Making Myself Talk About A Red Solo Cup for 5 Hours

Five Hours Talking About a Red Solo Cup

Charlie Horowitz challenges himself to talk about a red Solo Cup for five hours, inspired by someone who spent an hour discussing a potato. He films from his parked car, where a light flickers, his computer is precariously positioned, and he has no water to help him through the marathon.

He starts with cup trivia, discussing possible drink-measuring lines, the cup’s party reputation, and its ridged design. He counts the cup’s molded “canoe” shapes and tests how far he can fit his hand inside.

As his thoughts wander, Charlie debates whether red cups are uniquely American, complains about drinking culture, and suggests replacing parties with activities like mini golf or making music. He repeatedly turns to Toby Keith’s “Red Solo Cup,” singing along, analyzing the lyrics, and using the song as a lifeline whenever he runs out of things to say.

Other highlights include ranking Solo Cup colors, inventing a cup-shaped party hat with a shoelace, tossing objects toward the cup, and using its broken pieces as props for increasingly strange songs and improvised bits.

As the challenge wears on, the cup becomes less a drinking vessel than a symbol of Charlie’s dwindling energy. He snacks on rice cakes, revisits increasingly repetitive tangents, and jokes that the challenge is turning his brain to mush. He also discovers that the cup is actually a Kirkland cup, not a Solo-branded one—a significant technicality for a video devoted to red Solo Cups.

After five hours of rambling, singing, and joking about world records, Charlie reaches the finish line and declines to continue for a sixth hour.

People and Music

• Personality featured: Charlie Horowitz
• Also heard: Toby Keith, through “Red Solo Cup”