The untold stories behind the products you’re obsessed with and the bold risk-takers who made them go viral.How did Birkenstocks go from a German cobbler’s passion project 250 years ago to a starring role in the Barbie movie? Who created that bottle of Sriracha permanently living in your fridge? Did you know the Air Jordans were initially banned by the NBA, or that Super Mario became the best-selling video game character ever thanks to a strategy called “The Infinite Game?” On Wondery’s new weekly podcast The Best Idea Yet, Nick Martell and Jack Crivici-Kramer (hosts of the award-winning daily pop-business podcast, The Best One Yet [TBOY]) have identified the most viral products of all time and reveal their untold origin stories — plus the bold risk-takers who brought them to life. From the Happy Meal to Levi’s 501 jeans, come for the products you’re obsessed with, stay for the business insights that’ll make you the most interesting person at your next brunch.Audible subscribers can listen to all episodes of The Best Idea Yet ad-free right now. Join Audible today by downloading the Audible app.
But you can still get Nick & Jack every day! Follow The Best One Yet, our daily news show delivering 3 stories in 20 minutes. Where business meets pop-culture.
Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-best-one-yet/id1386234384
Listen on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/5RllMBgvDnTau8nnsCUdse
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Watch on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/tboypod
Thank you, Yetis & Besties! And we’ll update ya on Season 2.
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23 Sept 2025TRANSCRIPT
📺 SNL: The Snickers Bar of Saturday Night | 50
When Johnny Carson, 1970s late-night king, declared he wanted another day off, it left NBC with a hole in their weekend lineup. 11:30pm Saturday night wasn’t exactly the hot time slot… so the network recruited a quiet Canadian comedy writer named Lorne Michaels to produce a live variety show on the cheap. NBC figured, this thing might not get ratings, but it should be affordable and easy to produce. What could go wrong?
Turns out, a LOT. Cost overruns. Clashing egos. A studio that hadn’t been used since the 50s. And yeah, some drugs along the way. The show that eventually became Saturday Night Live has actually never been cheap OR easy to make. But it also made TV history. SNL is kingmaker, cash cow, and comedy accelerator program. (Without SNL, there’s no Shrek, no Mean Girls, and definitely no 30 Rock.) Find out how this 50+ year old network program became an unofficial cofounder of Youtube; why Lorne defines success as a Snickers bar, and why Saturday Night Live is the best idea yet.
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Follow The Best Idea Yet on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting www.wondery.com/links/the-best-idea-yet/ now.
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16 Sept 2025
🎧 Sony Walkman: The Analog Icon That Led to a Digital Revolution | 49
In postwar Tokyo, two engineers were tinkering with rice cookers and busted home radios when they stumbled across a new kind of audio technology: magnetic tape. It inspired them to create a range of ahead-of-their-time tape recorders — and the success took Sony from small repair shop to global electronics powerhouse.
Then, in 1979, after decades of bringing cutting-edge tech to homes across the world, they released their most surprising hit: a little cassette player you could clip to your belt.
Their invention made music portable and personal. For the first time, you could jog along to Bon Jovi, ride the bus with Blondie, and moonwalk to work with Michael Jackson. It turned headphones into a fashion statement, launched the mixtape era, and kicked off a global obsession with portable tech — paving the way for the iPod and the iPhone.
So slip in your party mixtape and press play as we take a moonshot with Barbra Streisand (seriously), unpack how Sony could’ve (should’ve?) won the digital music wars, find out why Steve Jobs smashed his Walkman to pieces, and why the Sony Walkman is the best idea yet.
Be the first to know about Wondery’s newest podcasts, curated recommendations, and more! Sign up now at https://wondery.fm/wonderynewsletter
Follow The Best Idea Yet on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting www.wondery.com/links/the-best-idea-yet/ now.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Inside a recent episode
📺 SNL: The Snickers Bar of Saturday Night | 50
Published 23 Sept 2025 · Transcript excerpt
[…] So as spring turns to summer of 1975, Lorne pours through both live and taped auditions. And the way the cast develops is like a game of networking telephone pre-LinkedIn. All right, Jack, you know what the first comic Lorne considers is? Who is it? It's Chevy Chase. But here's the deal. They don't cast him right away. Instead, Chevy Chase gets a job as a writer until, as legend has it, Lorne runs into Chevy on the street a few weeks later. They start talking, and as Chevy leaves, he immediately trips and tumbles, head over heels, right into a puddle, full somersault. Then he stands up, brushes himself off like nothing happened, and Lorne cracks up. […]
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