Creativity Wasted

A few ideas (both silly and serious) to improve gun safety and gun control, such as annual gun safety tests, gun insurance, a mass shooting gun tax, drunk violence propensity tests, etc. Also: the risk of annual gun safety tests making people better and therefore deadlier when shooting; the weird technicalities of gun insurance, such as trying to get shot on purpose for insurance fraud or preferri...

Idea: Gum that tastes like meat or a savory, meat-based meal, to help you lose weight, eat foods you'd otherwise be allergic to, etc. Also: brainstorming silly flavors and product names, such as "Gum-A-Petit" and "Bluekake"; combining tomato gum, lettuce gum, and beef gum to create a burger taste; the risk of blowing bubbles with your meat gum and getting attacked by a dog or a...

Idea: An app where you mark your location if you observe (or drive by) a local incident (such as a police incident), and later, when public info is released, it sends you a notification telling you what happened. Also: Tom's anecdote of driving past an unconscious lady laying on the sidewalk shortly before the ambulance arrived and then never finding out what happened; the absurdity of having so m...

Idea: An AI-based parrot that would observe communications between a salesperson or customer service person and a client and help "grease the wheels" of communication. For example, by repeating ("parroting") what the salesperson just said but with less jargon, by being a language/culture translator, by interjecting humor if the interaction is becoming toxic, by interpreting bod...

Idea: A standup comedy festival where the performers do one normal standup performance and also participate in at least one comedic improv/game/activity which showcases another one of their other talents, such as art, singing, magic, etc. Also: the talent shows wouldn't be competitions, and would often pair together comics with complimentary talents, such as singers, musicians, and dancers, who wo...

Idea: An app used mostly by teachers (but also other types of public speakers, business presenters, etc.) that observes and understands the flow of information to people and provides (displays on smart glasses, speaks into an earpiece, etc.) on-the fly support for that information flow, such as highlighting/correcting errors, providing links to more detailed info or explanations, etc. Also: it wou...

Idea: A tent-like semi-portable structure for a suburban yard in which you can sunbathe (especially in the winter) and where you can take your indoor cat who wants to go outside. Also: it'd be designed so you can get into the tent and close it while holding the cat against your chest with one hand and without bending over (because if you bent over the cat could squirm away); it would use thick fab...

Idea: Futurama-style "s__cide booths" that don't actually kill you but instead use AI and brain scans to convince you NOT to commit s__cide. Also: it could generate a "It's A Wonderful Life" or "A Christmas Carol" movie on-the-fly which is customized to your life; if it made people feel too good they'd want to stay in the booth forever; you could inject a timed poison...

Idea: A TV show where ordinary people build obstacle courses in their yards that delivery people have to traverse to get to the porch to drop off the package. If the delivery person succeeds (they don't drop it or give up or exceed a time limit), they get a reward (such as getting to pee in the house instead of into a bottle in the delivery truck), and if they fail, the homeowner who created the o...

Idea: Cans of food sold in stores labeled as "Stoner's Choice chili" but actually containing corn or beef stew or other food (but not chili). Also: using trickery to prank your friends and/or profit off of selling unwanted or nearly expired cans; mixing all of the cans of other foods so that it becomes chili; using "Stoner's Choice" as a brand for all sorts of intentionally mis...

Idea: A cheesy sci-fi B-movie where Area 51, which is located on a dried lake bed, is hit by a flash flood, and the military and an imprisoned alien have to scramble to escape. Also: brainstorming a plot involving aliens, secret military aircraft, weather manipulation, etc.; incorporating aspects of other movies/TV, like Signs, American Dad, The Shape of Water, Space Force (on Netflix), 1980's dir...

Idea: A monthly subscription service for ordering and paying for escorts. Also: bundling the service (Nutflix? Paramounting? Ho-lu?) with Disney+, having a 7-day free trial, and having an "ad tier" which interrupts you in the middle of the act with commercials; the desire for safety when ordering escorts and Kristopher's story about being shaken down; capping the max appointments per mon...

Idea: An Anthony Bourdain-style travel show where the host goes to grand openings of dollar stores, reviews them, explores the nearby community, and interviews interesting customers. Also: the show could include segments such as taking different types of people (nuns, comedians, etc.) to dollar stores for the first time, comparing generic dollar store brands to name-brand equivalents, taste-testin...

Idea (dark humor): A short-term puppy rental service where the puppy is put down and made into soap (or other things) if the renter doesn't pay a large amount of money to buy it when the rental period expires. Also: calculating how much emotional attachment the renter has with the puppy to determine how much money you can squeeze out of them to save their puppy's life; renting a new puppy each sea...

Idea: Vendors that roam around the stands at a summer baseball game (or at other summer events) carrying a fan and a large battery (to power the fan) in a backpack that charge people money to cool them down. Also: brainstorming names for the business (Mr. Blow, etc.), the vendors ("Joe Blow", etc.), and things the vendors say ("get your fan jobs here..."); the risk of accidenta...

Idea: To make a career out of being a paid guest on various podcasts. Also: faking expertise or ailments (or whatever else) to be a relevant guest for a themed podcast (such as Mormonism, alien abduction, or 18th-century cookery) with or without the podcast hosts knowing that you're a fake; creating a podcast feed out of links to your appearances on other podcasts; becoming a charismatic "cha...

Idea: An app to translate/interpret the grammar, slang, and acronyms of text (primarily social media) based on your age. Also: writing conventions that other generations find annoying such as "boomer ellipses" and excessive "LOLs" or "bruhs"; translating a text message from an old person to a zoomer and having it say "no cap" might not be necessary for under...

Idea: A business that you can hire to perform a prank on someone (like in the Norm MacDonald movie "Dirty Work"). Also: prank examples such as fish in cars, "Zoombombing", faking charitable donations on someone's behalf, tricking a public figure like in the movie "Borat", etc.; brainstorming a business name, such as "Leach's Pranks For Hire: For People Who Suck&q...

Idea: Trophies to be given as a gag gift to commemorate humiliating (but not traumatic) incidents (falls, saying dumb things, coming in last place in fantasy football, etc.) for which you would get amusement out of being reminded of years later. Also: the risk of them being given out after traumatically humiliating events and pouring salt on the wound; pre-ordering the trophy before a contest so i...

Idea: A screen that shows a thermal/infrared image of your food so you can see how hot it is and whether it's still too cold (or it's too hot). Also: using microwaves, ovens, and fridges to survive a nuclear explosion; maybe the microwave could use the thermal/infrared info to redirect the microwave "rays" toward the cold spots on the food; maybe it could be a phone app or a gadget that...

Idea: To have an aviation museum in St. Louis (called "Aviation Under The Arches") to showcase the aviation history of the city, such as Charles Lindbergh and WWII fighter planes. Also: they could steal Akron's aviation museum; being too fat to ride in airplane simulators; being afraid of heights in some scenarios (such as skydiving) but not being afraid to ride in an airplane; an odd mu...

Idea: A rental service for large and/or expensive crafting equipment, such as rug tufting machines, 3D printers, and metalworking machines. Also: dreaming for years about rug tufting or doing out-of-reach crafting projects; joking about rug tufting risks, possible injuries, and whether training and insurance ("Tuft Break") are required; tufting a soft comfy rug onto a T-shirt or the butt...

Idea: A standup comedy competition where a pair of dice (one containing a comedy style and the other containing a broad topic) is rolled and then two comics compete to improvise/recall the better joke within those constraints. Also: testing out the game; discussing the comedy styles (such as self-deprecation and observational) and topics (such as "dad joke" and anatomy); discussing the &...

Idea: A game show where women in an abortion clinic waiting to get an abortion complete in a series of games, such as silly carnival-style games or American Gladiator/Wipeout-style events (because if they get smacked in the belly and lose the baby, they were going to abort it anyway). Also: they could compete for a free abortion or better painkillers or risk having to carry the baby to term if the...

Idea: A comedy contest where the contestants comedically brag about themselves instead of roasting an opponent. Also: avoiding downsides of roasts, including deeply hurting someone's feelings and having to do research about an opponent before the show; the two rules of "smug of war"; a concept of a "smug of war" where topics to brag about are provided to the contestants before...