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Bonus Pod: Talking Up for Auction with Chris Hardwick
385 Plays1 year ago
Oh, you thought we were done talking about "Up For Auction?" Joining us on this special bonus edition of Adventures in Collecting is comedian, actor, and host of Nacelle's "Up For Auction" is none other than Chris Hardwick!
Follow Nacelle and Chris on Instagram @toysnacelle and @hardwick
Catch all episodes of "Up For Auction" streaming NOW only on the CW
Save 20% on Liquid I.V. by using our offer code at liquid-iv.com
Follow us @aic_podcast on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube
Intro and other voices by Joe Azzari
https://www.instagram.com/voicesbyjoe/
Theme Music is "Game Boy Horror" by the Zombie Dandies
Proudly part of the Non-Productive Network
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Transcript
Introduction to Adventures in Collecting
00:00:03
Speaker
Are you ready, kids? Get your parents' permission, check your mailbox, and grab your shopping cart. It's time for the Adventures in Collecting podcast. I'm Eric. And I'm Dave. Welcome to Adventures in Collecting, where we talk toy news, culture, and halls, along with our journeys as collectors.
00:00:27
Speaker
Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the Adventures in Collecting podcast.
Interview with Chris Hardwick
00:00:33
Speaker
What you are about to watch or listen, depending on
00:00:38
Speaker
where you're enjoying this from is Dave's conversation with Chris Hardwick. So comedian, TV personality, Chris is hosting the latest show from our friends at The Nistell Company up for auction, which is available now streaming exclusively on The CW.
00:01:01
Speaker
But Dave got a couple minutes with Chris as he was making his rounds in the press junket for Up For Auction to talk about the show, to talk about collecting, and to talk about some of Chris's passions. So I'm going to shut up now. I'm going to kick it over to Dave and enjoy this chat with Chris Hardwick and definitely make sure
00:01:25
Speaker
especially if you're a Disney fan, you check out Up For Auction, available streaming now on The CW. Dave, take it away, man.
Chris and Lydia's Collecting Passion
00:01:37
Speaker
Hey, Chris, how are you? I am very well. I'm very excited to talk about collecting. I am very happy that there's a show about it that we can talk about.
00:01:49
Speaker
Yeah, totally. So, great segue into the first question. As we are a show about collecting, what are you currently collecting? What do you collect?
00:01:59
Speaker
So my wife and I are both collectors of stuff. My wife Lydia collects horror movie prompts. So she has some original gremlins that she got from a Rick Baker auction. She has like a werewolf head that she got from, that was from the howling. She's got some Chucky stuff. She's got, I got her a,
00:02:21
Speaker
I got her the one of the Necronomicon's from Ash versus Evil Dead As a present one year, you know, so she just loves loves loves loves horror movie props I collect I have a lot of stuff myself like comedy movie props so I have you know, I have one of the Enchantment under the sea posters from Back to the Future that was like in the hallway of the school I have I have
00:02:48
Speaker
Rick Moranis is dark helmet from space balls I have what else do I have I have I have
00:03:00
Speaker
half of one of the Amigos outfits from Three Amigos. So for me, it was like collecting comedy movie, like, you know, movies that I, because I've been, you know, comedy my whole life. And, and so for me, it was comedy, it was comedy movies stuff. I there are still things that I still feel like I need something from Ghostbusters, but but I haven't I haven't found that thing yet.
00:03:23
Speaker
Together my wife and i collect disney memorabilia so we have like our so that the show is really about something that i'm that i am already doing which is collecting disney stuff so we have like stuff you know animation cells from every major disney film you know like when they did hand hand painted animation cells and which is a long time ago they haven't done that for a long time
00:03:50
Speaker
And I have a couple of stretching portraits from the haunted mansion and so you know we just yeah, so we just have like Our collection is just like this really eclectic mix of horror and comedy and Disney stuff awesome So we've seen you host many game shows podcasts talk shows all sorts of stuff over the years What makes hosting up for auction different for you?
'Up For Auction' as a Docu-Series
00:04:16
Speaker
Well it it's
00:04:18
Speaker
a different type. It's not structured in the same way that like, you know, the wall or talking dead was where it's like, Oh, there's, you know, we're coming back from an act break. Here's an intro. You know, we have to get through, you know, this part of the show and then we're throwing to a clip and then we're doing this and we're coming back and we're going to commercial. It's not really structured in that way. It's like a, it's a docu-series format. So really it,
00:04:43
Speaker
It didn't even feel like I was going to work. It was just like, show up and then let's just roll the cameras. And then I get to look at all this amazing Disney stuff. The way the show is structured is it's very linear in terms of chronological. It starts with me going to the warehouse and seeing all the pieces that Mike Van Eaton, who Mike and Janine Van Eaton own the gallery that put on this amazing, they do all the,
00:05:09
Speaker
great Disney auctions and getting to see like getting to lift up tarps and getting to see pieces you know it was very you know archaeological in a way and just kind of following it's like okay they've got these pieces out of the tarps they'd clean them up they put them in this exhibit
00:05:27
Speaker
So for me it was just like it didn't really feel like hosting in a way because I was just kind of experiencing this thing that I would have wanted to experience even if there was no show. So it was it was just kind of like getting to getting a front row seat for this amazing process for something that I would have done anyway.
00:05:45
Speaker
Very cool. So you talked about having your own collection of Disney stuff and seeing all this really cool stuff in the archives and the warehouse. What was the most interesting thing that you learned or discovered about Disney Parks or even this Disney Parks memorabilia while making the show?
Disney History and Show Insights
00:06:03
Speaker
There are so many great things that I learned during the process of the show. One of the things that the company that I made the show with Nacelle is phenomenal at is just finding out these bits of information and doing these really great
00:06:22
Speaker
you know short bite-sized packages about them because they did the toys that made us the movies that made us they did behind the attraction for Disney Plus the other two shows were for Netflix and and so they really infused a lot of that in this and like I didn't know that dump that the movie Dumbo like was fast-tracked and really helped kind of save Disney Studios like it's I think we all think of like oh they bought their movies have always made a ton of money and
00:06:51
Speaker
They not all of them have like in the early days like some were incredibly expensive, you know, and and maybe didn't make as much as we would have assumed and and you know what I learned from the show was like the movie Dumbo really what was a hit and it really helped to continue the you know, like the Disney story.
00:07:11
Speaker
And there's a ton of stuff like that in there you know it's just all full of and also just getting behind the scenes information on how and why imagineers design things you know the way that they did and how they problem solving things that we think of as like.
00:07:28
Speaker
oh, these are these really great artistic choices and they are and they were artistic choices that also solved engineering problems, you know, so that's sort of the magic of the the Imagineers. And yeah, and our show just has a ton of that. I mean, I would literally watch the show if I had nothing to do with it. And now a word from our sponsors.
Ad Segment: Chubsy Wubsy Toys
00:07:53
Speaker
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00:08:09
Speaker
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Ad Segment: Liquid IV
00:08:35
Speaker
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00:09:00
Speaker
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00:09:22
Speaker
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00:09:50
Speaker
It's it's yeah, it's always mind-blowing what you see kind of when you see that behind-the-scenes stuff as opposed to like what you see from that You know park visitor side. What's something that really like kind of blew your mind when you saw it?
Preserving Collectibles for the Future
00:10:06
Speaker
Well, it it it was it was sort of the collective experience of seeing how well and
00:10:12
Speaker
Joel McGee, who put the collection who it was his collection that went up for auction of just how meticulously he restored everything. I mean, things that would have been that would have sold even if they were just kind of in a very raw state, you know, like things like electronics, you know, he, he had a control panel for the haunted mansion. There was like the sort of the map of the ride, this really like analog and had little lights on it that had the
00:10:38
Speaker
outline of the ride so that if it broke down they could kind of isolate like where the problem was and they push a button and it would you know ask people to stay in their seats and on a mansion fashion and he just had this this whole this podium built around it that was on a mansion themed and it had the little gargoyles on it and you push the buttons and it has the voices saying the things that the ride would say when the ride breaks down and so
00:11:02
Speaker
I was really, excuse me, I was just really blown away by the level of detail and the money that he must have spent without thinking like, oh, this is, he clearly wasn't thinking of it as a financial investment. Cause he, I even, even though I don't want to spoil anything about the auction, but let's just say a lot of money went into the refurbishment and the restoration and the storage of these pieces that I don't know if he could ever recoup, but he didn't care. He was just a fan.
00:11:30
Speaker
which is the best for me it's why i collect and whatever reason you have for collecting is totally fine. You know the community of collectors is a vast universe if it's just about investment for you there's nothing wrong with that for me it's really about story it's really about.
00:11:47
Speaker
the preservation of these special items and we are we don't feel we have ownership over them i think we're just caretaking them for a moment in time and then hopefully passing them on to people appreciate them and that's kind of what the auction machine does it it does get them into the hands of other people that hopefully will also preserve and appreciate them because there's not there are museums for these types of things.
00:12:10
Speaker
There should be. Of course, there should be. And if you saw the reactions that people had to the exhibit that Van Eaton's put up of the collection, they put it in this old bed bath and beyond, and then they built this Disney themed park walkthrough. And it is up to us, I think, as collectors to
00:12:32
Speaker
be the museums and to kind of, you know, it's like where Indiana Jones says, it belongs in a museum. Like, where are the museums? We have to preserve these things. We're the ones passing on. We're the ones keeping it going. Exactly. We're caretaking these things for this moment in time, you know, that hopefully will be special to someone else for their reasons. So yeah, so that to me was that whole experience was the most special part of the show.
00:12:56
Speaker
So speaking of the love for the things that we do, and, you know, we, of course, love Disney Parks as much as we love collecting things.
Chris's Favorite Disney Attractions
00:13:03
Speaker
What's your favorite attraction? Without a doubt, it's on a mansion. I mean, that ride, everything about that ride resonates with me. I love the Nightmare Before Christmas overlay they do that starts before Halloween and goes into the New Year. You know, I
00:13:20
Speaker
I think there are a lot of rides that I love and a lot of like, I'm such a nerd about Disney parks. It's like, oh, I love, you know, Radiator Springs at night because when you go to Cars Land at night, it's just like, it's great during the day, but at night, and especially during the holidays, they do like a really special thing.
00:13:40
Speaker
holiday lights thing but at night cars land to me is just so immersive and beautiful and mind-blowing and there's micky's and hidden things and you know like it's uh there's a it's it's just incredible now um i love the uh in credit coaster i think was a fantastic refurbishment of the old
00:14:00
Speaker
i'm the old rollercoaster old scream in california screaming that was there i think it's a i think it's a fantastic i love that they like pump cookie smells in when you're going over jack is up to think i love all of that i love they've done that i think pound for pound
00:14:16
Speaker
my kind of new favorite rides in the park. I think Runaway Railway is a fantastic ride in Toontown, but I think Rise of the Resistance is like a whole other level of ride that they have really knocked it out of the park. And they use this really great technology that we saw at Disney Paris a few years ago for the Ratatouille ride, that trackless car, which you're seeing more and more of. You see it in the Runaway Railway. But Rise of the Resistance is like five rides in one, and it is
00:14:44
Speaker
I got to take a friend of mine who was visiting from the UK who had never been to Disneyland and was like the biggest Star Wars person. And I was so excited knowing that he was going to get to experience Rise of the Resistance for the first time. And he couldn't speak for like five minutes after the ride. So I know that was you asked for one ride and I gave you a bunch of them, but I'm just going to give you like, this is kind of my like, you know, like these are all the reasons why these are all my different favorite rides. A lot of my favorites too. If you get out to Florida, you got to go on Tron.
00:15:11
Speaker
I cannot wait to go to Tron. And also, I love that Everest coaster that Walt Disney World has too. Like the coming to the edge and going backwards is fantastic. But the Tron ride, I am so, Tron to me is like, I have like original cells from Tron. I love Tron. That movie is everything to me and so far ahead of its time, technological. That I really can't wait to do the Tron ride.
00:15:39
Speaker
All right, Chris, I got one more for you and it's the last question we always ask everyone on our show. Sure. My brother usually has me go into my James Lipton voice, so I'm gonna do it. So the last question that we ask all of our guests, what is your favorite and or strangest piece in your collection? It can be one of each or it can be both.
Cherished Collectibles: Spaceballs Helmet
00:16:01
Speaker
And I'll say it can be anything.
00:16:04
Speaker
I mean, it's got to be the dark helmet from Spaceballs because I was able to get Rick and Mel to sign it. Oh, no way. Yeah. And so I'm friends with Mel's son, Max Brooks, who's a fantastic writer, wrote World War Z. And Max and I are the same age, so we have a lot of the same pop culture reference points. And so when the dark helmet was coming up for auction, I was like,
00:16:33
Speaker
oh, the dark helmet from Spaceball is up for auction. He goes, if you get it, I'll get my dad to sign it. And I was like, done. So I got that. And I also got Gene Wilder's credit plate from Young Frankenstein. So those credit plates were hand-painted, this hand-painted Gothic lettering on glass. And it's Gene Wilder and it's Young Frankenstein. And so it's framed
00:16:53
Speaker
And so I go, oh, do you think your dad would sign this too? And he was like, sure, bring it. So we go to Mel's office. And Mel is just the greatest bundle of happy, positive energy. He's just wonderful. And so I go in. This is one of the greatest, almost surreal experiences of my life. And he goes, what am I signing? And I go, well, I have the dark helmet. And I have Gene Wilder's credit plate. And he goes, all right, two things, a bucket thing.
00:17:21
Speaker
And I go oh, I don't have two dollars. I just have a ten and he goes I'll make change and Literally gave me eight dollars back and then he signed them. It was the greatest
00:17:33
Speaker
comedy nerd collector experience of my life and he was so warm and he understood why I appreciated these things and he was so kind and with Rick Moranis too I had had him on the podcast and I was going to New York and I emailed him I said hey I'm coming to New York and I have this thing would you sign it and he said absolutely and he had this moment when he pulled it out of the box or he was like wow like it really brought back memories for him and it was
00:17:58
Speaker
Like so that, that another long winded answer, which I'm very good at doing that experience for me, I know how lucky I am to have had that as a collector and as a fan. And I will cherish that forever. And I think that's why I have to go with the dark helmet from space balls.
00:18:15
Speaker
Yeah, and like you were saying, this is why we do what we do. It's the love of those things that we'll always cherish. So thank you so much for sharing that. And I know that someday when I'm not here, I will make sure that that piece goes to someone who understands and appreciates how special it is. Oh, it has to. Yeah, absolutely. All right. Well, thank you so much. I really appreciate your time. Thank you, Chris. I appreciate yours as well. Thanks for letting me talk about collecting. Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for coming on. Take care. Take care.
00:18:46
Speaker
Thank you, dear listener, for hanging out with us today. Subscribe, rate, and review us wherever you listen, and then tell your friends to do it. Thanks also to Joe Azari, the golden voice behind our intro. Our music is Game Boy Horror by the Zombie Dandies. Find more about them both on our show notes.
Engaging with the Podcast on Social Media
00:19:02
Speaker
Follow us on social media at AIC underscore podcast on Instagram and Twitter. Stop by and say hi. Show us your toy hauls and share your toy stories. Maybe we'll talk about it in a future episode.
00:19:26
Speaker
This has been a non-productive media presentation. Executive producer, Franca Blaui. This program and many others like it on the non-productive network is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives license. Please share it, but ask before trying to change it or sell it. For more information, visit non-productive.com.