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♪♪

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-Every day is an interesting day.

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(yodeling music)

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So we take these bizarre
risks.

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-There's canned dog food
and dirty dishwasher bags.

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-We never quite know
if people are going to think

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things
that we think are funny,

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but enough of us
think it's funny.

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So it's got some legs to it.

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(rubber chicken squeaks)

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-Hello?

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(yodeling music)

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-We look for an empty place
in people's lives

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and fill it with the thing
that they don't know

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that they were looking for.

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-I think I want to give them
emergency underpants.

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-I'm from Boston.
I have never been here before.

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I just found a candle

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that smells like pizza,
and it's pretty accurate. (giggling)

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I really wanted to purchase
the dog head.

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Woof, woof!

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I think
this is a crazy, cool store.

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I could spend an hour or more.

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-We should get...

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-Yep, done deal.

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-There are
things that won't work for us.

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And also there's things
that are too normal for us.

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And even if I like them, it's
just not weird enough.

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It won't stand out.

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(playful music) 

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(horse neigh)

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-We have things that we enjoy

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that are far weirder
than what we actually sell.

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But what you have here
is what we think

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people will find
socially-acceptable weird.

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An example of something
that we thought

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might be too weird
for the general public

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was squirrel underpants.

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They're basically
just little furry streakers

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that hang out in parks
in your backyard, all naked.

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People
didn't think it was as weird

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as we thought
people would think it was.

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(playful music)

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Squirrels would only know
we were making fun of them

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if they have the internet.

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So the day the squirrels
develop

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this connection
to the internet,

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we're in trouble

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because there's a lot of stuff
in the internet

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the squirrels aren't
going to like that.

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-Archie McPhee is the great uncle

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of the ex-wife of the owner
of Archie McPhee, Mark Pahlow.

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He was a famous

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practical joker.

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I just love
the sound of the name.

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And at the time,
we wanted a name

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that was short and snappy.

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I tried mail order businesses
buying and selling

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collectibles
and antiques and things,

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but eventually I got into
what I really loved,

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which was the stuff
that was sold

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in the backs of comic books,
x-ray specs,

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and drinking birds,
and those kinds of things.

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-Mark Pahlow has a bravery
and genius to see something

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and imagine the person
that would want to buy that.

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-Transforms your hands into a centaur: handitaur.

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(playful music)
(laughter)

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-In 1980, I met a fellow

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that introduced me
to importing, took me to Asia.

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I started buying small
and the result is this.

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-We have about 10,000
items at all times.

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I know every one of them.

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(scream)

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That's my scream.

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You're welcome.

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For me, I don't struggle as
much with who would buy this.

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As much as I hope
they buy this.

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We have bacon.
-Handerpants.

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-Beebo, this odd

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cartoon character from Taiwan.

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-Clam de Cane's
Get it? With Dashboard Monster,

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It's been one of the worst
sellers of all time.

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-But we did have a plastic cake
decoration.

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The attorneys for the Beatles

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said that it looks
too much like the Beatles,

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so we agreed to stop
selling it.

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But then George Harrison

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got involved

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because the figure that most
resembled him was so ugly

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and so poorly done
that he had incinerated.

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-The world

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was catching up with us
in terms of what was cool.

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So we decided we had to start
making our own stuff.

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When we started making action

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figures, we were looking
for underserved heroes.

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So that resulted
in the librarian action figure.

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-Because librarians
really changed people's lives

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and someone said,

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“Oh, yeah, Nancy
should be the model for that.”

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And we were talking about
what the action should be.

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And we immediately all agreed
that it should be

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a shushing action.
(shushing sound)

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It turned out that

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there are about 37 librarians
around the world

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with no sense of humor.

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-You can't make something interesting that everybody likes.

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That's pretty
much the definition of boring.

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-We're constantly
bringing in new things

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and new experiences.

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For example, the Rubber
Chicken Museum.

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-The Rubber Chicken Museum.

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-We have the world's
smallest rubber chicken,

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and we also have the world's
largest rubber chicken.

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-Oh, there it is. 
-My God, what is that?

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-That's the Wallingford base.

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This is for your safety,
that it's locked up.

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We captured the beast.

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We know it eats soap.

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-One of the things
that surprises a lot of people

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is how many actual
practical items we have.

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(rock music)

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-Is it actual...?

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-It is.

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We have taxidermy eyes,
part of a Scientology meter.

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This is a Portuguese
keyboard. Muffin fans.

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That's one of our biggest items.

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We don't know what we're doing
all of the time.

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And you just never know.

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-When you want to be the person

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that people don't know
what to expect from. (shouting)

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You have to keep
creating things

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that people don't expect,
and that's our specialty.

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-You are awesome.

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-I don't know
how many other cities

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there are where it could exist
other than Seattle.

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-They get the joke.

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There's so much of our stuff
is so nuance.

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-Bacon-scented mustard.

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-I have this kind

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of offbeat sense of humor,
so it suits me.

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-Silly, and there's nothing else
like it. Look it. Look it.

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-Just a small group of people.

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just really say, “I love that.

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I want more of that.”

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And there our people.

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-Oh, my God! 

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Watch CityStream Thursday nights at 7
on the Seattle Channel

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