The Bizarre Saga of the Red Solo Cup

Ridiculous History

iHeartPodcasts

History, Society & Culture

4.2 • 4.7K Ratings

🗓️ 7 May 2026

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

If you're from the United States, you'll instantly recognize the iconic red Solo cup. It's ubquitous at picnics, parties, sports events -- and often seen in TV shows and movies, so much so that the rest of the world covets these cups as "American souvenirs". So how on Earth did this humble cup rise from a public health product to an international symbol of all things American? In today's episode, Ben, Noel, and Max find out.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Ridiculous History is a production of IHeart Radio. Welcome back to the show, fellow ridiculous historians.
0:29.7	Thank you, as always so much for tuning in.
0:33.2	Let's hear it for our super producer, Mr. Max, uh, party America premium Williams.
0:42.2	There he is.
0:43.2	I don't understand.
0:44.3	I was trying to be a retort, but I couldn't get a retort.
0:47.2	I can't wrap my head around that one.
0:50.1	I'm going to retort, Max says.
0:53.1	That's none other than the legendary Mr. Noel Brown.
0:57.3	In his own mind, yes.
0:58.5	Yes.
0:59.1	They call me Ben Bullen.
1:01.3	You're legendary in my mind as well.
1:04.0	No, same.
1:04.6	And my heart.
1:05.5	Oh, my gosh.
1:06.8	Hey, guys, when's the last time you had a solo cup?
1:11.7	You mean like a cup by myself?
1:14.3	Ah, that's a great question, Noel.
1:16.8	But we're specifically talking about those plastic red cups with the weird indentations.
1:22.5	You know, it's funny, Ben, it's been a minute.
1:24.5	I don't really see those pop up as much, but you know what I always think of?
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

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

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