The Best One Yet - 👴🏻 “Prettttttty good pod” — Larry David’s comedic Curb strategy. Apple’s R2D2 home robot. Levi’s baggy jeans era.

Episode Date: April 5, 2024

✅ Vote for TBOY to win the “Best Business Podcast” Webby Award: https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2024/podcasts/shows/businessApple reportedly just found its “next big thing”: A mobile robot for the home — Apple’s next iPhone could be iR2D2.Larry David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm ends this Sunday with the final episode (whether Susie likes it or not) — So we whipped up 3 work lessons from Larry’s laboratory of creativity.Levi’s jumped 15% after Beyonce name-checked the brand in her biggest album yet — And the new fit isn’t loose fit jeans… it’s Baggy Daddys.Plus, the NC State men’s basketball team defied 1-in-23,512 odds to get to the final four. We explain just how unlikely that with other wildly rare events. Trung Phan’s newsletter: https://trungtphan.com/subscribe/ $LEVI $IRBT $AAPLSubscribe to the best newsletter yet: tboypod.com/newsletterWant merch, a shoutout, or got TheBestFactYet? Go to: www.tboypod.comFollow The Best One Yet on Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok: @tboypodAnd now watch us on YouTube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Friday the real Friday. April 5th, and today's pod is the best one yet. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. I'm sorry, Jack. We are in the middle of the biggest election of our lifetimes. The Webby Awards, which is the Oscars of the Internet.

We have been nominated for the Best Business Podcast. Ladies, we told you earlier this week, but we need your vote today. T-Boy is up for the Best Business Podcast. Now, a week ago, we were ranked number five in the voting. Today, we're ranked number two. But we would like to be number one. Tomorrow, I think we're going to be number one. Yet is Jack and I dropped a link to the vote in this episode description?

In the meantime... Let's make this the best one yet? Yeah, let's make this the best one yet. Three stories for today's show. What have we got, man? For our first story, the final episode of Curbed Your Enthusiasm is this Sunday. So one of the most creative shows ever is coming to an end. So Jack and I whipped up three lessons from Curbs...

The Laboratory of Creativity. For our second story, it's Apple. They shut down their car this year, but they've reportedly found their next big thing. Home robots. Apple is allegedly working on an R2D2. An actual I-Robot. An I-R-2D2.

And our third and final story, Levi's jeans, their stock surged 15% yesterday on the stock market. And it's all thanks to two B's, Baggy and Beyonce. That sounds like a band. I like that name check. Baggy and Beyonce? Zach and Bagging and Beyonce. They're going on tour.

But yeah, it is before we had that wonderful mix of stories. Fantastic mix of stories to go into a weekend with, my friend. This is Final Four weekend for both the men's and the women's tournament. Final Four, it tips off tonight, and we got it going through Saturday. On the women's side, you got NC State, Yukon, South Carolina, and Iowa. On the men's side, you got NC State, Yukon, Alabama, and the Purdue Boilermakers. But, Nick, what's the most shocking team still remaining in either of these tournaments? Jack, I'm checking the whiteboard.

and it is the NC State Men's Fight and Wolfpack. Because NC State isn't just the number 11 seed underdog Cinderella story on the men's side. Yet is North Carolina State is a one in 23,512 miracle, according to the math. Because in order to get to the final four, where they are now, NC State had to win five ACCC tournament games in a row and then four straight NCAA tournament games. In just the month of March, NC State had to be UNC, U.N.C., U.S. and Duke twice. All in the month of March.

Those are national championship winning teams. No offense, Coach K. It's not personal. Now, the odds of NC State winning those nine games in a row are one in 23,512. And yet he's, according to the National Weather Service, the coach of NC State is more likely to get struck by lightning than to have gotten this far in March madness. But get this. If NC State wins tomorrow and advances to the national championship final, then they will.

would be the first 11 seed ever in the championship game. And what are the odds of that, Jack? The odds of that are one in 130,000. Yeah, it's one in 130,000. Those are the odds of NC State getting to the championship. Jack, can you sprinkle on a little context for us over there? You're more likely to be a triplet than for NC State to get that far. The odds of that are one in a thousand. You're more likely to get a perfect score on the SAT. The odds of that are one in 1,428. You're more likely to shoot a whole Bowling won on the next par three that you tee off from. The odds of that are one in 25,000. But our favorite, you're more likely to get bitten by a New Yorker than be bitten by a shark.

That is nothing to do with the basketball game, does it? Nothing to do with the game. That's just a fact. That's just our favorite comparative probability in the world. We love that statistic. We're never going to let go of it. It's a great stat. If you're afraid of Jaws, you should be afraid of Jerry, the guy on the subway next to you.

So besties, enjoy the men's and women's final. for this weekend. Hatelyn Clark, great player? Or greatest player? May the odds be ever in your favor. And Jack, let's hit our one in 300,000 stories. 15 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 a norm. Jack Nick, that's it. I don't even think they need to practice. 50%, that's a fat tip. Tea Boy City on your at list. If you know, you know, because we're ready to go. Wait no more, so just start the show.

Start the show. First, a quick word from our sponsor. For our first story, the series finale of Curb Your Enthusiasm hits HBO this weekend. But inside this awkward, hilarious, shocking television show, Larry David teaches us a lesson on creativity. Jack, he's a midler. Nick, I'm pretty sure that accidental text was on purpose.

She just upstreamed me. Did Larry invent the term upstreaming, like a taxi cab in New York City? He invented all of those terms, Jackie. Larry David is the 77-year-old creator of all those terms, and he's the director and the actor and the quirky curmudgeon on curb your enthusiasm. The funny thing is, Larry David just acts as himself on curb your enthusiasm. And he finds himself in the most cringe-worthy situations, and he always has to make a comment.

This is the only show that could turn an entire episode into how trying on pants is the most humiliating experience in humanity. It is humiliated. My dad used to make me try on my pants that I got for Christmas in front of all my brothers. Humiliation. By the way, if you're going to business school, here's a project for you.

Build a spite store, because that's something that they did on Larry David's curb your enthusiast. And after 12 seasons, the last episode premieres this Sunday. So we all have to say goodbye to the funk man, goodbye to Susie, and goodbye to Jeff. Larry, you're looking amazing.

Actually, she would never compliment Larry. That was incorrect. If you know, you know. But yeties, this isn't just a show of tirades and trivialities. No, this show is also a laboratory of creativity that we all can learn from. Nick and I found three lessons on creativity and work that are pretty pretty good. And if you check out Trung fans newsletter, which is a newsletter we love getting every weekend, he details even more lessons from Curb Your Enthusiasm on Creativity.

We'll drop a link in the episode description as well. But in the meantime, our first lesson on creativity from curb your enthusiasm, Jack, what is it, please? Non-obvious ideas. They take longer and they may never land. But if they do, they have a big payoff. Few know this, but Larry David was not a career success until he was 41 years old. When he was young, he used to be a bra salesman. He used to drive a limousine.

When he was writing for SNL, which seems successful, he was still living in a rent-stabilized apartment on the Upper West Side and didn't even know where his career was going at that point. The entertainment industry just wasn't ready for his unique style of uncomfortable humor until he became 41 years old and launched Seinfeld. Because yet, he's unique ideas like Curb Your Enthusiasm and Larry David's specific humor, they have a big payoff, but they take a long time to land. And that's okay. As long as you're willing to sell bras and drive a limo.

And hopefully you ever run stabilized apartment. Which leads to our second rule of creativity from Curb Your, enthusiasm. Jack, what is it, man? Creativity works at different speeds. You can't rush a creative. Jack, somewhere is a graphic designer who's saying, I feel heard right now. Exactly. Because Curb began 25 years ago, but we only have 12 seasons in those 25 years. In fact, there's actually a six-year gap between season seven and eight of Curb Your Enthusiasm, a six-year gap. Because sometimes Larry he just wasn't feeling the inspiration to create another season. And then when he found inspiration finally, he would go all in on executing it for that season.

And now he should point out, he was actively searching for inspiration. And then once he got that inspiration, he went hardcore to create things like Latee Larry's Spite Store. Now, just this week, we did our April Fool's Prank, the T-Boy dating network that we launched on Monday. We brainstormed what should we do for April Fool's Day for two full days and got no ideas that we were on board with. We didn't get frustrated and we didn't force it. We just said, hey, this is going to take a third day for us to come up with a creative idea for April Fool's. And on that third day, we came up with T-boy dating. The details poured out and it felt so easy on that third day. After that, we went hardcore into T-boy dating. Now, HBO deserves a lot of credit because if they had rushed Larry David and demanded a season eight one year after season seven, well, Jack, then we wouldn't have characters like Leon Black. And it might not have been funny. Now, Jack, Larry David probably thinks we've gone on about three minutes to

too long. So Jack, what's the sponge-worthy takeaway for all our buddies who are everyone in business? Constraint breeds creativity. Yet these interesting thing, typical sitcom episodes have a script that is 35 pages long, but a typical curb your enthusiasm script is just six pages long. Now, many assume that all of curb is improv. Like, it's that funny and it's that improv feeling. And the short six-page script supports that thesis. But here's the fascinating thing. In reality, reality, Larry writes extremely detailed outlines in those six pages to constrain the actors. For example, in season 10, there was an episode that had this. Okay, you're at a wedding in Mexico. Larry forgot his toothbrush. He asked the hotel for a toothbrush. They didn't have one.

So we had to ask the hotel guests to borrow a toothbrush. Now, those were the constraints of the episode. And then they came up with a whole new idea on the show, which was, boom, the backup travel toothbrush. The backup travel toothbrush. And that's what the whole episode was about. It was painfully awkward, but the whole Because besties, Larry David thinks no structure leads to no substance. You need an outline for the best improv. To get great spontaneity out of Cheryl and Ted Danson, they need guidelines. That's why Larry withholds information from actors like the narrative arc of the show.

But he does give them the overall structure of each scene. Because if given too many instructions, creativity is impossible. But when given a blank slate, creativity feels daunting. It's that in between that Larry David. its projects thrived on. Enough constraints to breed creativity. And that is the final creative lesson from curb your enthusiasm. For our second story, now that Apple's car is dead, Apple is turning to a new thing.

Apple wants your living room. Apple is reportedly working on a home robot that resembles R2D2. But yet, in order for Jack and I to tell this story, Jack, can we head back to 1977. We weren't born yet, but a man named George Lucas was. George Lucas was a master of IP because he trademarked the word droid back in 1977 after creating R2D2. The owner of Star Wars has a trademark on the word droid. Well, nearly 50 years later, Apple is actually trying to build a droid according to Bloomberg. Yeah, Mark Brumburg over Bloomberg learns things about Apple from insiders before they go public. He speaks with PFWTMs. Who are those again, Jack?

people familiar with the matter. And according to those PFWTMs at Apple, Apple is constantly searching for the next big thing. Their first big thing was the Mac computer, then the iPhone, then the iPad, then the watch, and more recently the AirPods. Well, now that Apple's car project has crashed and burned, Apple's next big thing is reportedly, get this, home robots. Homebots. Iroborats, for real. Well, we should bring a little disclosure, shouldn't we, Jack? This is very soft news. It's only a report from Bloomberg that Apple hasn't confirmed. And even Bloomberg says that Apple still is just in the exploratory phase.

But hey, baby, it is Apple. So we know you are curious about this because we were too. And I are 2D2 that we could actually purchase for our homes. That sounds incredible. I'd feel like Luke Skywalker. But yet is here's what Jack and I found fascinating about this story. We've said before that the next big tech battle is for your living room. Well, Apple wants a seat on the couch.

Because they're reportedly working on two products. And the first one, we're calling FaceTime Plus. It's a tabletop screen whose primary purpose is FaceTime conversations. Like you're going to be making dinner. You're FaceTiming your mom. Did I cut the arugula right? You don't cut arugula like that. It turns into an argument.

But in the meantime, the screen is going to track your face and swivel as you and your mom are talking. Yeah. So if you go over to the pantry to get the arugula and then go back to the fridge because that's where arugula is actually stored, the screen will follow you the whole time. so you can see your mom and she can see you. So like if your mom nods, then this new Apple robot screen will nod. It acts like a head.

Yeah, it's pretty wild. What we're saying yet is that this is like an iPad, but with a neck and a little bit of personality. It's the ultimate FaceTime machine. Yeah, they added some razzle-dazzle and sprinkle dinkle to the iPad. Sounds useful for a kitchen. Okay, that's the first homebot project Apple's working on. But the second product is an IR2D2.

Bloomberg calls it a mobile robot that can follow users around their home. This is like if Wally were designed in Cooper Tino. This is actually pretty cool. It's a moving machine with wheels. It's got a screen, a camera, and artificial intelligence so you can talk to it. I mean, Jack, is this going to be a physical manifestation of Siri? This is Siri meets Mary Poppins because it's useful, meets Fido because it's like the size of a dog. It's like they injected Optimus Prime with Siri and then miniaturized her.

Now, we should point out, Amazon already has something just like this. It's called Astro, but replace Siri with Elect. So what we're talking about isn't completely new. But again, it's from Apple, so it'll come in a really cool box. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Apple? Apple has three lifeboats. One of them sank. One of them, they just launched, and they're building a third.

Sad story, Jack and I can tell you because we own the shares. Apple stock is actually lower today than it was two years ago. And why is that, Jack? Apple's products, they feel kind of old. Investors are getting concerned that Apple's best aid. could have been behind it. So like Kendall Roy in succession, Apple is building a whole bunch of lifeboats. New products to bring it to safety.

Well, last year, Apple executives said that the company's future was an automotive, home, and mixed reality. Well, automotive is dead. Apple killed the 10-year car project just over in February. Mixed reality was just launched recently. The Applevision Pro, but TBD, whether that's a success or not. Which leaves home. Ah, the new thing that Apple is reportedly working on.

internally. A physical manifestation of Siri who can hang out with you in the living room. Optimus Prime meets Siri meets Mary Poppins. And also a FaceTime thingy that you put in your kitchen and it'll track you and follow you like a head when you're FaceTiming someone. Yeah, he's added it all up and Apple has three lifeboats. One sank, one just launched, and so now they're building the third. Now a quick word from our sponsor. for our third and final story before the weekend. Levi's stock searched 15% on Thursday after a fantastic earnings report. And it's all thanks to the two B's, Baggy and Beyonce.

Baggy and Beyonce. Yet is this week was the best quarterly earnings announcement Levi's has had since the gold rush. Levi's stock, some 15% get this. Levi stock is now upset. 60% in the last six months. Put that in the back pocket. This is a really interesting fun fact. The two most valuable denim companies in America are now tied.

Levi's and the gap. Yeah. And they're both based in San Francisco by chance to $9 billion denim companies, Jack. San Francisco, they do gig food delivery apps and they do zippers for jeans. That's what San Francisco does. Now, sales for Levi's actually fell in the past year, but more of those sales were direct to consumer than ever before. Yeti's direct consumer means that Levi is cutting out the middleman. They're cutting out department

stores, which is way more profitable for Levi. It's a profit puppy. They get to keep the full sale for themselves. They don't have to give a cut to Macy's. But Jack, what was the shocking surprise from the earnings call that we happened to notice? And we're like, how come nobody else is covering this? Beyonce, that was the surprise from the earnings call. Get this, Yeti's analyst mentioned Beyonce four times on the call. Like, she was the star of the call, apparently. Because last week, She also dropped her first country-ish album yet, which is called Cowboy Carter. Yeah, Cowboy Carter. Do you give him to listen, Jack?

What do you think? Alex loves it. I've been listening in the background. She went full Yellowstone in his thing. Why don't you like it, Jack? No, I do like it. I said Alex loves it. I didn't say, I'm messing with it.

Not yet. He's wild. Fiance did wear some diamond studded stets and hat. She also wrote an entire song called Levi's jeans. Are you trying to sick the beehive on me right now? Nick. No, no, no, no, no. No, no, no.

Nick's right. There's an entire song. The best track on the album, mind you, called Levi's jeans. Yet, he's Jack and I are thinking about this. This is the biggest earned media moment for any brand of the entire year. But, Nick, let's go back to 1984 for a quick second. That's when Bruce Springsteen's born in the USA album featured the boss's butt wearing Levi's jeans with the trademark red tag on the album cover. Well, Jack, my buddy.

How about we fast forward 40 years later? And Queen B is rocking denim on denim, on denim, wearing Levi's and shabbing Levi's in the title of her song. What is it about musicians and loving Levi's? Beyonce's entire album just set the single day streaming record on Spotify. That means this Levi's song probably got half a billion impressions. If you work in marketing, we want to know. Would you rather have a free Super Bowl ad for your company or have the name of the company

being a Beyonce song in the title? Honestly, we know. what we want. T. Paine does have a song called Best I Ever Had. It's close to the best one yet. Well, T. Payne's a Yeti, Jack. Now, Bessies, this was such a big deal about Beyonce that Levi's bump their 2024 earnings outlook, partly thanks to this Beyonce bump. By the way, it was Drake, not T-Pain, but T-Pain is a Yeti, and I think Drake is too. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Levi's? This is the year of the Baggy Daddy. Now, Yetis, Jack and I have already talked to about the death of slim fit. It's been happening since the pandemic. It's the comfort

economy. Loose fit jeans and stretchy athleisure are in. Okay, but here's the new surprise. How loose we're actually going, because Levi's growth is now coming from one particular type of gene, and that gene is baggy jeans. Levi's mentioned the word baggy six times on their earnings call, and baggie is their loosest fit. Yeah, their new CEO, Michelle Gass, literally said that baggie as a trend has taken hold. Women's baggy jeans sales are up 50% in the past year, and men's baggy of jeans are trending, too. Look, last year is all about the boyfriend gene. I don't wear jeans, but I hear it was all about the boyfriend gene. This year, it's the dad gene. The dad gene, the baggy dad gene. Yep, Levi's has a pair of women's jeans even called the baggy daddy. So,

yeties, you know what to do. Call up your mom and ask her to whip out those jinkos from seventh grade in the storage bin. Because Levi's is the proxy for the entire denim industry. And Levi's is telling us that loose fit has been replaced by the Baggy Daddy. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for the real Friday? The curb your enthusiasm finale is this Sunday. We hope it's better than the Seinfeld finale. But the biggest creative lesson from Larry's success, constraints breed creativity. And you don't have to apologize for an apology. For our second story, Apple's next big thing is reportedly robots for the home.

Because Apple's got three lifeboats right now. One of them sank. car. One of them just launched. The Applevision Pro headset. And the third is what they're secretly building right now. I-R-2D2. And finally, Levi's stock jumped yesterday, partly thanks to the Beyonce bomb. She named a song, Levi's jeans. Levi's earnings also tell us that it's in the era of the Baggy Daddy Daddy. We're living in our Baggy Daddy era. That is, this pot's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen was in China. China yesterday looking for some common ground, but she was also defending the United States. She told China to stop dumping cheap solar panels and cheap electric cars into the world market.

Apparently she told President Xi that unfair trade practices are frankly kind of just annoying. Second, Ford Motor Company just announced they're delaying all of their new electric SUV and new pickup truck plans to focus on hybrid cars instead. By 2030, Ford wants a hybrid version of every single one of the cars that they make. Like we said, hybrid cars, they become the training wheels of electric cars. And finally, Jack, what time is it exactly on the moon? No one knows, Nick. No one knows. So the moon is about to get its very own time zone.

Moon time. This is a real story. For commerce to ever happen on the moon, which we hope it does someday, there must be an agreed-upon standard time up there. So the White House has asked NASA to come up with a time zone on the moon, MST, moon standard time. And also figure out how that relates to, like, New York time and, I don't know. It's pretty funky if you think about it. Because right now it's like, what time is it? It's like, I don't know, it's dark side of the moon.

Like, is it dependent on the sun or is it dependent on the Earth, lunar time? I think it's dependent on Pluto. That's definitely incorrect. Now, time for the best fact. Yeah, this one's sent in by Christopher Pike, who's currently on a ship. Today is April 5th. April 5th is known every year as First Contact Day, which is a celebration among the Star Trek community. Well, more specifically, this day is when the Vulcans first made

their presence known to humans in the TV show Star Trek. In the movie Star Trek First Contact. It's also informally recognized as the date when humans are expected to meet aliens in real life. Our first contact with aliens is expected to happen on April 5th, 263. And there's a very specific reason for that date. And what is it, Jack? The screenwriter of Star Trek chose the day of his son's birth. April 5th.

Yeties, you are looking fantastic today. Jack, are you getting ready for the solar eclipse? You got like two days to prepare up there, man. Man. Actually, I didn't get the goggles. I got a monocle. Like, they don't cover both of my eyes. It's like the planter peanut, you know? It just covers one of my eyes. I feel like you should upgrade to the goggles, Jack. I'm not an optometrist, but I feel like you need both. You can't find them anywhere in it. They're sold out. Can you get two monocles? I actually have two monocles. Okay, well, there you go. We're going to round up. Get some duct tape and put it together.

But Yeties, there are a couple things that you got to do this weekend. First, you got to celebrate the wins. And then second, we'd love if you'd vote for us for the best business podcast. to help win this Webby. There's a link in the episode description. Vote right now. So grab some baggy daddy jeans, celebrate some wins, and then vote for the best one yet. Nick and I, we'll see you on that. Can't wait.

And before we go, congratulations to a couple of Yetis, Rick and Aaron Kohut, who are celebrating a 25th anniversary in lovely Columbus, Ohio. According to Aaron, this show keeps her fresh with her high school students. That's a compliment that we'll take. And congratulations to Trevor Pearson, celebrating the birth of his first baby girl in Nashville, Tennessee. Your buddy Colin says you're going to be the best girl to add out there. Happy birthday to Grace Lee, who's turning 13 today.

And Zato O'Toole, the puppy, is turning 13 years old in Moresville, North Carolina. Who's a good boy? And Segundo Guerrero is living in Seattle, but has a big spring break to Paris with the whole family. Enjoy those arrondis months. Happy birthday to Elise Villarreal and her husband, who have a double birthday, and they're celebrating in Napa, California. Boy, Kent Rios, turning one year old in Sherwood, Oregon, the best mini golden doodle yet. Happy 36th birthday to Patrick Tannis from Chicago celebrating in Charleston.

But doing logistics nonetheless. This is Jack. I own stock of Amazon and Levi's, and Nick and I both own stock of Apple and Spotify.