IHOb with Bug Mane

"IHOb with Bug Mane" is Episode 161 of *Doughboys*, hosted by Mike Mitchell and Nick Wiger. "IHOb with Bug Mane" was released on July 5, 2018.

## Synopsis

The mysterious and eccentric Bug Mane returns to the podcast to discuss his enigmatic online community and to review IHOb's new burger options. Plus, the debut of an all new segment that tests our guests' condiment knowledge, Sauceton Powers.

## Nick's intro

In the early "wild west" days of social media, corporations were often lost on how to engage with customers online. Food brands in particular seemed prone to miscues that later led to shameful deletions and profuse apologies.

In 2011, grocery-store pastry brand with a case at the end of the aisle Entenman's tweeted, "who's #notguilty about eating all the tasty treats they want?" - not realizing they were hopping on a trending hashtag about the verdict in the Casey Anthony murder trial.

In 2013, canned Italian-for-kids brand Spaghetti-Os tweeted a tone-deaf drawing depicting their anthropomorphic pasta mascot holding an American flag while licking its lips with the caption "Take a moment to remember Pearl Harbor with us."

And in 2016, an American diner best known for its pancakes became the monster-of-the-day for its problematic riffs on misogynistic jokes, tweeting pics of flapjacks with captions reading "the butterface we all know and love" and "flat but has a great personality."

But now with full-time social-media teams in place, many brands receive enthusiastic responses from the general public for their posts, though some savvier users groan as companies like Denny's, MoonPie, and Wendy's maintain absurdist online presences, often via reappropriating memes from Black Twitter and Weird Twitter. And in May of 2018, that previously controversial pancake chain used social media to take over the news cycle, by flipping the P in its name into a lower-case b, prompting a week of speculation about what it stood for.

Then came the prestige.

Reflected in an updated signage at select high-visibility brick-and-mortar locations, the 'b' was for 'burgers' - all a scheme to market their reimagined line of hamburger/sandwich offerings for the lunch and late-night set.

But the incidence perhaps illustrated that social-media buzz doesn't translate into profits, as an *Adweek* survey saw less than a 5% increase in foot traffic to stores. Still, for an aging brand primarily associated with carb-heavy breakfasts and senior discounts, altering its acronym was an inspired way to briefly re-enter the social-media zeitgeist. This time, in a positive light.

This week on *Doughboys*: IHOb.

## Fork rating

This is the third time that the Doughboys have visited IHOP. First, back in episode 3, Nick gave it 4 forks and Mitch 3.5; then in episode 115, Nick gave it 3 forks and Mitch 2.5.
For this episode, they attempt to focus on IHOP's new burger menu.

* Big Mac & Fries
* Belgian Dark Chocolate Mousse Pancakes
* Birthday Sprinkles Pancakes
 Mike Mitchell
* Big Mac & Fries
* Vanilla Spice Pancakes
 Bug Mane
* Big Mac & Fries
* Mexican Tres Leches Pancakes

Nick, Mitch, Bug Mane, and Mike Carlson ordered all eight of the new IHOb burgers to share: The Classic, The Classic with Bacon, Mega Monster, Big Brunch, Cowboy BBQ, Jalapeno Kick, Mushroom & Swiss, and Patty Melt. They also wanted three orders of fries, three orders of onion rings, and two orders of hash browns.

Bug Mane, however, prankster that he is, pulled a fast one and got the IHOb waiter to serve them Big Macs and Fries from McDonald's instead.

The Doughboys also ordered some pancakes from IHOb and reviewed those.

But then... in a stunning turn, The Doughboys b-b-b-bugged the Bug and re-obtained all of the above eight burgers from IHOb and ate them live on the podcast. However, Bug Mane only rated the Big Mac, and refused to rate IHOb.

(*This episode is a roller coaster ride.* -ed.)

The Doughboys also promise that the long-awaited McDonald's episode, with a special guest (not Bug Mane), will come out as the final episode of 2018 (it did).

## Sauceton Powers

In Sauceton Powers, yea baby, Nick reads the ingredients of a sauce and the first person to bzz in tries to guess what it is.

The sauces given were ketchup, Hershey's chocolate syrup, teriyaki sauce, turkey gravy, and classic Alfredo sauce.

Mitch got more correct, but mostly because Bug didn't try.

## Mt. Fruitmore 🍓🍉🍎

Per The Feedbag question below, The Doughboys were asked to choose their four favorite fruits for their Mt. Fruitmore (limited to only one berry).

 Mike Mitchell
 Donald Trump
 Bug Mane

## Roast Mitchy 2 Spoonz

    ​

​

## Quotes

​

## ​​ #hashtags

* #​BugCon
* #Puddy vs. #​PuddySauce vs. #SkittleSkattle vs. #SkittleSkattlePuddySaucaLubADubHubPornHub
* #​WhichBurgerWouldYouWantToSmash
* #​MunchOnSomeBrunch or #BrunchACrunch
* #GiveEmTheClaw
* #PerfectNut

## Related Episodes

* 115. IHOP 2 (dinner only)
* 161. **IHOb** (burger menu)
* 271. IHOP 4
* 359. IHOP 5 (*Minions* menu)
* 66. Doughlympics: Coffee Division
* 89. Mac To-Fight
* 91. Chicken Fight: Small Pieces
* 95. Chicken Fight: Semisoft Finals
* DD4. Chicken Fight: Fat Chance Kitchen Finals
* 100. Nugget Power Hour
* DD26. Malcolm McDonald's
* 119. KFC (The Leftovers)
* 148. Coco's (Quiz)
* DD. Ba Da Ba Ba Bah
* 161. **IHOb**
* 164. Panera Bread (Drank or Stank)
* DD. Irish Whiskey and American McRibs
* 184. McDonald's (breakfast)
* 192. Native Foods (Breaking Chews)
* DD. From Sea to Shining McD
* DD. Mac Attack: Supersize Tuesday
* 241. Mac Attack: Round of 64
* DD. Mac Attack: Round of 32 (Part 1)
* 242. Mac Attack: Round of 32 (Part 2)
* DD. Mac Attack: Eat 16
* 243. Mac Attack: Elite 8
* DD. Mac Attack: Fat Chance Kitchen
* 244. Mac Attack: Finale
* DD. Pie Noon: Shake-Off and Bake-Off
* DD. Pie Noon: Shaken, Not Stirred Region
* THON21. Doughathon
* DD. The Band of Tomorrow
* 329. McPlant
* DD. Red, White, and Purple
* 100. Nugget Power Hour
* DD15. Dead Men Chew No Meals
* 161. **IHOb**
* 346. Popeyes 4

## Photos (via @doughboyspod)

Big Mac and FriesSplashberry SplasherVanilla Spice PancakesBelgian Dark Chocolate Mousse PancakesBirthday Sprinkles PancakesMexican Tres Leches Pancakes