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Hank's 'million dollar idea' phone calls to John (2013)

running joke · status: running joke (last seen 2025) · last event: callback (2025-12-09)

In August 2013 John said Hank had phoned him about once a week for six years announcing a million dollar idea, and pitched his own, a crying phone-baby app. John kept returning to the joke through 2025, counting some 7,000 such calls and quipping that most of Hank's million dollar ideas are single-digit dollar ideas.

Told alongside: Hank's habit of constantly starting new things, tracked by the 'days since Hank Green last started a new thing' website (2021) · SciShow: launch of Hank's science channel (2011) · Hank's 2D Glasses for watching 3D movies in 2D (2011)

About: Project for Awesome, VidCon, DFTBA Records, 2D Glasses, HankGames

date event what video
2013-08-06 first use John explains that Hank has phoned him about once a week for six years with 'I have a million dollar idea', then pitches his own first million dollar idea: a crying phone-baby app. (playful, hedged) Million Dollar Ideas 00:01:02
2019-08-20 callback A texted 'million dollar idea' is offered free to the world: a novel made of a single 52,000-word YouTube comment. (playful) Hank and John's Smooth Airport Reunion 00:02:04
2021-11-09 callback John says Hank has an idea every 20 seconds and has called some 7,000 times saying he has a million-dollar idea; a million dollars per idea would give John about $7 billion, nearly 3% of Jeff Bezos’ wealth. (playful) Hank Green's Million Dollar Ideas 00:00:00
2021-12-21 callback John says Hank has so many ideas that a website tracks days since he started a thing, and in a recent video John said Hank has an idea every 20 minutes and John's job is to say when they are bad. NOW I AM THE SCIENCE ONE… 00:01:27
2022-10-14 callback Million Dollar Idea, featuring Surprisingly Edible and the Awesome Club Club, is a NerdfArters prompt. The Surprise Revelation of NerdfArters 00:01:44
2025-03-11 callback John says that every seven to ten days for the last 20 years Hank has called him with an idea, inevitably a million-dollar idea. (playful) Hank Green's Brother 00:00:34
2025-03-28 callback The title asks whether Hank's charity white-noise plan is a million dollar idea. (playful) Is This a Million Dollar Idea? video title
2025-08-19 callback John recalls Hank calling to say he had made the app with a developer named Bria; John thought the pitch brilliant and loved the idea of buyable beans like a Hank Bean. The Problem with My Brother's Hit New App 00:02:11
2025-12-09 callback John jokes that most of Hank's million dollar ideas are in fact single digit dollar ideas. (playful) Hank Green, from A to Z 00:03:53

What is said about it

16 statements, by date (the events above are the turns of the thread; these are the details).

  • 2013-08-06 · Million Dollar Ideas — John: Up with Henry at 2:30 a.m., John had his very first million dollar idea. — 00:00:33
  • 2013-08-06 · Million Dollar Ideas — John explains that for about six years Hank has phoned him roughly once a week opening with 'I have a million dollar idea'. (hedged) — 00:01:02
  • 2013-08-06 · Million Dollar Ideas — John: some of Hank's ideas were excellent (Project for Awesome, VidCon, DFTBA Records), some seemed terrible but turned out great (2D glasses), and most are actually terrible ('Hank Games times two'). (playful) — 00:01:02
  • 2013-08-06 · Million Dollar Ideas — John notes that none of Hank's million dollar ideas has ever made him a million dollars; most are about charity. (playful) — 00:01:31
  • 2013-08-06 · Million Dollar Ideas — John pitches his 'million dollar idea': a phone-baby app that cries, must be soothed (feeding, pacifier, shushing), can't be muted and wakes every few hours for 12 weeks, a parody of newborn care. (playful) — 00:01:31
  • 2013-08-06 · Million Dollar Ideas — John admits his idea is not that good, even worse than Hank's. (playful) — 00:02:30
  • 2021-11-09 · Hank Green's Million Dollar Ideas — John says that with ideas in general, Hank's job is to be extremely enthusiastic and his own is to be extremely dubious. — 00:00:29
  • 2021-11-09 · Hank Green's Million Dollar Ideas — John says Hank has had many wonderful ideas, from VidCon to SciShow to Subbable, and helped make amazing things. — 00:00:29
  • 2021-11-09 · Hank Green's Million Dollar Ideas — John says Hank has also had terrible ideas, such as Surprisingly Edible, a store selling only things that don't look edible, and Pelifans, an Only Fans for pelicans. (playful) — 00:00:29
  • 2021-11-09 · Hank Green's Million Dollar Ideas — John says a Hank idea that survives his anxious, dubious filter is a great one, and he has approved almost all of Hank's best ideas, almost without exception. — 00:00:58
  • 2021-11-09 · Hank Green's Million Dollar Ideas — John says he was right that 2D glasses didn't make a million dollars but wrong otherwise: they were very successful and changed both brothers' lives, because Hank realized his ideas could become things. — 00:01:46
  • 2021-11-09 · Hank Green's Million Dollar Ideas — John says the Awesome Socks Club raised over $700,000 for charity in its first year. — 00:02:45
  • 2021-11-09 · Hank Green's Million Dollar Ideas — John hopes this is the year Hank proves him fully wrong and the club becomes a literal million-dollar idea, because it does a lot of good. (hedged) — 00:03:21
  • 2022-10-14 · The Surprise Revelation of NerdfArters — Hank: Going deeper into the lore, Hank lists prompts French the Llama, Puppy-sized Elephant, Million Dollar Idea (Surprisingly Edible, the Awesome Club Club), and Pumpkins and Penguins. — 00:01:44
  • 2025-03-28 · Is This a Million Dollar Idea? — Hank concludes that making white-noise videos is a good business to be in, and wonders what it would be like to be in it for Partners In Health. — 00:00:23
  • 2025-03-28 · Is This a Million Dollar Idea? — announcement: Hank: If it works, Hank may look for other good sounds in the world and become a sound hunter for charity. (playful, hedged) — 00:00:42