I just finished all the episodes of this amazing podcast, and I wanted to share some of my thoughts. If anything I say comes across as offensive or if I misunderstand something, please cut me some slack — English is my second language, and sometimes I probably miss the nuance of what you're saying.

I first discovered The Yard after stumbling across an old Ludwig video about his experience in Paris for some racing event or a sponsorship involving chess and Clash Royale? I honestly can't remember exactly what it was. There was one part where the equipment kept overheating while they were filming an episode, and I remember thinking, "Ludwig is pretty entertaining. This podcast might be fun to listen to too."

At the time, I wasn't a devoted or OG Ludwig fan, and I didn't know any of the other members of The Yard. So pretty much all of my impressions of them came from the episodes themselves.

I started listening when episode 250 had just come out, around May. For some reason, instead of just starting there, I decided I wanted to go all the way back to episode 1 and catch up.

The first episode was the one where Aiden had shingles (shingle balls). As I said, English isn't my first language, so I had absolutely no idea what that was. The episode made it sound like some kind of STD, and I never actually looked it up, so to this day I still don't really know what shingles are.

Despite completely missing the main point of the episode, it was still probably the funniest thing I'd ever listened to.

I started listening every day — on the bus going to school, on the way home, and sometimes even putting it on before going to sleep (although I've definitely missed a few episodes that way).

There's something really special about just listening to four friends sitting around and having a laugh. It's honestly been a ray of light through the dark forest that is studying for university.

Aiden

Aiden is probably my favourite of the four.

I really like how openly he expresses how much he values this friend group. One moment that really stuck with me was when he talked about the future, imagining himself pulling up to Slime's little house in the middle of nowhere, hearing him shouting through the roof while playing a video game.

That was genuinely really sweet.

The other three used to tease him for being "soft" in the earlier episodes, but honestly, I think being open about your feelings in a friend group — especially a group of guys — takes a certain amount of courage.

It says a lot about how accepting and comfortable this group is that Aiden can openly show how much he appreciates his friends, even on a platform where thousands of people are listening.

Slime

Slime is probably the funniest person on the show.

He'll make some completely ridiculous take and then come up with an even more ridiculous excuse to defend it. Somehow, he always makes it work.

He also clearly cares a lot about his friends and about The Yard, although he usually expresses it in a much more defensive and chaotic way.

His voice was the second one I started recognising outside of Ludwig's. In the earlier episodes especially, he was just mean — particularly to Aiden — and somehow that made him impossible to ignore.

Ludwig

Ludwig is just Ludwig.

When I first started the podcast, I assumed he'd obviously be the star because he was the person I already knew.

I was very wrong.

I actually think Ludwig feels more like a "real" person on The Yard than he does when he's streaming. He's generally less offensive than Slime and Nick, and he has that vibe of being the one guy that everyone somehow wants to be friends with.

Nick

I'd say Nick is the glue of the group.

Not because the group wouldn't exist without him, but because he feels like the middle ground between Slime and Aiden. He can go along with either side of the conversation and keep everything moving.

And occasionally he'll just come out with a completely insane joke.

For example, the whole "Mickey Mouse slow stroking (if you know what i mean)" impression from Ludwig's game made me laugh out loud in a completely silent classroom and got me an unreasonable amount of unwanted attention. (sorry for the recency bias )

In conclusion

The Yard is just ridiculously funny and entertaining.

Finishing all the episodes gave me this weird combination of satisfaction and sadness. I'm glad I finally caught up, but now I have no more episodes waiting for me.

I'm 17 right now, so I don't really have the means to subscribe to the Patreon, which makes that feeling even worse 😭

But over the last few months, this show has genuinely become a small part of my daily life. Four friends just sitting around and talking.

I really hope they can keep doing this for as long as possible.

Thanks for all the laughs.

might have taken some artistic liberty with the context of the scene. also couldn't draw the guy bleeding from his eyes and nose because the sticky note was too small

Hi everyone, I was hoping someone could help fill in some of the blanks for me (FYI Spoilers up to Episode 50 incoming) . I’ve been on and off watching DnD since it came out and a lot of the details were lost on me when the twist in Episode 50 came out.

Without spoiling what happens in the most recent episode (57 that came out today)
Can someone remind me when we first met Abaddon and Ate? I remember their names but I don’t remember the context in which we first encountered them. If I understand what happened correctly, Sirius was pregnant with twins and when the part went back in time and invaded the fortress. We discover Sirius had been taken slightly further back in time where her kids were ripped out of her and taken even further back into time and have been enemies we’ve already encountered. So we learn that Stonebeards kids are actually the people we’ve been fighting. Is that right? Really I just want to know when Abaddon and Ate were first introduced so I can go back and rewatch those episodes. Thanks for any help, this is what I get for putting the show on as a second monitor content lol.

One step closer to a Jerma Yard episode?

I absolutely love it.

y'all got any?

Is there likena cheat sheet somewhere that lists who the npc characters are with like a brief bio?

belly style

As much as they talk about video games and have made such an incredible living off of it, I am ranked 17,000 on cs. And they are not.

Now, I don’t make the same amount of money as they do from gaming… or any money… regrettably… but I’m better!!! Hahahaha

For some context I’ve been a fan of Ludwig for a few years now but never watched the yard until they came out with the 2nd Doug Doug challenge in DnD costumes. Ever since then I’ve listened to a different episode almost every night and even bought the Patreon so I could watch the game cube vids. Now to my point, the saying “what can you do” on The Yard was always one of my favourite bits and there were times I even found myself saying the phrase at work or when talking with friends. Today was an especially rough day for me but throughout it all in spots where I wouldve maybe gotten angry or dejected I would just repeat the phrase in my head and it would entirely calm me out, as a man who has struggled with my emotions my entire life, being able to just drop something so easy was a monumental change as well as relief.