🪽 “The Spacester” — Tesla’s flying car. Reese Witherspoon’s boomerang. AI’s hot standup comics. +KFC breakup

0:28This is Nick. T-Boy style. Sold out the South end to Salope, Jack. Yetis, you looked fantastic at the Boston show. Honestly, maybe our wildest crowd ever. The momentum is buzzing right now. Even Ben Affleck said we did pretty well. Oh, and the Sweetgreen guys, they crushed it. Let's hit our first story next. Three fantastic stories for the funnest show in finance. Jack, what do we got on today's T-Boy back in the studio? After nine years, Tesla re-revealed their Roadster electric sports car on Thursday night. But it's actually a flying car made with SpaceX, and it drives upside down. For our second story, Reese Witherspoon sold her startup for$900 million, but just bought it back at a 96 % discount.

1:08Reese, she's now an actress, literary kingmaker, and boomerang media buyer backer. And our third and final story, everyone is worried about AI stealing jobs. But what about AI stealing jokes? Did you hear the one about AI now taking stand-up jokes, but replacing them with hotter stand-up comedians? Hotter stand-up faux comedians. But Bessies, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories, which by the way, that wasn't a joke. That's a real story. Wonderful mix, by the way. We're going to talk about a breakup worthy of TMZ and CNBC. Because after 29 years, KFC is dumping Pepsi in favor or flavor of Coca-Cola.

1:43This is like Ross leaving Rachel to get together with Phoebe. Actually, Jack, it's like J-Lo breaking up with A-Rod to get back with Ben Affleck. True. Because KFC and Pepsi used to be not just dating, they used to be married. That's right. PepsiCo got a craving for fast food back in 1986, acquired KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell. Now, Pepsi sold those fast food restaurants off in 1997, but they remained friends. Pepsi was the official soda of those three fast food chains for 29 years strong. But with KFC newly single, it was cast away by Yum! Brands earlier this year. They're now doing their own thing and choosing Coca-Cola.

2:16But Jack, pause the pod because KFC and Pepsi ain't the only crazy couple out there in business history. Did you know McDonald's used to own Chipotle? True story. Did you know Budweiser used to own SeaWorld? How about GE owning NBC or CBS owning the Yankees? Disney owned the Mighty Ducks. Nintendo owned the Seattle Mariners. I mean, Heinz Ketchup once owned Weight Watchers. Ironic. While Pepsi once owned Wilson Tennis Rackets. Iconic. Yetis, those are the awkward couples of capitalism right there. It's like the Bachelor boardroom edition. Leave a comment with another crazy conglomerate couple we may have missed.

2:50I got one for you. What do you got? General Mills used to own my alma mater, the Olive Garden. When you eat cereal, you're family. Jack, let's hit our three stories. Fifteen years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dorm. They had an idea to cause a cultural storm. It's the best one yet, but the best is the norm. Jack Nick, that's it. I don't even think they need to practice. Fifty percent, that's a fat tip. T-Boy City on your at list. If you know, you know, cause we ready to go. We can't wait no more. So just start the show.

3:25Start the show. Start the show. Start the show. Start the show. First, a quick word from our sponsor.

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5:34Write your own money story with Monarch. Use code TBOY at Monarch.com to get your first year of Monarch Core half off at just 50 bucks. That's 50 % off your first year at Monarch.com with code TBOY. For our first story, Tesla blew everyone's minds last week with an actual, we repeat, flying car. But Yetis, was this Roadster event full of hot air or was it marketing for a Tesla SpaceX merger? We think it's something else. Besties, the Tesla Roadster was unveiled on Thursday night, and it can fly. Or it can at least hop very far. But first, some context. The Roadster was Tesla's first car. It debuted in the year 2008.

6:14A sports car. And just 2 ,450 of those electric sports cars were ever actually made. And the middle-aged rich male VCs who own those 2 ,450 collectibles, they boast about it at every dinner party they're invited to. Oh, hey, your OG Tesla Roadster is blocking my OG Tesla Roadster. Now, the Roadster was the beginning of the Tesla journey. It paved the way for the Model S and the Model X. Which paved the way for the Model 3 and the Model Y. And a second generation Roadster was unveiled back in 2017, but it's been delayed seven times. Sam Allman, he actually reserved one of those before he and Elon started beefing his billionaires a few years later.

6:52And on Thursday night, the Roadster 2, which was never delivered to anyone, was quietly replaced by the Roadster 3. But pause the pod, Yetis, because the event that unveiled the Roadster 3, oh, it was the opposite of quiet. Our feeds were all hijacked by videos of this Tesla Roadster on Friday morning. Yetis, this Roadster event was business news truly worthy of Mr. Beastface on YouTube. He drove a car that flew by itself! You see, Elon collabed his two favorite children, not his actual children. We're talking about Tesla and SpaceX. Naturally, to invent a flying car. You've seen the videos already.

7:28Wild. But I'll describe it briefly. Why not? The electric sports car drove up a U-shaped ramp, drove upside down for a couple seconds before gliding to the ground safely. Jack, I thought someone was filming their kids' Hot Wheels and then blew it up. For the seconds done, this car jumped over five Teslas while barrel rolling in midair in something that Tesla called the kickflip. Like a scene from a Jerry Bruckheimer movie. It's Fast and the Furious 29. Yeah. But no AI, no CGI, this actually happened. Dom, you know what we're talking about. Now, Yetis, whether we call that flying or jumping, technically it is debatable in the scientific community.

8:05True. They use compressed air on board the car to thrust themselves up into the air. And the car only gets one thrust going about 100 feet before it needs to refill on the stuff. So this is not a flying car in the Jetson sense. But it is a very fast, very expensive, and very dramatic leap. But since it's a SpaceX collaboration with Tesla, and since this Tesla event happened at SpaceX, we're calling this flying car not a Roadster, a Spacester. The Spacester. Houston, we have a problem, and it's a chassis. The first big takeaway of this story, this is another sign that Tesla and SpaceX will merge someday.

8:38Prediction markets now say there's a 50 % chance that Elon's mega merger is done by April. The second takeaway of this story is that like the second generation Roadster, this third generation flying Roadster might never actually get made. Now there is a$50 ,000 reservation you can make for the base version of this electric sports car. And there's a$250 ,000 reservation you can make for the thrust version, which goes zero to 60 in under one second. But the air-ready flying one, that'll someday be available, but only for invite-only buyers. It's obviously not street legal, and it appears extremely dangerous.

9:12And his mom definitely wasn't cool with this. But a product that is not practical yet does not mean it serves no purpose, which leads to our third flying takeaway. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who just created the Space Star? This isn't product marketing. It's stock marketing for Tesla and SpaceX. Ah, stock markets, stock marketing. Yetis, why market a product that probably won't ever get made? Well, because there is an ROI on excitement. Look at what happened when we put a man on the moon. Getting to the moon didn't have many practical benefits. It didn't, Jack. But those Apollo missions did market the United States.

9:51They drew attention, resources, goodwill, money to NASA and America. And all of that helped USA Inc. outperform USSR Inc. in the global marketplace. Well, we think it's the same with Tesla and SpaceX, whose$1 trillion stock market valuations are driven by imaginative storytelling, not profits. People want to own stock in a company that made a flying car. It doesn't matter if they never sell one of these flying cars. They made one of them. And that is cool. That is. And a higher stock price, well, that can be used to sell more stock and raise more money. And that has tangible importance. Raising money in the stock market is Elon's most enduring advantage.

10:28And besties, that is why we think this Tesla Spacester flying car, it isn't product marketing, it's stock marketing. For our second story, Reese Witherspoon sold her media business five years ago for 900 million bucks, but she just bought it back for 96 % off. Reese Witherspoon, Dave Portnoy, even us, we explain why media buybacks are the rage. Yeah, it is. Here's a fun fact. You are not a middle-aged female movie star unless you've launched a book club. And we call that a fact because Oprah's got one. Yep. Gwyneth Paltrow's got one. True. Dua Lipa, Natalie Portman, Mindy Kaling. But what about Reese Witherspoon?

11:10Well, her book club has 6.2 million readers. Basically one third of all millennial mothers. If that novel, by the way, makes Reese's book club, it's a guaranteed bestseller. And that is just one part of Reese Witherspoon's non-acting media empire. Because six of these Reese Witherspoon book club picks have been adapted to movies or TV shows was produced by Reese's Hollywood Studio. Hello, Sunshine, which made Little Fires Everywhere. The last thing he told me, Daisy Jones and the Six. Full disclosure, I've read and watched all three of those Reese's picks. How about them apples, Nick? Yeah, he's the only non-millennial mom in that book club right now.

11:47Yeah, apparently a millennial mom. But Hello, Sunshine has also produced Big Little Lies and The Morning Show, two mega franchises of HBO and Apple TV. And Elle, the Legally Blonde show that premiered on Amazon Prime this summer, also Hello Sunshine. Plus a dozen podcasts and audiobooks, and yes, Legally Blonde, the musical. So five years ago, Reese sold all that to a media private equity firm for$900 million. So we call it the old bend and snap. But here's the news. Reese Witherspoon bought it all back last week for a price in the low to mid eight digits. Let's say$35 million. Translation, Jack?

12:22She sold Hello Sunshine for$900 billion and is now buying it back for 96 % off. What? Like it's hard. But here's the interesting trend here, Geddes. Founders selling at a high price and buying it back at a low price. You see, Bessie's Reese Witherspoon has some big founder energy, but she ain't the only one double dipping with the boomerang business. Dave Portnoy, like six years ago, sold Barstool Sports to a casino for$551 million and bought it back just a couple of years later for$1. Eight years ago, we sold our media startup to Robinhood, and then they kept the newsletter and the brand, but we got the podcast back for a lot less.

12:58And now Reese Witherspoon sold for$900 million and is buying back for 96 % lower price. I mean, Jack, as a couple of Wall Street guys right here, you know what? This kind of reminds us of, right? It's like short selling. Selling high and then buying low, it can be an amazing way to profit. Imagine if you could sell your house for a million bucks and then buy it back in five years for 50 ,000. That'd be an incredible deal. Now, it is understandable why Candle Media, this PE firm, acquired Hello Sunshine five years ago. I mean, Hello Sunshine was living its best life, man. Amazon, HBO, Apple TV, they all sustained their million number subscriber counts thanks to Reese's taste-making video powers.

13:36So give credit to Reese for selling at a peak of the streaming wars when her studio was most valuable. But without Reese, Hello Sunshine hasn't been the same, has it? It's been a little cloudy out there, Jack. It's been a little cloudy. There's actually been a full eclipse, to be honest. So Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies double-dipping with these boomerang businesses? Media assets are the only ones in business with a human soul in the middle. Yeti's wild rule of thumb that we learned about in Silicon Valley and Wall Street, two-thirds of acquisitions fail. Despite those odds, CEOs love acquiring companies to show the board and investors that they're making moves.

14:12But it is especially risky in acquisition when buying a media brand that is linked to a founding personality. When a media brand style, voice, and Hollywood relationships are based off of a founding individual. Yeah, like, look, when a car company acquires a parts manufacturer, that acquisition is not going to suffer if the founder leaves. Yeah, you're buying factories, trademarks, and functional products. You don't need the founder for those businesses to profit. But in media, if the founder leaves, the company just might not be the same. That's why Vogue magazine keeps paying Anna Wintour whatever she needs to keep her at the company for the last 37 years.

14:43And it's why Gwyneth Paltrow hasn't left Goop in like two decades and probably never will. Now, there are some exceptions. Disney has survived for 50 years without Walt and Roy, the co-founders of Disney. But still, for the most part, yeah, you can buy a media company's bones, but you can't really buy its spirit. Because media is the only asset with a human heartbeat that it can't live without. Literally. Figuratively. Now, a quick word from our sponsor. You know what's a fun habit? Getting to hang with you guys every day on this show. It's what we do. Another fun habit? Listening to audiobooks about habits.

15:18Like Atomic Habits, the legendary piece about building habits that better your life, right? And the Atomic Habits audiobook is on Audible. We're excited to collab with Audible because it's how we find our road trip companion. The written word, spoken. So besties, you can create a habit of enjoying audiobooks while you multitask. Which I believe is chapter three of Atomic Habits. That's right, Jack. Wash pots and pans, awkwardly fold those fitted bedsheets, floss your teeth while you're winding down listening on Audible. If your hands are full while listening to Audible, then you're doing it right.

15:47So summer's not over. Replace doom scrolling by listening to an audiobook that a human put all their thought and effort into. Audible. It's stories that speak to you. And new members can start listening with a 30-day free trial at audible.com slash t-boy. That's a 30-day free trial at audible.com slash t-boy. Take it from a couple guys with a lot of habits who have become your habit. NetSuite. Yetis, remember we told you Warren Buffett reads 500 pages a day? Well, the world's greatest investor, he's not reading Moby Dick for the 15th time. No, we've got Warren's reading the latest report from NetSuite Next.

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16:53If we needed this product, it's what we would use. If your revenues are at least in the seven figures, go to netsuite.com slash tboy. Get your free guide at netsuite.com slash tboy. netsuite.com slash tboy. netsuite.com slash tboy. For our third and final story, AI is stealing comedians' jokes and then reposting them, but with sexy AI bodies telling the same joke. This is smoking gun AI robbery, but it's the smoking gun that could actually change things. All right, Eddie, stop us if you heard this one, but a priest, a rabbi, and a duck walk into a bar and they get plagiarized. George Brett Olson is a stand-up comic with 300 ,000 followers, and he's got a shtick.

17:35Yeah, he does. Big nudes, sloppy shirts, unkempt hair, not exactly a GQ quality male model. But he has a funny bit about tech billionaires that's gone semi-viral. It's got some good knee-slapping stuff right there, right, Jack? Well, pause the pod. Because his stand-up set at the Sacramento Comedy Club, I swear I saw it somewhere else by a different comedian. Jack, we've seen the same set, the same joke, even a comic in the same pink shirt, khaki pants combo as what George was wearing. Here's the difference. One of those jokes was told by a knockoff comic, and it was a conventionally beautiful woman, but with features that seemed somehow enhanced.

18:12Same outfit, same punchline, but she's dressed like a Victoria's Secret angel. What's going on here, Jack? Yetis, the biggest crime in comedy is not murder, it's plagiarism. Stealing a joke that leads to capital punishment by cancellation in the industry. Clubs will stop booking you and the internet will start shaming you. You haven't seen Dane Cook or Carlos Mancilla in a while? Well, maybe it's because of the joke theft accusations. But this joke theft, the one this story's about, it's unprecedented terrain. We're talking someone using AI to steal jokes and then hide behind an AI-generated avatar to avoid the consequences.

18:46This isn't just plagiarism. The hotness of the fake AI person telling the stolen joke, it adds awkward body-shaming insult to injury. Yeah, awkward. For not only are they generating more views than the human comedian who made the original one, they're then steering people to OnlyFans pages to profit further from their theft. We're talking about some loser who's good at AI and is stealing jokes with a fake avatar sexy woman to make money on the internet. And they're not just doing it to George, are they, Jack? The Hollywood Reporter found three other viral videos of sexy AI comedians using stolen jokes.

19:20So like, why did the chicken cross the road? to steal Dave Chappelle's joke and retell it as a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model. So Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies who have now heard the one about the sexy AI comics? Hot AI comic theft is AI smoking gun that could actually change things. Yetis. As amazing as AI is, the first original sin of AI is undeniable. It's built on a foundation of theft. Models trained on books, news articles, movies, without giving their human creators compensation. But since it's repackaged and regurgitated slightly differently, it makes it harder to sue.

19:56And the slightly differently in this case is the jokes told by someone slightly sexier. Now, yet is Jack and I are actually grateful that there's sex appeal and comedy in this story, but not for the reasons you'd think. It's because sex sells and comedy sells, and that sells the story. The New York Times is fighting OpenAI in court right now for the same exact crime, but people don't pay attention to it because it's the New York Times versus OpenAI in a lawsuit. And maybe that is why Congress and the tech platforms are doing nothing to stop the plagiarism right now. Because people aren't paying attention.

20:25But people are paying attention to sexy AI comedians, which could ironically be the catalyst for action. Maybe we're saying sexy AI comedian thieves are what leads to some common sense, base-level, simple AI regulation. Like that AI deepfakes need AI labels, or that plagiarized copyright content is not allowed. Yetis, that is why we think this could be AI smoking gun that finally changes things. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us to kick off the week? Tesla's SpaceX-powered hover car is not practical, but that doesn't mean it serves no purpose. The Flyin' Spacester 3 is stock marketing for both Tesla and SpaceX.

21:06For our second story, Reese Witherspoon got the best of P.E. by turning an almost$1 billion profit off of her Hello Sunshine. For founder-led media companies, the founder is the beating heart the brand can't live without. And our third and final story, stand-up AI smut theft is getting attention, and the comedian victims are speaking up. It's smoke and gun AI theft that could lead to some common sense rules and regulations. But besties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, the Apple duo began taking orders for the folding phone on Friday. Sold out immediately.

21:39You're on back order until December, so it's time for a new Christmas gift idea. Oh wait, John Turnus is one more thing. The Home View, the smart screen speaker system we covered last week. We hope the elves up in the North Pole have a good relationship with Foxconn. And second, Banana Republic has launched a micro series, the latest brand to get into the one minute episodic vertical video entertainment. But unlike the other micro dramas, which are steamy, smutty, and addictive, Second Smutty. This is a micro comedy. It's called The Agency, and it's about the creative process of making clothes.

22:09The Gap has called this fashion-tainment, and yes, The Gap owns Banana Republic. And finally, Guinness is expected to certify a brand new record, the biggest pumpkin in history. A 3 ,156-pounder was just grown in Rhode Island. Beats a record that was set just a few weeks before in the United Kingdom by Cinderella. I'm sorry, not by Cinderella, by a farmer, which is about 300 pounds lighter than this one. And according to the farmer, the plant was spectacular from the beginning. in just 30 days, it was 60 pounds already. Now, given that each Starbucks uses one tablespoon of pumpkin syrup in their pumpkin spice lattes, how many pumpkin spice lattes could you make from the world's biggest pumpkin?

22:48Let's say there's 100 tablespoons in each pound. So 3 ,000 pounds. I'm going to go with 300 ,000 pumpkin spice lattes. Not too shabby, McKenzie. You're wrong. It's 45 ,000 pumpkin spices, but we'll advance you to the second round job interview. Now time for the best fact yet, which because we're kicking off the week can mean some T-boy trivia. What do we got, Jack? All right, business school tuition just hit an all-time high, naturally. The whole experience could cost you$300 ,000. So the big question, what is the ROI on the MBA? Bloomberg ran the numbers and the answer is 12.3 % for the 10 years after graduation.

23:21Too shabby. The$300 ,000 is the cost, the increased salary after graduation, that's the benefit. So putting$300 ,000 into an MBA program, it's an investment that will yield you 12 % on average for the next 10 years in higher salary. But interestingly, that's less than the S &P 500 in the last 10 years, which has averaged 15 % a year if you include dividends. So add it all up, is an MBA worth it? Tough to say. As a couple of guys who went to business school, we can tell you, it depends on the school, depends on the person, depends on what you're looking for, your life moment, who you're meeting, what you're planning on doing.

23:53It's so many things. But if you're going there just for the money, it's definitely not a no-brainer. Yetis, you look fantastic over there. And Jack, am I wrong? Or did your family crowd surf you off the stage in Boston at the live show? I think I saw your mom handing you off to get out the door to the final bit. You had the best joke, actually. I announced to the audience that my mom, my wife, and my brother were there. And Nick's like, your entire emergency contact list is here, Jack. Okay. The other highlight was we were backstage and the sweet green guy said they want to use our catchphrase for Sweetgreen.

24:28Fresh casual. Fresh casual. New thing. I tried to make a designated survivor joke about my contacts, but that one didn't land as well as yours. Some work, some don't. It's the beauty of a live show. Yetis, if you haven't yet, grab tickets to our final live show in Seattle on November 4th. The ticket link is in this episode description. We will be at the show box. Grab your tickets. Link in episode description, November 4th in Seattle. Gonna be a T-boy.

24:56And before we go, a happy birthday to legendary Yeti Kay Woodley, listening to us on that commute in New York City. Happy birthday to Rachel Beta, the five-year Yeti and mental health counselor in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. And Fernando Sanchez got the annual birthday shout-out. Love this tradition, Fernando, down in Miami. Happy birthday to Alex Burns in Weston, just outside Boston. But from Lincoln, also just outside Boston. And Brandon Coffer over in D.C. Happy birthday, buddy. Happy birthday to Kevin Yang in New Jersey. And Isaac Del Monte would miss your 48th over in New York. Congratulations to Peter and Carly Chow, who just got married last weekend in their hometown of Cincinnati.

25:30And we met them at our Chicago Live show. And Paul the Goat in London has got a retail business crushing it right now. Just had a big board meeting. We know it was a T-boy. And to anyone else celebrating something today, make it a T-boy. Celebrate the wins.

25:46This is Jack. I own stock of Disney and Amazon. Nick and I both own stock of Robinhood, Apple, and Chipotle. I own one share of SpaceX. Nick owns more than one. We both own ETFs at the S &P 500. Yetis, this holiday season, don't miss your chance to turn just looking into just bought it. Make it easy for your customers to say yes on the spot. PayPal Checkout is a trusted conversion engine fueled by 400 million active PayPal and Venmo accounts. And when you add Paylater, you can turn holiday shoppers into regulars. 96 % of Paylater shoppers are repeat users. So if you give them Paylater flexibility now, it could help earn their loyalty all year long.

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