This is the story of podcasters Justin, Travis, and Griffin McElroy, and their quest to make a simple, yet seemingly impossible dream—being cast in their favorite film franchise—come true. It’s a story about how they used a podcast to make it happen. But above all, this is a story about trolls.

Yes: after a year of toiling away behind their microphones, the McElroy brothers have landed roles in the upcoming 2020 epic, Trolls World Tour—the sequel to 2016’s Trolls, which starred Justin Timberlake and Anna Kendrick. In fairness, the McElroys are not exactly no-names; they’re prolific, wildly popular podcasters who frequently tour with My Brother, My Brother and Me—an advice show in which the brothers field both personal questions from viewers and queries culled from Yahoo! Answers. The show has become notable for the McElroys’ wild, comic tangents and wealth of inside jokes. There’s also their graphic novel, The Adventure Zone, based on their podcast of the same name—which topped the New York Times’s trade-fiction best-seller list earlier this summer. The brothers’ mischievous rapport was on full display as the three chatted with V.F. about how, exactly, they parlayed their small media empire into a trio of Trolls roles.

But sadly, despite their résumé, the brothers have not been deemed important enough to voice actual trolls. Instead, their parts are a little more . . . creative: according to the brothers, they will be playing characters called Techno Beat Drop Button, Country Music Tear (as in, a teardrop that does country music), and Hard Rock Tear.

How did this happen? Well, it began the way you might expect: with edibles.

Or maybe it was Justin’s three-year-old daughter, who was obsessed with the movie Trolls. As he, Travis, and Griffin recounted in a recent phone interview, after learning that Universal had cast a handful of YouTube stars in the first film—and getting stoned in a hotel room—the brothers had a brilliant idea. They recorded the pilot for what would become a long-term project, a joke-y-but-sort-of-serious podcast all about getting themselves cast in Trolls World Tour. They’ve been documenting their progress—along with expert interviews with guests including Archer creator Adam Reed—since May 2017.

Happily for the McElroy brothers, they also had an ace in the hole. Their agent, Joel Begleiter, happened to have a contact at DreamWorks Animation, and was able to get them an interview about a month after their first episode. Unfortunately, Travis showed up 45 minutes late—wearing a T-shirt that said the word “piss” on it. “That was the exact moment that I was like, ‘Oh, we’re definitely not getting into this flick,” Justin said.

Somehow, though, they ended the meeting believing they had a chance: “In our incredible hubris, we decided, ‘Well, I guess we got in the movie, so there’s not much to document,’” explained Justin. “So we kinda got half-assed with it . . . Then, flash forward to 12 months after that, and absolutely nothing had happened! It was almost like they sort of soothed us into submission.”

So the brothers pressed on with a renewed sense of urgency—and eventually, their perseverance worked. In June, they were in San Francisco getting ready for a show, when their reps at CAA gave them a call: “They’re like, ‘Hey, we have to tell you guys something, and you should record it.’” They snuck into a dressing room, got the good news, and the rest, as they say, is history.