Armcherry. You have heard Dax and Monica say it. You have questioned, “Is it cherry or chairy?” What is an “Armcherry” anyway? And more importantly where did it come from? I’m happy to tell you that I have all the answers you are looking for and the history of the name. After you’re done reading this, you’ll actually know why we are called armcherries.
First, maybe we should go all the way back to the beginning for those of you that have no idea what is going on. Dax Shepard started a podcast called Armchair Expert and it debuted on February 6th 2018 with Episode 1, a brief introduction episode with Dax and Monica talking about the concept of the show. On February 14th 2018 was the real start of everything, as Dax released the first three episodes together. Armchair Expert would continue on for a month and a half gathering adoring fans with no name to identify them by. What was a podcast host to do?
On March 26, 2018 (Episode 10 Anna Faris) during the ad for Away Luggage, Dax says that the offer is for “Armchair Expertees”. Unhappy with that name, he says that the fans need a name like how Veronica Mars fans are called “Marshmallows”. Dax suggests that fans go on Twitter and send some suggestions. He also says that he likes the name “couch potatoes”, luckily that never happened. Instead a fan by the name of Emily Bradford would change the course of Armchair Expert with a simple tweet full of suggestions. One of them, “ArmCherries”, followed by the muscle arm emoji and the cherry emoji would stick.
We then fast forward to April 30, 2018 Episode 15 with Chris Hardwick. During an ad for Bomba socks, Dax makes his first reference to the fans being “Armcherries”. Now, the spelling of armcherries was up for debate, since as listeners, we had no idea whether it was chairy or cherry. The first time it is referenced on the website is December 18, 2018 in the sponsors section of Josh Duhamel’s episode. Prior to that it was just recognized on social media by Dax, as he often used the cherry emojis in his posts. Many armcherries had also taken up using the muscle arm emoji and cherry emoji combo in their comments in early days of its use. Then finally, over a year later from its first mention, a group of cherries appear on an official Armchair Expert hooded sweatshirt.
Armcherries, a group now not just defined as a fan group, but a growing community of people from all over the world interested in learning about the “messiness of being human” and openly practicing empathy and compassion in their daily lives. This is how we can answer the question, “What is an Armcherry?”
Ed Hipps
Ed Hipps is the creator of The Arm Cherry Companion website and does all of that social media stuff too. When not doing his Armcherry duties, you may see him strolling around the Philly area with his Bob Mervak hat on.