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Bon Your Vivant

2023-06-30 · Q&A · John, Hank · 5:35 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Personal life (also: Projects, Philosophy & meaning, Pop culture) · mode: Q&A & conversation · tags: guest or collab, heavy topic, community lore

In a reunion Q&A with viewer questions, the brothers joke about Hank becoming a comedian, recast Hank as an aspiring 'bon vivant' (a good lifer), name favorite musicals and their baseball team, and John says Hank's chemo really is as bad as it is, which Hank confirms as stressful as well as scary, on his last scheduled chemo day.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Secret reunion greeting; soap selling out; Willow teaches John to pack socks; never asking viewers to like or subscribe

  • ★ The brothers' soap keeps selling out as soon as they make it; the speaker calls it very good and game-changing for his skin. — 00:00:00 · Sun Basin Soap
  • ★ John says Willow taught him how to pack socks today. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ Hank: The brothers note they forgot to ask viewers to like or subscribe for the last seven years and have been between three and four million subscribers for about twelve years. — 00:00:21 · Vlogbrothers
    • check: three and four million — doubtful
    • check: twelve years — doubtful

00:00:28 — Subscriber count; should Hank be a comedian; Bo Burnham; Hank's late-onset troubles

  • ★★ Hank: Asked whether he has considered being a comedian, Hank says he has considered every job one shouldn't try: he desperately wants to do everything once. — 00:00:51
  • ★★ John thinks Hank would be a good comedian but it would take him about 15 years to get really good, as it does for everybody. — 00:00:51 · Hank Green
  • ★ John says today's popular young comedians started very young: Bo Burnham is funny at 30 because he started at six. — 00:00:51
  • ★★ John says Hank, historically less troubled than anyone he adores, may have a late-onset version of being intensely troubled: some get it at 2 like John, some at 43. (hedged) — 00:01:21 · Hank Green
  • ★★ Hank agrees he has been more troubled of late and says he doesn't totally know what's going on. (unsure) — 00:01:21
  • ★★ Hank says he only recently learned what 'bon vivant', an enjoyer of life, means, and realized he is, or aspires to be, one himself. — 00:01:21 · bon vivant

00:01:59 — Hank as an aspiring bon vivant, a good lifer; his secret hyperfixation

  • ★★ Hank says he would like all the good parts of worry without the worry: to have worried, but not to be worried. (playful) — 00:01:59

  • ★★★ John says 'bon vivant' usually suggests someone who loves gluttony, eating and drinking, which is not Hank, but proposes reading it as a good lifer, trying to have a good life in every possible way. — 00:02:28 · bon vivant

    “Somebody who's trying to have a good life in every possible way.”

  • ★★ Hank says he has a current favorite hyperfixation but keeps it secret because he is going to turn it into a project; he regularly sends John related things. — 00:02:28

00:02:56 — Favorite musicals, John's cereal with water, the Missoula PaddleHeads game

  • ★★ Hank: Asked for his favorite musical of all time, Hank names Shrek 2. (playful) — 00:02:56
  • ★★ John answers that by that definition of musicals, his favorite is Penguins of Madagascar. (playful) — 00:02:56
  • ★★ Asked about cereal and milk, John describes putting the cereal in, then filling the bowl with cold water from the refrigerator's water button. (playful) — 00:02:56
  • ★★ both: Asked their favorite baseball team, both answer the Missoula PaddleHeads; they went to a game yesterday, which was wildly enjoyable, and the team won. (playful) — 00:03:25
  • ★ Hank: At the game the pitcher struck out the first six batters, raising hopes of a historic performance; when he didn't keep it up, interest waned. — 00:03:25

00:03:54 — John's meetings as CEO; Hank's chemo really is that bad, with no 'but'

  • ★★ Hank: Asked what it is like watching his brother go to meetings for the companies, Hank says it is a bit of both: fun at John's expense and 'oh God'. — 00:03:54 · John Green
  • ★★ John says he has come to appreciate the meetings. — 00:03:54
  • ★★★ John says Hank sometimes does such a good job, online and with family, of saying it's not that bad, but it really is that bad. — 00:03:54 · Hank Green, chemotherapy
  • ★★★ Hank says chemo feels exactly as people described it, yet that didn't mean he knew how he would feel; it is super stressful as well as scary, sad, frustrating and unpleasant, with no 'but' added. — 00:04:23 · chemotherapy

00:04:57 — A fan at In-N-Out prays for John; Hank cries stolen valor; sign-off

  • ★★ At In-N-Out a young man asked John if he was who he thought, said his family was praying for him and hoped he pulled through; John said thank you to honor the well wishes. — 00:04:57

In the description and comments

  • ★★★ The description marks the last chemo day of Hank's current treatment plan; he expects a terrible week, then radiation, plus an important scan next week (week of 3 July 2023) whose results will take a scary while. — video description · chemotherapy
  • ★★ Hank writes he would be very happy if this is the last chemo he ever has to do, but is also just grateful to have these tools. — video description · chemotherapy

Humor (significant)

  • John recalls seeing Hank bomb with comedy music. — 00:00:51

    “Nobody found it funny, because nobody heard anything you said.”

  • Asked for his favorite musical of all time, Hank picks an animated film. — 00:02:56

    “Of all time? Shrek 2.”

  • Hank warns John will talk about water and cereal; John describes the fridge water button. — 00:02:56

    “and you push the water button, and the water comes out. Cold.”

  • They twist the phrase bon vivant into a verb. — 00:02:56

    “Bon your vivant. I'm bonning my vivant.”

  • After refusing to add a 'but' to how bad chemo is, Hank offers one anyway. — 00:04:23

    “If we did add a butt, it would be this butt. The butt of a corgi.”

  • A fan at In-N-Out prayed for John's recovery, apparently mistaking whose cancer it is; Hank's reaction on hearing it. — 00:05:27

    “Stolen Valor! It was mine!”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: bon vivant · chemotherapy

Also: People: Bo Burnham · Willow (person)

Projects: Sun Basin Soap

Works: Penguins of Madagascar · Shrek 2

Organizations: In-N-Out Burger · Missoula PaddleHeads

Rituals: Reunion video

Concepts: stolen valor · Worry

Only in the description or credits: Radiation therapy

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