1.5 Million Balloons Cause Chaos in Cleveland with Luke Burbank and Andrew Walsh | 22

The Big Flop

Wondery

Society & Culture, Comedy, Business

4.6 • 884 Ratings

🗓️ 19 February 2024

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Back in 1986, Cleveland was trying to make a new name for itself with a huge, record-breaking balloon launch. The goal was to increase the population, raise money for the community, and make Clevelanders proud. By the end, fingers would be blistered, horses traumatized, a search and rescue mission thwarted, and the good people of Cleveland would be facing an environmental disaster of their own making...yet again.

Podcast hosts Luke Burbank and Andrew Walsh (Too Beautiful to Live) join Misha to string together the details of Cleveland's failed Balloonfest of '86.

Listen to The Big Flop on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen early and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/the-big-flop/ now.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to the Big Flop early and ad-free.
0:05.3	Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
0:19.0	It's September of 1986, and the people of Cleveland, Ohio are sick and tired of their home being the butt of every joke.
0:29.1	Why do ducks fly upside down in Cleveland?
0:31.8	The haters ask.
0:33.2	Because there's nothing for them to dump on, they snicker.
0:37.3	But this is Cleveland's moment to turn it all around.
0:41.7	They're about to pull a huge, colorful stunt, a glorious, simultaneous balloon launch with two million helium balloons.
0:51.5	The city is about to break a world record and, more importantly, show everyone that they can achieve great things.
0:59.4	Suddenly, there's a problem. A storm is coming. Not a metaphorical storm, but a real freaking storm.
1:07.4	Rain washes over everything. Micro-tornadoes descend and start popping thousands of balloons.
1:14.2	The structure, holding everything together, starts breaking down.
1:18.7	Once again, Cleveland's hopes blow up in its face.
1:33.3	Balloons, one and a half million of them caused quite a stir in Cleveland yesterday. How much stress is on that net?
1:35.3	Oh, probably equal the amount of stress it's on my shoulders right now.
1:38.3	You ready?
1:39.3	Ready.
1:40.3	He did it!
1:41.3	It's completely covering the terminal tower.
1:43.3	Ladies and gentlemen, there is no mistake on the lake anymore. Cleveland!
1:48.0	We are on a sinking ship.
1:54.1	From Wondery and at-will media, this is The Big Flop, where we chronicle the greatest
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Wondery, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Wondery and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.