Idea Factory Giveaway

We come up with a lot of taglines for this podcast whenever we record with Amy and I'm all about it. Also listen around the half hour mark for a moment where we all pause to take stock of something that truly seems like a huge opportunity in the convenience beverage market.

A truly astonishing set of circumstances prevented us from recording these episodes with Will, but because we believed in ourselves, we persevered: behold the fruits of our delayed but no less invigorated labor!!!!!

Let's not mince words on this point: all of our guests are great and I would gladly have them on again at any time, but what Amy brings to this show cannot be easily replicated, which makes her a singular and valuable resource not just to the makers of this show, but to the nation at large.

I couldn't stop thinking about the idea of a podcast deliberately engineered to appeal to MAGA dumbshits by someone who really, really wants to run a cheap grift on them but can't quite muster the energy needed to disguise his weary, bottomless contempt for his target audience. I give you: Buck Mustang and the podcast he can't even bother to namedrop properly.

Jenna's previous episode was great, but is this one ........ better? HIGHLY POSSIBLE. There's only one way to find out!

Listen, if there's anything we can count on to remain constant in this world, it's that cats live to kill, German shepherd puppies are adorable, and Yuri is an absolute top-tier guest.

In which Jenna, one of our favorite guests, makes a triumphant return, this time with an idea file of her own that turns out to be full -- full! -- of untold treasures.

We recorded this one a while ago, but because she's goddamn fantastic, Yuri picked some real bangers, including a hopefully very timely one that I hope we're all able to relish in a few weeks.

As always, Gary delivers. Also, I feel like I'm in fairly exalted company, having had (some time ago) an idea along the same lines as something Becky Chambers put into one of her books.

Arlette's latest appearance delivers some quality booze notions and at least one kind of d6 that I would -- no kidding -- really like to see.

What's the minimum acceptable level of grift? Is the snack food idea we had subtle genius or absolute horror? Who WOULD be the most (in)appropriate orgy sponsor? Gary helps us wrestle with all of these questions and more.

Would any of the Weyouns make a good housemate? Which Starfleet doctor is least suited to being in quarantine? Which character will end up with a quar-times baking habit? Combadge Club also discusses the objective best possible paintjob for a Romulan warbird.

Arlette returns for another high-quality installment; how do you know it's high-quality? Three words that will make more sense to you after you've listened to it: "Tactical Polly Pocket."

I don't care if I've said it before: Ken's idea file is a true trove of treasures, and I look forward to recording these episodes immensely. Everyone should have a Ken in their social circle! There, I said it!

This one is packed with high-quality notions as usual, but I also tell the story of a very good, extremely fake business I took part in; we also set up what might sound like a highly exclusionary echelon of Star Trek fandom that actually has an almost trivially low barrier to entry.

One of Ken's ideas is an amazing app but also just a new cultural practice for quarantine that we could start doing RIGHT NOW and it would be amazing. Seriously!

Did we have a system when this podcast started? Kinda sorta! Would it have helped? Possibly! Do we have fun looking at the data anyway? Absolutely!!

Never forget that while occasional acting co-host Jen is wonderful for many reasons, her food ideas are nothing short of monstrous.

Never has an episode whipsawed so violently between mildly terrifying and utterly adorable mental imagery as we have done here, but perhaps that's to be expected when Amy (who's rapidly ascending the list of Idea Factory Giveaway MVPs) ends up in the mix.

We get into a brief but surprisingly deep corner of Star Trek lore on this one, folks.

"Nightmares are dreams, too, friend." This episode absolutely bursts with quotable moments and candidates for titles, but then what else was even possible with Amy's third appearance.

It's possible this was down to Lily's particular skillset, but we discovered depths to one particular idea that I absolutely did not know were in there. Also, our cookie slogans are the best cookie slogans.

This episode poses an intriguing question that we definitely invite you, the listener, to weigh in on; leave a review with your answer, I guess?

The title of this one will make sense once you listen to the episode, I promise. I feel like I say that a lot, but that's because it's true.

For some reason, this episode was also full of great candidates for new taglines for the podcast itself, which I'm not mad at. Also, I might as well offer a correction here, in that the guy in the M.O.P. video was wearing a shirt, not a hat (I swear it'll make sense when you listen to the episode).

I wanted to do something special to commemorate the release of Star Trek: Picard, and I felt comfortable borrowing the format of another show because I'm positive they'd never get around to this particular draft (seriously, though, if you haven't already, give All Fantasy Everything a shot). Also, this was an INSANE amount of fun to do. If you're not a Star Trek fan, though, you can probably safely give this one a miss, which is why it's a bonus episode!

I really think I would get a good workout at the gym idea we found in here; I also have to say the dummy customization business we cooked up on the spot seems like it should be investigated. I'm just sayin'.

Not gonna lie: Ken's idea file continues to be absolutely fantastic in this one,

This episode also contains another amazing bad date story from Kelly, and that's really all I can tell you about it -- you'll just have to listen.

Another guest with their own (utterly goddamn delightful) idea file! Hell yeah!! Also, something that only occurred to me in the editing is that when we were trying to figure out the country's five dominant fandoms, we completely forgot about Harry Potter. Surely that's gotta be up there, right?

Let's be clear that even though I didn't address it at the time, I am 1000% in favor of more Justin Lin involvement in future Star Trek projects, especially the one(s) we touched upon in the episode.

I'll be honest with you: this one is bursting at the seams with juicy ideas ripe -- ripe! -- for the plucking. Take them and run! Run, I say!

I hope episodes like these become the norm, where I get to rummage through other peoples' mental junk drawers just like they do mine; they're fascinating as fuck.

Nick is also (to put it lightly) a very strong idea person, which made the episodes we recorded with him a goddamn delight. You'll see! YOU'LL ALL SEE!

Steve's personal idea files were a thrill to peruse -- I now truly understand why our guests seem to have so much damn fun! Also, now armed with two (2) data points, we felt confident enough to take a stab at calculating the average number of ideas/year a person might have; the result may surprise(?) you.

Molly gave us an idea at the end of this episode that will send you into a momentary trance as you imagine how much better public transit would be if it could be put into practice.

This is the first episode we've ever done that seemed to warrant a self-generated disclaimer, so I think we did some excellent work here.

There's a nonzero chance that I may actually investigate the first party idea Molly brought up, because it hasn't really left my head since we recorded this episode!

Ben: "What did mayo do to you, Jon?" (crosstalk) Jon: "It's gross and I hate it." / Besha: "It's a long story." [pause] Jon: "Well, it's only six words."

It turns out Pumpkin Spice Life Cereal is a thing that existed, but for some reason I didn't see any of it last year. It's possible it might've been a Walmart exclusive?? It still seems like pumpkin spice anything should be more readily available year-round, dammit.

A technical difficulty that went undiscovered until we'd finished recording renders this one slightly shorter than usual, but once again Ben delivers with a high-quality finishing idea of his own.

In this episode, Besha hits upon the notion that we need a sound effect to play whenever I ask "are there notes for that one?" which I think is true, but I also think we need a different one for when there are notes. Cat meow? Reggaeton airhorn? Let us know your thoughts! Taking nominations now!!

We should've had Ben on here forever ago, because the magnitude of the improvements he brought to some of these ideas is frankly infuckingcalculable. Also, the idea he bestowed upon us revealed a heretofore-unexplored world of frustration with the iOS keyboard.

In all fairness, I was unaware of the tradition of the Iron Ring among engineers, and I now consider myself educated; as ideas themselves go, it's a good 'un.

You're gonna want a refresher on this extremely important article before you start this episode. I love these people and I love making this dumb, amazing show. Also, we coin a term that I still like a lot, "anthropocentric utilitarianism" -- I promise it'll make sense when you get to it.

The way I like to describe my fantastic friend Gary to pals is "he's your favorite kooky uncle" and it's true, possibly the most true thing I've ever said; if you don't get that sense from this episode, you'll just have to meet him in person someday and then! Then you'll know! Also, seriously, we give away some amazing photobooth prompts in this one before we get around to gross(?) medical stories.

Seriously: I will never get to the bottom of the mystery of Infinity Gauntlet Guy and this fact will lowkey haunt me for years. I can just feel it.

Marri is a goddamn delight and you should probably all be aware of that fact by the end of this, her second episode. Also, let me know if you want to contribute to the LotR project, which I admit I still think about a lot. That and the grad student heists -- the angle she uncovered was not something I'd even considered! Genius, I tell you!!

I feel like I say this a lot, but this particular episode contains a fair amount of actual idea gold that I'm convinced could be a reasonable (or at the very least entertaining) business or two.

I really do want someone out there to investigate this D&D idea and get back to us, because we are about it, and you'll be too once you've listened to it.

What kind of dog person are you, dear listener? Short hair or long hair on dogs? You know my preference if you've listened to this episode, but now I have to know, because Alison surprised me.