WEBVTT - Some Silly Inventions That Became Wildly Popular 0:00:01.480 --> 0:00:11.200 Welcome to stuff you should know, a production of iHeartRadio, and. 0:00:11.440 --> 0:00:13.960 Welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh, and there's Chalk and 0:00:14.080 --> 0:00:17.360 Jerry's here too, and it's time to buckle down and 0:00:17.400 --> 0:00:21.159 get serious about some silly inventions that turned out to 0:00:21.160 --> 0:00:22.360 be pretty popular. 0:00:23.760 --> 0:00:25.640 Yeah, man, this takes me right back. 0:00:26.920 --> 0:00:30.280 It does, because this is a super kind of eighties. 0:00:30.320 --> 0:00:32.839 But I really associate most of this with the nineties, 0:00:32.880 --> 0:00:33.239 don't you. 0:00:33.720 --> 0:00:35.720 Oh, I just mean this episode takes me back to 0:00:35.800 --> 0:00:36.840 like twenty twelve. 0:00:37.240 --> 0:00:41.720 Oh gotcha? But yeah, sure, yeah, Well, this article is 0:00:41.720 --> 0:00:44.840 clearly written around two thousand and nine or twenty ten 0:00:45.080 --> 0:00:50.600 by our esteemed colleague Jonathan Strickland esteemed. Oh yeah, there's 0:00:50.680 --> 0:00:55.800 loads of esteem going his way from us. We're talking 0:00:55.800 --> 0:01:00.600 today about some silly inventions. Typically they were what you 0:01:00.640 --> 0:01:06.200 would call direct response TV marketed types of inventions or products, right, 0:01:06.240 --> 0:01:10.560 which are what those like the little thing, at least 0:01:10.560 --> 0:01:12.839 in the United States, that little red icon that says 0:01:12.840 --> 0:01:15.800 as seen on TV mm hmm. Those are basically across 0:01:15.840 --> 0:01:19.520 the board direct response TV marketed. 0:01:19.080 --> 0:01:23.280 Products, that's right. And by direct response that basically means 0:01:23.360 --> 0:01:26.360 we want to make more money, and we'll do that 0:01:26.600 --> 0:01:31.360 by making like an infomercial, and instead of the infomercial 0:01:31.400 --> 0:01:33.120 saying like and now go to your store and buy 0:01:33.200 --> 0:01:34.920 this thing, even though a lot of the stuff you 0:01:34.920 --> 0:01:38.280 could find in drug stores and like maybe a bed, 0:01:38.280 --> 0:01:41.560 bathroom beyond or something like that. Sure, but generally what 0:01:41.560 --> 0:01:44.880 they were trying to do was sell direct to you 0:01:44.920 --> 0:01:47.440 get a direct response by putting like an eight hundred 0:01:47.480 --> 0:01:50.120 number up you could call an order. So that just 0:01:50.160 --> 0:01:52.440 means they get more juice for themselves since they're not 0:01:52.480 --> 0:01:53.720 having to sell it to a store. 0:01:54.480 --> 0:01:57.000 Yeah, and often it's like, yes, of course they wanted 0:01:57.040 --> 0:01:59.640 more profit, but they also wanted to be able to 0:01:59.720 --> 0:02:01.880 pay off the third mortgage they took out on their 0:02:01.880 --> 0:02:03.960 house to get this invention of theirs out. 0:02:04.160 --> 0:02:05.200 Yeah, maybe public. 0:02:05.280 --> 0:02:07.400 You know, there's a lot of these that were just 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:10.400 invented by some person. You know, it's a good idea, 0:02:10.440 --> 0:02:13.760 and luckily for them, they took off and became super popular. 0:02:15.320 --> 0:02:19.680 So there's one that it wouldn't qualify in any really way, 0:02:19.680 --> 0:02:22.240 shape or form as a silly invention, so we didn't 0:02:22.280 --> 0:02:25.680 include it on this list. But it is the most 0:02:25.960 --> 0:02:32.000 the greatest selling direct response TV marketed product of all time, 0:02:32.800 --> 0:02:36.520 far and away, and it's the George Foreman grill. From 0:02:36.600 --> 0:02:39.320 what I saw in the last like twenty plus years, 0:02:39.440 --> 0:02:42.600 more like thirty years, I think it sold about a 0:02:42.800 --> 0:02:49.680 billion dollars worth of product. That is pretty significant. I 0:02:49.680 --> 0:02:52.520 don't know if you're counting, but a billion dollars still 0:02:52.560 --> 0:02:54.480 means a lot these days. 0:02:54.240 --> 0:02:57.400 It does. I never had a Forman grill. I never 0:02:57.520 --> 0:02:59.679 owned one, but I lived with one for a year. 0:03:00.720 --> 0:03:02.600 Oh yeah. Did it pay a share of the rent? 0:03:02.960 --> 0:03:05.520 Yeah? No, I think one of my roommates had one year, 0:03:05.639 --> 0:03:08.280 I feel like in college. And you know, if you 0:03:08.280 --> 0:03:10.320 don't know what those words, the whole trick is. It's 0:03:11.200 --> 0:03:14.919 like any kind of standard Panini press or something, except 0:03:14.960 --> 0:03:19.000 they raised up one side of it so Greece could 0:03:19.040 --> 0:03:21.360 trickle out of it. And that was about the only difference, 0:03:21.400 --> 0:03:22.120 I think, right. 0:03:22.760 --> 0:03:25.720 Yeah, But the thing is it really works. You mean, 0:03:25.720 --> 0:03:27.760 and I have one and we use it basically anytime 0:03:27.760 --> 0:03:30.800 we cook burgers, we use it. And I mean, like 0:03:30.880 --> 0:03:33.760 there's no loss of taste, but there's a ton of 0:03:33.800 --> 0:03:36.880 like fat that's just just strips right out. So we 0:03:37.000 --> 0:03:38.160 use ours pretty frequently. 0:03:38.480 --> 0:03:40.280 That's funny. I don't think I knew that you guys 0:03:40.280 --> 0:03:40.840 had a Foreman. 0:03:41.720 --> 0:03:44.520 We do. And one other thing about this too. This 0:03:44.600 --> 0:03:49.800 is another thing too with direct response products. Most people 0:03:49.800 --> 0:03:53.000 think George Foreman invented that grill because he refers to 0:03:53.040 --> 0:03:55.040 it in the ads as his grill. He did not. 0:03:55.440 --> 0:03:58.680 It was already an existing product and he was approached 0:03:59.080 --> 0:04:01.360 to basically be the pitch man for it, and very 0:04:01.400 --> 0:04:03.360 wisely he said, sure, I'll do it, but you have 0:04:03.400 --> 0:04:05.920 to give me forty five percent of the profits. 0:04:06.200 --> 0:04:10.800 Yeah. He made a lot of money on miss things. 0:04:10.760 --> 0:04:14.600 Just crazy gobs of money. Good for him, And there's 0:04:14.640 --> 0:04:17.680 a similar So moving into our list now, Chuck, and 0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:20.760 this is in very much stuff you should know tradition. 0:04:21.240 --> 0:04:25.200 Not a top ten, a not a full ten top 0:04:25.279 --> 0:04:27.479 ten list, I guess is what we call this kind 0:04:27.480 --> 0:04:27.840 of thing. 0:04:28.080 --> 0:04:29.719 Yeah. I don't know that we've ever done ten, and 0:04:29.720 --> 0:04:30.440 we're never gonna. 0:04:31.360 --> 0:04:33.800 We better not. If we did. At some point we 0:04:33.880 --> 0:04:35.760 need to find that episode and go edit out one 0:04:35.800 --> 0:04:36.120 of them. 0:04:36.279 --> 0:04:38.920 Yeah, or maybe that's like our very last episode will 0:04:38.960 --> 0:04:39.720 be a true ten. 0:04:40.320 --> 0:04:42.159 Oh yeah, that's a good one. 0:04:42.240 --> 0:04:44.919 That'll be the tell everyone will know we could. 0:04:44.760 --> 0:04:48.279 Do a top ten of our top ten episodes. 0:04:48.960 --> 0:04:52.279 Yeah, that sounds it sounds like a great way to finish. 0:04:52.360 --> 0:04:59.200 Actually, so the segue I guess from George Foreman to 0:04:59.520 --> 0:05:03.200 the first on our list is the idea that people 0:05:03.520 --> 0:05:07.520 tended to think Suzanne Summers may have invented the thigh Master. 0:05:07.960 --> 0:05:10.520 She did not. Just like George Foreman, she was approached 0:05:10.520 --> 0:05:14.960 to become the pitch person for an existing invention, and 0:05:15.040 --> 0:05:17.359 she thanked her lucky stars all the way to the 0:05:17.360 --> 0:05:19.280 bank later on that she agreed to it. 0:05:19.600 --> 0:05:21.760 That's right. If you have a certain age, you may 0:05:21.800 --> 0:05:25.000 not even know who Susanne Summers is, or you may 0:05:25.080 --> 0:05:27.080 know her as the thigh Master lady. If you're a 0:05:27.120 --> 0:05:31.520 little bit older, if you're in our generation and above, 0:05:31.640 --> 0:05:34.159 you know her as Chrissy from the great She's Raids 0:05:34.200 --> 0:05:36.840 the Sheriff Sitcom threes Company. 0:05:36.880 --> 0:05:37.839 Oh Three's Company. 0:05:37.920 --> 0:05:39.280 Yeah, yeah, great show. 0:05:39.360 --> 0:05:42.159 She was also and she She's the Sheriff. Though, that 0:05:42.240 --> 0:05:42.840 was a good one. 0:05:43.200 --> 0:05:44.960 I didn't I've never even heard of that show. 0:05:45.560 --> 0:05:47.960 It was the kind of show that would come on 0:05:48.120 --> 0:05:51.880 at three point thirty pm Saturday, right after reruns of 0:05:51.920 --> 0:05:52.760 Mama's Family. 0:05:53.839 --> 0:05:55.960 Yeah, I've really never heard of She's the shaff I 0:05:56.040 --> 0:05:57.159 take it to the Sheriff. 0:05:58.080 --> 0:06:01.200 She was the sheriff. Okay, it was a good show. 0:06:01.480 --> 0:06:04.240 But yes, of course Three's Company Chrissy is who she 0:06:04.920 --> 0:06:10.040 is vastly far and away better known for. But by 0:06:09.680 --> 0:06:11.880 that I mean that was like the late seventies, early 0:06:11.920 --> 0:06:14.800 eighties when she left Three's Company. Apparently she was making 0:06:14.800 --> 0:06:17.360 one hundred and twenty grand less an episode than Jack 0:06:17.480 --> 0:06:22.280 John Ritter, so she's like, I'm out of here, and 0:06:22.440 --> 0:06:25.320 there was kind of a lull in her career between 0:06:25.440 --> 0:06:29.280 then and I guess nineteen ninety one when she came 0:06:29.440 --> 0:06:34.000 back with a vengeance on TV pitching this thigh master. 0:06:34.600 --> 0:06:37.240 Yeah, pitching the v bar. That's what it was originally 0:06:37.240 --> 0:06:41.480 called when a Swedish physical therapist named doctor Anne Marie 0:06:41.520 --> 0:06:45.240 Binstrom invented this thing in the sixties. But they tweaked 0:06:45.240 --> 0:06:46.960 it a little bit. They made it look cooler, they 0:06:46.960 --> 0:06:48.960 made it a little more colorful, and brought it into 0:06:49.000 --> 0:06:54.039 the eighties slash early nineties and approached her to like 0:06:54.080 --> 0:06:57.000 you said, like, hey, you know, you're a very recognizable 0:06:57.000 --> 0:07:00.520 face and you're into fitness and you're smart lady. She 0:07:00.560 --> 0:07:03.080 played a dingbat on Three's Company, But Suzanne Summers is 0:07:03.120 --> 0:07:07.200 a very smart woman. Yeah, as evidenced by the perhaps 0:07:07.360 --> 0:07:11.320 three hundred million dollars she made on Howkin the thigh 0:07:11.400 --> 0:07:15.400 Master and eventually like buying out the partners to where 0:07:15.440 --> 0:07:16.240 she outright owned it. 0:07:16.840 --> 0:07:20.760 That's awesome. So you said that this is an existing device, right, 0:07:20.840 --> 0:07:24.400 the V bar? Yes, So what it was we should 0:07:24.400 --> 0:07:27.040 just say real quick, the thigh master or the V 0:07:27.080 --> 0:07:32.960 bar was this kind of device? What would you liken 0:07:33.040 --> 0:07:36.080 it too? You know those like paper chip clips? 0:07:37.040 --> 0:07:38.840 Yeah, I'm just ready for you to confuse everybody. 0:07:38.920 --> 0:07:42.480 Go ahead, Okay, it's like a giant paper chip clip, 0:07:42.760 --> 0:07:45.400 but it doesn't open up, so you couldn't clip it 0:07:45.480 --> 0:07:49.800 to anything. It's just the squeezing part. So go to 0:07:49.800 --> 0:07:52.840 your kitchen right now, get a paper chip clip, break 0:07:52.840 --> 0:07:55.360 off the part that opens up, and then put the 0:07:55.400 --> 0:07:58.280 little remaining part that's like a V the V bar 0:07:58.520 --> 0:08:01.600 between your legs and squeeze. And what you're doing is 0:08:01.680 --> 0:08:03.800 using a mini thigh master right now. 0:08:04.200 --> 0:08:06.760 That's right. You do the same thing with your fingers 0:08:06.800 --> 0:08:07.400 if you wanted to. 0:08:08.160 --> 0:08:12.440 Right. So, they made it pop and like they hid 0:08:12.440 --> 0:08:14.240 the spring in the middle, and they gave it some 0:08:14.320 --> 0:08:17.880 great coloring. And this was now the thigh Master that 0:08:17.920 --> 0:08:22.679 Suzanne Summers was now demonstrating on some very famous TV 0:08:22.880 --> 0:08:24.960 ads again starting in nineteen ninety one. 0:08:25.400 --> 0:08:27.560 That's right, And I guess the only other thing we 0:08:27.560 --> 0:08:30.360 should mention is that there was a physician on a 0:08:30.360 --> 0:08:32.120 lot of these commercials. There was a guy wearing a 0:08:32.200 --> 0:08:36.120 lab coat, doctor Herbert L. Gould, who was there to 0:08:36.800 --> 0:08:40.640 recommend the thing and saying that he uses it. And 0:08:40.800 --> 0:08:44.079 the cherry on top is that doctor Gould was an ophthalmologist. 0:08:45.400 --> 0:08:48.400 Is great, not that that doesn't you know, I mean, 0:08:48.600 --> 0:08:51.400 still a doctor still used the thing, I guess for sure. 0:08:51.520 --> 0:08:54.239 Yeah, it's not illegitimate, it's just funny. 0:08:54.240 --> 0:08:57.000 Clearly knew Suzanne Summer somehow, probably. 0:08:58.520 --> 0:09:01.000 Or they just started picking doctor at random. 0:09:01.120 --> 0:09:03.920 Now I think he was probably her optomologist, be my guess. 0:09:04.080 --> 0:09:06.560 Yeah, you're probably right. I feel like there is one 0:09:06.559 --> 0:09:08.320 more thing we should mention about the ad, and that 0:09:08.440 --> 0:09:12.360 is the fact that Suzanne Summers appeared in it wearing 0:09:13.000 --> 0:09:16.720 leotard like you would think for working out, but also 0:09:16.880 --> 0:09:21.439 panteos and high heels, which is the specific kind of. 0:09:21.440 --> 0:09:24.200 Look yeah, oh, actually, there is one more thing, because 0:09:24.240 --> 0:09:26.160 this is we buried the lead. The probably the most 0:09:26.160 --> 0:09:28.800 interesting thing about all of this is that there is 0:09:28.840 --> 0:09:31.960 a direct response Hall of Fame and she's in it. 0:09:32.520 --> 0:09:37.199 Yep. She was inducted in twenty fourteen and rightly so amazing. 0:09:39.080 --> 0:09:41.400 Take an early break or move on? No, we got 0:09:41.440 --> 0:09:44.080 to move on, Okay, so I say we move on 0:09:44.160 --> 0:09:47.160 to the pocket Fishermen and a little bit of a 0:09:47.160 --> 0:09:51.600 bio on rom Po Peel, one of the great salesmen 0:09:51.840 --> 0:09:52.440 of all time. 0:09:52.920 --> 0:09:57.760 Oh yeah, Ron papill. If you had a TV in 0:09:57.760 --> 0:10:01.360 the nineteen eighties and nineties and you have seen this, dude, 0:10:01.360 --> 0:10:04.920 he was the guy that you know. But wait, there's 0:10:05.000 --> 0:10:08.680 more that came from him. He originated that term. He 0:10:09.160 --> 0:10:11.360 was popular in the I guess even the like the 0:10:11.400 --> 0:10:15.199 fifties and early sixties when he made the first infomercial 0:10:15.240 --> 0:10:19.200 for the vegematic. Yeah it's vices, it dices like that 0:10:19.360 --> 0:10:22.599 was Ron Papeel. All these sort of tropes of infomercials, 0:10:22.640 --> 0:10:25.120 a lot of them come from the great Ron Papel. 0:10:25.600 --> 0:10:28.840 Yeah, that vegematic infomercial that was like the world's first one. 0:10:28.960 --> 0:10:32.480 So yes, he was an infomercial god. And he got 0:10:32.520 --> 0:10:35.600 his start. He was always good at selling things. Apparently, 0:10:35.840 --> 0:10:38.679 by the time he was sixteen, he was selling his 0:10:38.840 --> 0:10:42.640 dad's inventions at flea markets and grossing about five hundred 0:10:42.679 --> 0:10:45.520 bucks a day, and that's in nineteen fifty one dollars, 0:10:45.520 --> 0:10:49.079 so that's like ten million dollars a day today. And 0:10:49.760 --> 0:10:51.959 within just a few years he was a household name 0:10:52.040 --> 0:10:56.400 thanks to television. And it was largely built on that 0:10:56.559 --> 0:10:59.640 vegematic that apparently his dad invented. 0:11:00.360 --> 0:11:02.960 Yeah, it was you know, it's a veggie chopper. 0:11:03.559 --> 0:11:07.280 Yeah, manual food processor, that's it. But because he was 0:11:07.440 --> 0:11:11.560 he could get so excited about any wacky, weird invention 0:11:12.240 --> 0:11:15.439 and try to make you excited about it, and there 0:11:15.480 --> 0:11:17.040 was just no ignoring this guy. 0:11:17.679 --> 0:11:22.600 Yeah, he had the enshll egg scrambler, and that was 0:11:22.640 --> 0:11:25.320 a device where if you didn't want to crack your 0:11:25.320 --> 0:11:28.160 egg put it in a bowl and scramble it, you 0:11:28.160 --> 0:11:30.000 could use this little device that had a little bent 0:11:30.080 --> 0:11:34.280 pin that went inside the eggshell and spun around. Very 0:11:34.400 --> 0:11:39.520 interesting invention. And the GLH which stood for Great Looking Hair, 0:11:39.600 --> 0:11:42.760 the g LH Formula number nine hair system, which is 0:11:42.840 --> 0:11:45.440 basically spray paint for bald spots. 0:11:45.760 --> 0:11:50.120 Yeah, it was like aerosol spray hair like product or 0:11:50.160 --> 0:11:51.040 something like that. 0:11:51.480 --> 0:11:57.120 Remember when Rudy Giuliani sweated his sweated that stuff down 0:11:57.200 --> 0:11:58.040 the side of his face. 0:11:58.760 --> 0:11:59.880 Yeah, I do. 0:12:00.120 --> 0:12:03.880 It's amazing. It was like, what a time when he 0:12:04.000 --> 0:12:08.160 was on TV in front of like sweating what looked 0:12:08.160 --> 0:12:10.439 like shoe polish, and then standing in. 0:12:10.400 --> 0:12:13.079 Front of that huh for landscape. 0:12:13.280 --> 0:12:15.760 Oh my god, what a time to be alive. Amazing. 0:12:15.960 --> 0:12:17.880 It was like SNL come to life. 0:12:18.520 --> 0:12:21.960 It really moment after moment too, something new. 0:12:22.440 --> 0:12:22.680 Yeah. 0:12:23.120 --> 0:12:25.800 That Inside the Eggshell Scrambler too. By the way. So 0:12:25.960 --> 0:12:27.760 one of the other things about all these products are 0:12:27.800 --> 0:12:32.440 their ads are magnificent. Sometimes they're magnificently terrible or just 0:12:32.480 --> 0:12:39.440 so absurd or just unintentionally salacious. But this Inside the 0:12:39.440 --> 0:12:44.720 Eggshell Scrambler ad had a little kid sitting at a 0:12:44.760 --> 0:12:49.000 table and he had been served like runny eggs, and 0:12:49.040 --> 0:12:52.800 it's the TV announcer says, no more runny eggs, and 0:12:52.840 --> 0:12:54.880 the kid looks at his plate and kind of gags 0:12:54.920 --> 0:12:55.600 a little bit. 0:12:57.120 --> 0:12:58.640 Good lord, I love runny eggs. 0:12:59.440 --> 0:13:02.600 Well this didn't, and apparently neither did Ron Pop Peel 0:13:02.640 --> 0:13:04.719 because he used it as a selling point. 0:13:05.240 --> 0:13:07.920 Well, his company, because he was Ron, was called Ronco. 0:13:08.400 --> 0:13:10.480 They've done a couple of billion in sales over the year, 0:13:10.520 --> 0:13:13.320 and part of that chunk is owed to the pocket 0:13:13.320 --> 0:13:16.400 Fisherman which is the one on the list here, and 0:13:16.440 --> 0:13:19.400 that's you can still get a pocket fisherman. It is 0:13:19.480 --> 0:13:21.960 a is exactly what it sounds like. It's a compact 0:13:22.000 --> 0:13:26.160 fishing rod that folds up very small. It has a 0:13:26.160 --> 0:13:29.400 little compartment in the handle to hold some stuff, and 0:13:29.760 --> 0:13:33.560 it's you know the problem with the pocket fishermen like 0:13:33.600 --> 0:13:35.400 it works. If you go on YouTube, there are plenty 0:13:35.440 --> 0:13:37.600 of examples of people using this thing and catching like 0:13:37.600 --> 0:13:43.200 a decent sized fish. Even it's just not I think 0:13:43.320 --> 0:13:45.440 you had in here. Maybe it was strickling. It said, 0:13:45.480 --> 0:13:48.920 it solves the problem that we didn't know existed, And 0:13:48.920 --> 0:13:51.040 that's kind of true, because you know, if you're going camping, 0:13:51.120 --> 0:13:54.240 let's say, or backpacking, and you pack up and break 0:13:54.240 --> 0:13:57.240 down a regular sized fishing rod, it straps on the 0:13:57.240 --> 0:13:59.480 outside of your backpack, no problem, and it's not really 0:14:00.160 --> 0:14:02.640 that big or in the way. So the pocket fisherman 0:14:02.760 --> 0:14:04.280 just took it a little further, I. 0:14:04.240 --> 0:14:07.760 Guess, yeah, and made it chunkier. 0:14:08.080 --> 0:14:09.040 Yeah. They're cool looking. 0:14:09.880 --> 0:14:14.320 Yeah, they look vaguely like a staple gun. Oh okay, 0:14:14.960 --> 0:14:17.840 that you break off the handle from and put between 0:14:17.880 --> 0:14:21.120 your legs and squeeze staples into your the insides of 0:14:21.160 --> 0:14:23.120 your thighs. That's what its like. 0:14:23.360 --> 0:14:25.920 I think we should definitely take that break now, Okay, 0:14:26.080 --> 0:14:27.760 all right, we'll be right back with a few more 0:14:27.920 --> 0:14:56.320 right after this. All right, we're back, everybody. And next 0:14:56.360 --> 0:14:59.160 on the list, we have the shake weight, which is 0:14:59.360 --> 0:15:02.920 a you know, a semi legitimate piece of workout equipment. 0:15:03.680 --> 0:15:05.760 It's kind of like a dumbell if you picture a dumbell, 0:15:06.400 --> 0:15:09.920 but instead of just lifting the dumbbell, you put both 0:15:09.960 --> 0:15:12.560 hands on it and move it. And there's a spring 0:15:12.560 --> 0:15:14.560 in the middle and the two ends of the dumbbell 0:15:14.680 --> 0:15:16.960 like move like when you shake it. A shake weight, 0:15:17.600 --> 0:15:20.400 that's what it is. But it became popular not because 0:15:21.200 --> 0:15:24.280 of it's how well it worked or how good of 0:15:24.320 --> 0:15:26.680 a piece of gear it was. It became popular because 0:15:26.720 --> 0:15:34.960 of the clearly obvious sexual innuendo that comes about while operating. 0:15:36.000 --> 0:15:38.440 Yeah, we don't really need to explain it. Just go 0:15:38.560 --> 0:15:42.160 look at a shakewaight, ad, and you'll immediately understand what 0:15:42.200 --> 0:15:45.360 we're talking about. Yeah. The thing is, though, Chuck, is 0:15:45.400 --> 0:15:49.160 it does seem to have worked right, Like you're basically 0:15:49.440 --> 0:15:53.520 instead of you moving, the weight is moving, and what 0:15:53.560 --> 0:15:56.240 you're trying to do is stabilize it and what the 0:15:56.280 --> 0:15:59.160 shake weight makers were saying is like, hey man, this 0:15:59.240 --> 0:16:04.480 requires way more muscle exertion than traditional dumbbell lifting. And 0:16:04.520 --> 0:16:09.000 they commissioned some studies that basically said, yeah, this actually 0:16:09.120 --> 0:16:11.760 is is correct. Use something more like three hundred percent 0:16:11.920 --> 0:16:16.520 more muscle activity than you do with traditional dumbbells, and 0:16:16.600 --> 0:16:20.280 in like one sixth of the time too. And plus 0:16:20.360 --> 0:16:21.840 I think they had a two and a half pound 0:16:21.920 --> 0:16:25.360 version that was for women apparently, and then one that 0:16:25.480 --> 0:16:28.680 was double the weight for men. And the two and 0:16:28.720 --> 0:16:32.400 a half pound version burned as many calories as a 0:16:33.680 --> 0:16:37.640 twelve pound dumbbell. So all of this checked out. But 0:16:37.720 --> 0:16:40.320 again that's not really what people were buying the shake 0:16:40.400 --> 0:16:40.840 weight for. 0:16:41.400 --> 0:16:43.840 No, it was parodied sort of all over the place, 0:16:43.920 --> 0:16:47.920 obviously on stuff like SNL Ellen DeGeneres, and you know, 0:16:48.280 --> 0:16:51.360 it's just one of those funny things that hit like 0:16:51.520 --> 0:16:54.600 virally early on because of how it looked when you 0:16:54.720 --> 0:16:56.480 used it. You know, I imagine it was a pretty 0:16:56.880 --> 0:17:00.960 decent cardio workout. I don't think I've ever seen one 0:17:00.960 --> 0:17:03.760 in person. Are touched one? 0:17:04.880 --> 0:17:06.160 I don't believe I have either. 0:17:07.160 --> 0:17:08.359 I lived with one for a while. 0:17:08.760 --> 0:17:13.560 Did you know it was? It was a mean drunk. 0:17:14.240 --> 0:17:17.480 Yeah, I wonder if these things had if they were 0:17:17.480 --> 0:17:19.000 like in actual gems. 0:17:19.920 --> 0:17:22.560 I don't know, Like this is one of the things 0:17:22.600 --> 0:17:25.280 like when it comes to exercise equipment, like the thigh 0:17:25.320 --> 0:17:29.520 Master two. The Shakewaight was like there was article after 0:17:29.640 --> 0:17:33.040 article like it doesn't really work, it actually works, And 0:17:33.359 --> 0:17:35.760 from what I saw, the consensus seemed to be that 0:17:35.840 --> 0:17:37.840 it definitely did give you a workout, like you could 0:17:37.840 --> 0:17:40.560 feel it, but it for as far as strength training, 0:17:40.600 --> 0:17:43.560 which is what most people use dumbbells for, it wasn't 0:17:43.600 --> 0:17:45.159 going to help you very much for that. 0:17:45.720 --> 0:17:48.280 Yeah, probably pretty good cardio though, like I said, and 0:17:48.560 --> 0:17:51.679 I imagine it was a pretty decent four arm workout, you. 0:17:51.680 --> 0:17:54.879 Know, right exactly. But yes, I'm sure most people wouldn't 0:17:54.920 --> 0:17:56.679 have been caught dead at the gym using one of 0:17:56.680 --> 0:18:00.000 those things. All right, Well that was the Shakeway. Oh 0:18:00.119 --> 0:18:03.800 one other thing I saw that in one year, I 0:18:03.840 --> 0:18:09.359 think this was two thousand and ten, they made something 0:18:09.440 --> 0:18:11.320 like forty million dollars off of it. 0:18:11.760 --> 0:18:13.320 Man, these things it's crazy. 0:18:13.440 --> 0:18:18.080 Yeah, it is pretty impressive. So what's up next, Charles? 0:18:18.600 --> 0:18:21.199 Well, we got to go with big mouth. I couldn't 0:18:21.200 --> 0:18:23.800 even say it, right, almost, said Billy big mouth. But 0:18:24.480 --> 0:18:27.440 that's just what I called mine. Big mouth. Billy Bass 0:18:28.600 --> 0:18:32.119 took the world by storm in the early two thousands. 0:18:32.160 --> 0:18:34.479 And if you don't know what I'm talking about, it 0:18:34.560 --> 0:18:37.399 is if you've ever seen a taxidermied fish mounted on 0:18:37.440 --> 0:18:39.520 a plaque on the wall like a big largemouth bass, 0:18:40.160 --> 0:18:44.000 imagine if that thing came to life and saying don't worry, 0:18:44.000 --> 0:18:44.760 be happy to you. 0:18:45.800 --> 0:18:48.920 Yeah, this thing had a real evil dead vibe to it. 0:18:49.960 --> 0:18:51.879 Yeah, I think so. Take Me to the River was 0:18:51.880 --> 0:18:55.800 the other one of the two original or not original songs, 0:18:55.800 --> 0:18:57.080 but you know what I mean, the first songs that 0:18:57.119 --> 0:18:59.360 the Billy Bass played, right. 0:18:59.400 --> 0:19:02.680 And this is in two thousand, when Billy Bass Spentett's 0:19:02.720 --> 0:19:05.600 year in the limelight. But the story goes back a 0:19:05.600 --> 0:19:09.639 couple of years earlier and the inventor, Joe Peltieri, and 0:19:09.680 --> 0:19:12.520 his wife Barbara, were out on a road trip. Joe 0:19:12.600 --> 0:19:15.800 was looking for the next big idea. He was a 0:19:15.920 --> 0:19:19.080 VP at a novelty company and he was trying to 0:19:19.080 --> 0:19:21.199 figure out, you know, what to do. I think he 0:19:21.240 --> 0:19:22.920 had kind of hit a dry patch and was a 0:19:22.920 --> 0:19:26.160 little concerned. And they ended up at a bass pro 0:19:26.200 --> 0:19:29.320 shop on the road trip and his wife, Barbara, knowing 0:19:29.320 --> 0:19:31.080 that he was trying to come up with a new idea, 0:19:31.160 --> 0:19:36.560 said why not a mounted fish that sings? And Joe said, Barbara, 0:19:36.680 --> 0:19:38.719 I could kiss you and she says, well, what are 0:19:38.720 --> 0:19:40.520 you waiting for? And they kissed. 0:19:41.640 --> 0:19:44.320 I wonder how that went down. Was she literally walking 0:19:44.359 --> 0:19:47.199 around a bass pro shop and saw a taxa dermat 0:19:47.240 --> 0:19:49.280 fish and said, wouldn't it be great if that thing 0:19:49.680 --> 0:19:51.560 sang don't worry to be happy? 0:19:52.200 --> 0:19:53.919 That's that's how I envision it. 0:19:54.840 --> 0:19:56.800 Just what a while? I mean, was she on Paoti? 0:19:57.960 --> 0:20:00.359 I don't know. Yeah, maybe she didn't even think of it. 0:20:00.440 --> 0:20:01.320 She saw it, you know. 0:20:01.359 --> 0:20:03.679 Yeah, it's such a weird thing to conjure up, but 0:20:03.840 --> 0:20:07.040 I love it and it was a very very fun product, 0:20:07.040 --> 0:20:09.119 Like out of all these, to me, this is the 0:20:09.160 --> 0:20:11.560 most kind of fun thing that you might want to 0:20:11.560 --> 0:20:12.280 have on your wall. 0:20:12.720 --> 0:20:14.400 Yeah, and I think it's great. They went with don't 0:20:14.400 --> 0:20:16.600 worry be happy to take me to the river. You 0:20:16.720 --> 0:20:19.679 understand that's pretty funny, but don't worry be happy. That 0:20:19.840 --> 0:20:22.280 was like the smash It of nineteen eighty eight, Like 0:20:22.320 --> 0:20:25.480 it had been dead and gone for over a decade, 0:20:25.920 --> 0:20:29.600 and they brought that thing back with big mouth billy bass. 0:20:29.840 --> 0:20:31.600 Yes, hard to get that out in it. 0:20:31.760 --> 0:20:33.880 Yeah, it is. So. 0:20:33.920 --> 0:20:35.879 The thing was actually, for what it was was a 0:20:35.920 --> 0:20:40.399 fairly sophisticated piece of gear. They had a censor inside 0:20:40.400 --> 0:20:42.400 of it so when you walk by it, it would 0:20:42.440 --> 0:20:45.720 pick up on that and just automatically start singing. And 0:20:45.880 --> 0:20:47.960 he had some designs that he did over the years 0:20:47.960 --> 0:20:50.919 that he didn't love, but he really hit on it 0:20:50.960 --> 0:20:54.240 when I guess his wife Barbara probably said well, why 0:20:54.240 --> 0:20:55.840 don't you have the thing turn its head out and 0:20:55.880 --> 0:20:58.520 sort of look at the person they're serenading, And he 0:20:58.640 --> 0:21:01.200 was like, by god, Barbara, we've got a kiss. 0:21:01.040 --> 0:21:04.280 Again, right, And that was a big deal like that, 0:21:04.480 --> 0:21:06.679 Like you did not see things that did that, that 0:21:06.840 --> 0:21:09.160 turned away from the plaque and looked at you to sing. 0:21:09.600 --> 0:21:13.119 That put the novel in novelty for big mouth billy bass, 0:21:13.160 --> 0:21:13.840 if you ask me. 0:21:14.520 --> 0:21:16.720