical piece. Wow, what are the chances?
- Here we are. - Click the top link to
learn some Scandinavian slang in Good Mythical More. - And to find out where the wheel of
mythicality's gonna land, email my dad a dirty joke to read on "Dispatches from Myrtle Beach." Ratherbshaggin53@aol.com. It's the letter B, and no G on shaggin.
Love me some well-researched cultural notes with GMM games, and the consulate worker was lovely to have as a guest.
u/Buttercrotchpie
Mikaela straight up has no idea who the Swedish chef is!
Link: “I’m not touching it!!!”
He literally stopped Rhett from turning the table and was holding the table still when he screamed that back to Rhett 😂
This episode was so much fun and so entertaining! The guys looked like they had a blast!
I'm jealous of how majestic Rhett looks with the flower crown/hair combo
I’ll have to go back and watch this one again. It was so long that I had to skip forward parts of it in order to get to work on time. But I thought this was a really good idea, and I would totally like to see other cultural traditions explored on the show.
Rhett shushing Link when he started asking about religion got me. I love when Link is awkward.
Games specifically themed around educational topics always seem to be such a win. It's a twist on the classic "sit at a desk and discuss facts with each other" formula.
Oh I love this episode format! If they end up doing more, maybe they could also do American territories but that have lots of culture like Puerto Rico or American Samoa💙 So many mainland Americans know very little about these beautiful places/people.