In a new episode of the Try Guys’ podcast “The TryPod,” Keith Habersberger and Zach Kornfeld opened up at length about the removal of Ned Fulmer, who admitted on Sept. 27 that he engaged in what he called a “consensual” workplace affair and was the subject of an internal investigation.
In the episode, titled “ok, let’s talk about it,” Habersberger and Kornfeld were joined by producer Miles Bonsignore to discuss the moments immediately following their discovery of Fulmer’s actions.
“We processed this almost like a trauma,” Kornfeld explained. “It really rocked our word, but also the ramifications were so clear. I don’t think that I really ever stopped to emotionally process it. Even still, I don’t know that I have. Because it was just, ‘OK, we have to act. We have to go. This thing happened, how do we react accordingly?’ I understood the severity of the accusations against Ned, but also the laundry list of steps ahead.”
Habersberger added, “We just learned a lot about how difficult it is to navigate things like this at all, let alone properly. It’s really challenging. There’s a lot of people to consider. There’s a lot of legal issues to consider.”
“And knowing that if we had any missteps whatsoever, we would be putting ourselves at risk,” Kornfeld chimed in. “We didn’t want to leave ourselves open to lawsuits if we were ‘unjustly removing him,’ or what have you. We just needed to make sure that we were doing things right. Not saying the wrong thing. Not doing something too early. Making sure that we had really gone through this internal review before we took permanent action. There’s a right way and a rushed way, and we wanted to make sure we were doing it the right way.”
Habersberger likened the experience to a breakup, saying he listened to Olivia Rodrigo in the car to process his emotions, while Kornfeld emphasized the physical toll the experience took on him. “My BMs have been wild,” he laughed. “The stress poops have been out of control.”
By the time news of Fulmer’s infidelity went viral, Kornfeld says he had already been removed from the company officially. “The fact that it was a transgression that was enacted publicly added a level of complication to this, where we knew that there was this stick of dynamite with an uncertain fuse. We knew that at any moment this could and would come out.”
That threat of explosion didn’t just apply to the internet, but to employees of 2nd Try, LLC. Kornfeld explained the difficulty of navigating the “red tape” when first telling staff that Ned was stepping away and would be edited out of videos. “They put the pieces together of what was happening. They’re very intelligent,” he said. “But we, from a legal perspective, were not allowed to tell them outright, ‘XYZ happened.’”
Bonsignore asked the Try Guys if their response would have been different had the internet not found out about Ned’s actions. “No,” Habersberger responded firmly. “It betrayed our trust. It was a workplace violation. It would mean to all the people in our office who knew what they knew, that we were not true to everything we say we are and our values. Very simply, he would have been removed. It would not have been this public spectacle. We probably would have tried to avoid that for the sake of the other people involved.”
Kornfeld and Habersberger also addressed the absence of third Try Guy Eugene Lee Yang from the podcast episode. “To be totally open and frank, Eugene does not like doing podcasts,” Kornfeld said.“He likes doing it every now and then, but we are going to be rebranding the show, either this week or next week… It’s the Zach and Keith show, baby!”
Kornfeld additionally confirmed that a fourth Try Guy will not be added to the mix. “We will have new people that come in and out… I don’t want to put the pressure on anyone to say, ‘This is the new Try Guy and he is the replacement.’ That’s not fair to them.”
Habersberger said there was one unexpected positive outcome from the scandal, expressing his surprise that so many prominent outlets ran with the story. “It showed that we had a really big effect on a lot of people.”
“The silver lining in this was realizing the impact that our content and even that BuzzFeed generation that we were a part of had on so many people, and it touched part of their lives,” Kornfeld added. “I’ll say, I wish we had found out a different way… but it was like, ‘Oh wow, this fucking matters to people.’”
“We’ve had more eyeballs on us than ever,” he continued. “Oh, that’s why people make this their career and lean hard into drama. What I’ve also learned is I want no fucking part in it. We have prided ourselves for the last eight years on being undramatic boys, and I can’t wait to go back there. This whole fucking circus is not interesting to me and not what I ever want to be defined as, as a creative person.”
Watch the full episode below.
