When your friends hang out without you, the sting of FOMO hits hard. Karo and Matt dig into why it feels so personal and what it really says about your relationships. And when you’re the one who plans something and has to leave people out, we unpack the guilt and how to handle both sides with clarity and kindness.

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Matt and Karo head home to celebrate the 22nd year of the greatest friendship ritual on Earth: the Man of the Year dinner at Peter Luger Steakhouse. A crew of friends from second grade, one annual winner, and a trophy etched with names for life. At its core, it’s about how tradition anchors friendship and removes the guesswork. That’s why we’re such big believers in creating your own ritual.

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Instead of trying to turn complete strangers into friends, we recommend starting with “fringe friends” – acquaintances you already kinda know. Karo and Matt discuss where to find fringe friends and how to turn them into binge friends – buddies you see all the time.

Check out our new Audible Original THE BUDDY SYSTEM

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Man of the Year on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok

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We all have it easy when their are friends everywhere, in school, in the dorms, in your first apartment, at your office. But what happens as you get older and that surface area dwindles. Matt and Karo discuss how to handle it and make sure you have friends at all phases of life.

Check out our new Audible Original THE BUDDY SYSTEM

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Man of the Year on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok

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In the second installment of their Friendship Myths series, Karo and Matt tackle whether friends should always take your side no matter what, if it’s possible to reconnect once you drift apart, and whether your friends should like all the same people you do.

Check out our new Audible Original THE BUDDY SYSTEM

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Man of the Year on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok

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Matt and Karo discuss how in every friend group there's usually someone who takes the lead, so what does that leadership entail and what does it mean to be someone who models good friendship.

Check out our new Audible Original THE BUDDY SYSTEM

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Man of the Year on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok

Matt Ritter on Instagram, TikTok, and X

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Huge day!! Our new Audible Original “The Buddy System: A Modern’s Man Guide to Mastering Friendship” is out now – exclusively at audible.com/thebuddysystem – and if that wasn’t cool enough, we appeared on Chrissy Teigen’s Audible podcast “Self-Conscious” where we were joined by none other than John Legend!! And you can hear that episode right in this feed! But first go check out The Buddy System!!

The Buddy System: audible.com/thebuddysystem
Self-Conscious with Chrissy Teigen: audible.com/chrissy

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Man of the Year on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok

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Aaron Karo on Instagram, TikTok, and X

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Karo and Matt introduce the PALS test: a simple framework for evaluating whether a friendship truly serves you. The guys break down the four pillars—passion, appreciation, loyalty, and support—and explain how each reveals the strength of your connection.

Check out our new Audible Original THE BUDDY SYSTEM

Watch this episode on YouTube!

Get MOTY merch at manoftheyearpodcast.com

Man of the Year on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok

Matt Ritter on Instagram, TikTok, and X

Aaron Karo on Instagram, TikTok, and X

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.