Oct 20, 2026 · 2h 43m
Jay Leno connects car culture to technology’s next act
Calm Down Markets, Trevor Milton Has A Plane to Sell You, Jay Leno Live in The Ultradome | Alex Niehaus, Alex Blania, Nate Rempe, Connor Sweeney, Jay Leno
The episode tests how automation, AI, and changing consumer habits are reshaping industries while craftsmanship and human judgment retain value.
- 1Jay Leno argues that autonomous vehicles may become practical appliances while enthusiast cars preserve driving as a craft.
- 2Anthropic’s prospective IPO exposes the financial and infrastructure pressures behind frontier AI development.
- 3Interviews with Helicon, World, Omaha Steaks, and Baba show startups applying technology to manufacturing, identity, commerce, and healthcare.
Don't miss
Jay Leno explains why autonomous vehicles may become everyday appliances while enthusiast cars preserve driving, craftsmanship, and mechanical emotion.
The brief
The live show opens with nearly $1 million in stolen PSA-graded trading cards, then turns to Trevor Milton’s attempted Cyberjet revival and the difficulty of restarting a long-delayed aircraft program.
Airline manners, United’s pricing strategy, and Mercedes’ electric AMG SUV become tests of how convenience, luxury, and performance are being repriced for modern consumers.
Interviews with Helicon, World, Omaha Steaks, and Baba trace technology’s practical edge: faster composite manufacturing, proof of humanity, holiday commerce, and coordinated healthcare.
Anthropic’s draft IPO disclosures introduce the harder side of AI’s boom, including losses, computing constraints, model-liability risks, and a valuation that remains far from settled.
Jay Leno’s extended conversation ties the episode together: autonomous cars may become appliances, but mechanical skill, live performance, and disciplined work can preserve technology’s human appeal.
What was said on this episode
40 statements · 21 positive · 14 negative · 5 neutral
Every valuable trading-card shipment should be fully insured.
“Every shipment should be fully insured.”
Listen at 4:50
PSA should use Brinks for valuable card shipments.
“They should be using Brinks.”
Listen at 9:34
Starting a plane company typically takes one or two decades.
“It just takes a decade to start a plane company, often two decades.”
Listen at 10:29
Cyberjet has held FAA certification for a long time.
“Cyberjet, I believe, has been FAA certified for quite a long time.”
Listen at 10:37
An FAA-certified plane could be manufactured and sold without reinventing it.
“you could just go and say like, hey, we have this plane that's already FAA certified and we're going to make them and we're going to sell them.”
Listen at 14:41
High private-aviation demand could support reviving an older aircraft design.
“I think the demand is really high for private aviation, and I think that it's not that unreasonable to revive another architecture, even if it's a little outdated.”
Listen at 24:14
Cyberjet could sell at a reasonable price amid elevated prices for competing aircraft.
“sell it at a reasonable price while there's, you know, increased demand for the other planes that are going to be trading above market.”
Listen at 24:26
Mercedes’ AMG GT 63 electric SUV will fail commercially.
“Absolutely bomb.”
Listen at 43:07
The Mercedes electric SUV will not compete effectively in its class.
“I just don't think it can stand up against other products in the class.”
Listen at 43:30
Electric SUVs make sense, but this Mercedes model will be badly disadvantaged without autonomy.
“Electric SUVs make sense, but this car cannot drive itself, and it's just going to get destroyed.”
Listen at 44:16
Nate Rempe says unconscious reactions outperform conscious thought in goalkeeping.
“my conscious brain is really bad at playing goalie. So I have to let my unconscious brain do the work because it reacts a lot quicker.”
Listen at 46:27
Industrialized composite manufacturing is necessary to scale drones to millions of units.
“this is the only way you do it.”
Listen at 54:57
Building more high-rise housing would increase housing supply across price levels.
“if you build a bunch of those you're gonna have a lot more housing at all scale”
Listen at 1:40:50
All new housing construction alleviates housing-market pressure.
“I'm a firm believer that all building alleviates some pressure”
Listen at 1:41:16
U.S. pending home sales reached an all-time low in September.
“Pending home sales in the U.S. fell to an all-time low in September.”
Listen at 1:42:38
Jay Leno considers the Corvette ZR1X the greatest performance bargain ever.
“That is the greatest performance bargain in the history.”
Listen at 1:55:32
Jay Leno believes good automotive products sell without advertising.
“If a product's any good, it sells itself.”
Listen at 1:57:09
Jay Leno predicts supercars will become weekend recreational vehicles.
“I think supercars will be like snowmobiles or any other recreational vehicle. You take it out on weekends.”
Listen at 1:59:58
Jay Leno predicts people will continue seeking emotionally engaging mechanical cars.
“And I think people will seek out the car.”
Listen at 2:00:24
Porsche is moving toward Ferrari’s strategy of selling fewer cars to wealthier buyers.
“I want to be like Ferrari, sell fewer cars to more money to fewer people.”
Listen at 2:01:22
Jay Leno says Tesla vehicles are especially vulnerable to pothole-related tire blowouts.
“Tesla especially is susceptible to this. I've had five blowouts.”
Listen at 2:03:21
Jay Leno evaluates all Porsche cars as enjoyable to drive.
“All Porsches are fun to drive.”
Listen at 2:04:03
Jay Leno predicts continued demand for high-end complex mechanical cars.
“So now I think you'll have your high-end, extremely complicated mechanical cars, which is what people like, the more valves, the more pistons, more whatever.”
Listen at 2:04:59
Jay Leno predicts persistent difficulty earning profits in the car business.
“But I think the car business is, it'll be hard to make money because somebody will always have something cheaper.”
Listen at 2:05:52
Jay Leno predicts Tesla will transition toward driverless vehicles and space technology.
“So I think that's their transition into driverless and outer space, I think.”
Listen at 2:06:00
Jay Leno says removing politics increased his ticket sales by 20–30%.
“Ticket sales are up 20%, 30% because people just, it's like when I go see James Taylor, I don't want to hear a lecture.”
Listen at 2:07:09
Jay Leno assesses the traditional late-night television format as obsolete and podcasting as its successor.
“I mean, as a model, that format is dead. I mean, podcasting is the new thing.”
Listen at 2:07:44
Producing the Hot Wheels show in Ireland cost less than filming in Leno’s garage.
“It was cheaper to send 175 people to Ireland, put them up for two months, pay them over diem than it was to shoot in my garage for two days.”
Listen at 2:09:39
Jay Leno assesses automotive performance progress as extremely rapid.
“I mean progress moves. I mean, it moves tremendously fast.”
Listen at 2:16:53
Jay Leno claims works exceeding 300 words can qualify as books.
“If you have more than 300 words, it can be a book.”
Listen at 2:19:25
Jay Leno assesses successful comedy as relatively easy and highly lucrative.
“Comedy is, if you can do it, it's pretty easy and it pays very well.”
Listen at 2:23:23
Jay Leno is scheduled to perform 200 comedy dates this year.
“Well, I'm doing 200 dates this year.”
Listen at 2:25:01
Jay Leno claims comedians cannot effectively return after stopping performance.
“And see, the thing about comedy is when you stop, you can never go back.”
Listen at 2:30:12
Jay Leno claims humor remains effective across historical periods.
“Funny is funny.”
Listen at 2:32:05
Jay Leno claims comedy must adapt to changing social norms.
“Comedy has got to change with the times.”
Listen at 2:33:16
Jay Leno says fragmented streaming audiences have eliminated a central mass audience.
“Because nobody, it's so fractured now. Everybody's watching streaming. And we all just, there's no central.”
Listen at 2:36:30
Jay Leno says an 1866 steam engine displaced 125 factory workers.
“And it put 125 people out of work at a factory”
Listen at 2:37:19
Jay Leno says library decline reduces information access equality for poor people.
“the disappearance of libraries. And that's really sad because that now you have poor people who could not afford a computer or whatever could go to a library and they were now equal to everybody else because they had access to the same information.”
Listen at 2:40:08
Jay Leno claims technological progress cannot be stopped.
“You know, you can't stop progress.”
Listen at 2:41:20
Jay Leno attributes America’s current technological position to the absence of tariffs.
“This is why we got to where we are now because we didn't have tariffs.”
Listen at 2:41:49
Statements are attributed to the speaker as said on the episode and reflect their view at the time, not PodLume's. They are not advice.
Weekly email
State of the Pod, every Monday
The week's most-discussed names and stories from podcasts, with the moments behind them. Free, five minutes, unsubscribe in one click.