An audience with Mark Cuban, Lori Greiner and Kevin O’Leary usually entails high-pressure negotiation between slick talking entrepreneurs with great ambitions and big valuations, and eagle-eyed investors ready to roast the fledgling upstarts alive at the slightest miscalculation. Behind the scenes, there’s usually a long uncomfortable pause before the entrepreneurs even begin their pitch.But over the years, it’s the not-so-serious side of Shark Tank that has made the show a fun watch for viewers of different persuasions. A small injection of humor every now and then has allowed ABC to transform what was once the water cooler conversation of finance nerds and neck-tied venture capitalists into a true cult classic. So, while more serious products made it to the bestselling list, one outrageous pitch will stay in the minds of Shark Tank fans forever.
A Parody Earned 'Shark Tank' Attention
After six seasons, art is bound to imitate life. So, it didn’t come as a surprise when comedy shows jumped on the Shark Tank bandwagon. NBC’s Saturday Night Live and Jimmy Kimmel Live! both made their own parodies out of America’s most-watched financial series.
SNL’s version was more of a spinoff and had hilarious lookalikes of four of the show’s original sharks. It even featured A-list comedians such as Chris Rock and Kevin Hart. The former took part in SNL’s Shark Tank spoof, dressed as a radical jihadist pitching the terrorist group ISIS as a business – asking for $400 million in exchange for 1%. The parody pitch wasn’t so well received by real-life Daymond John and a few fans shared his sentiments.
While Jimmy Kimmel has had his fair share of controversial sketches, his parody took a less catalyzing route. Shark Tank has made many millionaires out of the entrepreneurs it’s featured. And in Kimmel’s own words, “Every opportunity is a gift.” The talk show host just couldn’t fight the urge to grab a golden opportunity by the pants, and took to the Tank to showcase a clever invention.
Jimmy Kimmel's Crazy Business Idea Came From A Petting Zoo
Mark Cuban, Kevin O’Leary, Lori Greiner, Barbara Corcoran and Robert Herjavec were the five sharks present. Like most entrepreneurs, the eponymous host of Jimmy Kimmel Live! knows that a good pitch always starts with a backstory to draw the listener in. So, he begins by telling the sharks about the time he went to a petting zoo.
“I was disturbed by what I saw. Every animal there was naked,” he says. “My family was uncomfortable and, most importantly, I was uncomfortable – and I’m sure the animals were uncomfortable too.”
Jimmy then introduces the product with a visual aid that floors the panel. The iconic double doors of the Tank open and, lo and behold, a horse is walked in… wearing suit pants and a belt. Yes, that wasn’t a typo. Jimmy Kimmel really brought a horse in trousers to Shark Tank, and the Sharks lost it.
The first glimpse of the clothed horse left Robert wheezing for air and Kevin O’Leary on the brink of tears. But wait; there’s more! The product also came in cargo shorts and Spanx versions. If the hilarious demo wasn’t enough, Jimmy followed up with the potential impact his product would have if granted an investment.
“As you can see from this graph,” he says, while pointing to a chart, “this is the number of horses that currently wear pants; and this is the percentage of those that don’t.”
Did Robert Herjavec Really Invest $5 Million In Horse Pants?
Funny enough, the Shark Tank panel actually indulged the idea, assessing the viability of Jimmy Kimmel’s business. Mark Cuban probed on how much Jimmy had put into the business and Jimmy replied, “I invested $40,000 in materials for my mother who currently sews the horse pants.”
Understandably, Mark went out shortly thereafter, but Robert was still in. The Croatian business mogul said he was intrigued by the invention and offered Kimmel 10 times more than what he asked for; $5 million for 10% equity instead of the initial $500k.
Surely, there’s no way a shrewd investor like Robert Herjavec could take such a product seriously, could he? According to ABC, the supposed deal fell through when the comedian requested the $5 million be transferred to him in cash.
How Did Jimmy Kimmel Get On 'Shark Tank' In The First Place?
As fans have probably guessed, Jimmy Kimmel’s appearance was mainly a skit for his show Jimmy Kimmel Live!. Shark Tank and JKL are both owned by ABC and filmed on the same premises. So, it wasn’t all that difficult inserting a funny sketch after the real negotiations. It was not the last time viewers would see Jimmy Kimmel in the Tank, as he later appeared in season 7 to pitch another hilarious invention, the ‘Kid Kone’ – a traffic cone that kids can wear on their heads.
Despite the folly of marketing pants for horses, unlike SNL, Jimmy Kimmel got some publicity points for his appearance on Shark Tank. Forbes actually hailed the spoof for poking fun at some of the tropes and clichés that abound in venture capital pitches in a tasteful albeit ridiculous way.