Comic Book Men s07e11 Episode Script
A Pez-tacular Mystery
1 [Upbeat music.]
You can replace any body part with a bionic version of it.
Which one do you choose? All right, I would replace my stomach.
Like, I could eat whatever I wanted.
It would process everything efficiently.
Johnson: Wait, along with that, no more, like, number two? - Yeah, exactly.
That'd be great.
- That's-that's pretty good.
- Yeah.
- I'm going Bionic Woman.
Ears.
Hearing's starting to go.
You might wanna rethink that, 'cause I really don't think you wanna hear what we say about you when you're not around [Laughter.]
What are you replacing? I'm going with a heart.
That'll never stop beating.
I'll never die with a bionic heart, right? Johnson: Y-y-yeah, the rest of you is gonna wear out.
Yeah, shriveled up, your brain's gone.
- Yeah, you'd be a drooling mess.
- Flanagan: All right - Chen: Yeah.
- bionic brain.
Your heart's gonna go.
[Laughter.]
[ Dramatic music.]
[Roar.]
- Help! - Help! Help! [Mechanical whirring.]
[Boom.]
[ Upbeat music.]
Smith: Hello and welcome to another galactic episode of "Comic Book Men", the only show that got pulled over for breaking the limit of the Speed Force.
I'm Kevin Smith.
- Bryan Johnson.
- Walt Flanagan.
- Mike Zapcic.
- Ming Chen.
All right, man, anything come through the doors this week that me you go "Holy [Bleep.]
"? [Laughter.]
[ Upbeat music.]
- Flanagan: Hey, how are you? - Chen: Hey.
Hey.
I think I have something that might interest you.
Okay, what do you got? Flanagan: Oh, that's awesome.
Seller: MGM's "Marvelous Wizard of Oz" number one, from 1975.
Wow.
Very, very important piece of comic book history right here.
There's something special about this comic book.
Do you see something on the cover that should stand out and just make you scream, "What is going on?" - Should shock your senses.
- [Seller giggling.]
It's number one? Look a little harder.
Flanagan: What does it say up here? Chen: "Marvel and DC present.
" Okay, I'm assuming you know what Marvel and DC are.
- Yeah, yeah, I do.
- Flanagan: Okay? Okay.
This is the very first Marvel and DC collaboration.
- Chen: Put away their differences, came together.
- Flanagan: That's right, man.
That's the power of Oz.
- Or money.
- [Laughter.]
One of the two.
It's a wonderful movie that has captured imaginations for generations.
But not a lot of really cool, badass "Wizard of Oz" merch and this is one.
- Badass.
- I-I don't know [Laughter.]
I've never seen badass and "Wizard of Oz" ever put together in a sentence.
Come on, man, you've got, like, a witch, that's Satan, flying monkeys, that's beasts, abominations from hell, flying in the air.
"Wizard of Oz" is so close to "Game of Thrones.
" I never thought of it that way.
[Laughter.]
Flanagan: You big "Wizard of Oz" fan? Yes, I actually manage a "Wizard of Oz" themed ice cream shop owned by my aunt here.
- Flanagan: Really? - Chen: Based on "The Wizard of Oz"? Johnson: So you love it that much.
I think I hold the world record for seeing it.
I watch it every day at the shop.
Does "The Wizard of Oz" still resonate with the kids as it used to? It makes me sad because so many kids now don't even know it, haven't seen it.
- All they care about is stuff - They - that didn't happen in the '30s.
- No.
[Laughter.]
Flanagan: All right, well, let's talk about this comic book.
Do you mind if I take it out of the bag? - No, please.
- Get a closer look at it? I don't know how you managed to keep it in such great condition being in an ice cream store for all those years.
- We kept it in a frame.
- In a frame.
I can't believe you wanna get rid of it.
I mean We've just accumulated so much "Wizard of Oz" memorabilia.
Seller's Aunt: I forgot it was there.
- So, you're definitely here to sell it, though.
- Seller: Yeah.
Let me pull back the curtain now.
From the guy who's just complimenting your book - to the guy who's about to offer money on it.
- Chen: Yeah, yeah.
- Yeah, meet the real wizard.
- [Laughter.]
What are you looking to get for it? We were hoping for $100.
- $30? - Seller: Oh, no, no.
- [Laughter.]
- No, no! $80.
What about $50 and he'll click his heels like Dorothy.
Chen: I'm not wearin' I'm not wearing heels.
[Laughter.]
- $50 good? - Yes.
Okay.
- Thank you guys.
- Thank you.
- Thank you so much.
- Thank you.
All right.
[ Funky music.]
What's up, fellas? What's going on? - What's up?! - I was up bright and early, and made my way to the flea market before work.
Oh yeah, did you score? - I think I did pretty good.
- Wow.
I picked up these two little DC digests, and I was really after this Overstreet Price Guide.
People are always collecting those and this one's in great shape, right Rob? I mean look-I mean, look at some of this stuff.
- Look at that.
- Wow.
- Pencil sharpener, F.
D.
R.
- Nice.
Flanagan: It's gotta go for a couple bucks, right? - Johnson: Right.
- What's this, a walking robot? What is this? - Ooh, wow.
- Zapcic: Cool cap gun.
Some crazy Pez.
- Pretty cool, right? - This is weird, though, dude.
I definitely have bought a lot of Pez over the last, uh, 30 years.
Used to sell a lot of 'em in the '80s and '90s and I've never seen this Pez Pal.
- Never seen that one.
- Wow.
Flanagan: Maybe I got something here then, huh? Bruce: I-I actually know a guy who would probably be able to figure out what exactly this is.
- You've got a Pez guy? - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
There's a Pez factory in Connecticut that has a museum.
My buddy Shawn curates it.
Oh, yeah? Can you call him? As a matter of fact, I'll let you call him.
Done.
Rob knows everybody, he has connections everywhere.
He even has a connection inside Pez itself.
Somebody really high in the hierarchy of Pez.
[Laughter.]
I think you broke my brain on that one.
Really? Yeah.
He's got the little white curly hair.
He's got the little black pointy hat on.
Yeah, yeah it does.
Yeah, I can take a ride up there.
Yeah, absolutely, all right.
I'll see you then.
- Thanks.
He wants us to come up.
- Yeah.
He thinks we have something substantial.
He would know.
You guys up for a trip to Connecticut? You know, see the Pez museum? Oh yeah, definitely.
What about you, Bry? I mean, a museum sounds boring.
- Flanagan: Candy.
- Zapcic: Candy.
- Sounds good.
I'll go.
- [Laughter.]
Could you make a little Ming? [ Hard rock music.]
[Balloon squeaking.]
I'm speechless.
That is amazing! This place puts The Smithsonian to shame.
Man: Oh hey, Ming.
- Chen: 'Sup Mr.
PoppinTwist.
- How you doing, sir? [Chuckling.]
It's good to see you.
Guys, this is Mr.
PoppinTwist, the premier balloon artist in the world.
Aw, no, I wouldn't say the whole world but, you know, maybe New York City.
[Laughter.]
Chen: Met him at a couple cons.
He does super heroes, does light sabers, all kind of, like, geek pop culture balloons.
- PoppinTwist? - PoppinTwist.
- What's your real-real name? - You can call me Derek.
- Derek.
- [Laughter.]
So, Mr.
PoppinTwist, what brings you in today? What brings me in today? I have brought something in you guys are gonna love.
I have brought in the Pacific Princess herself, The Love Boat.
1984 vintage, still in the box.
Flanagan: I've never seen this before.
This is, like, a replica model? - Yeah.
- Oh, here, it says right there, "replica model.
" [Laughter.]
PoppinTwist: It was a fantastic show.
It was opulent at the time.
I love how they would bring in, like, TV and movie stars.
Who's your favorite celebrity that ever appeared on "Love Boat"? - Paul Williams.
- Zapcic: What? - Flanagan: Oh yeah, I remember Paul Williams.
- Chen: Who? - Flanagan: He had the glasses and the blonde hair, the shag.
- PoppinTwist: Yep.
Paul Williams wrote all the lyrics to the "Love Boat" theme song.
I didn't know that.
He wrote for Streisand and The Carpenters.
You are a Paul Williams fan.
[Laughter.]
Who was your favorite celeb? Come on man, Charo.
Flanagan: Oh, "Cuchi Cuchi.
" Right? - Chen: Cuchi cuchi! C'mon.
- Flanagan: Let me see you do a little Charo! - Cuchi cuchi.
- Shake it like Charo, baby.
- [Laughter.]
- Wow.
I love "The Love Boat.
" "Love Boat" and the sound of "The Love Boat" is the sound of a happy childhood.
I loved when they introduced who was gonna be on that week.
They put their faces in the port hole.
We would sit there and be like, "Who's gonna come up in the port hole?" That is a picture of the '70s right there.
- "Ethel Merman?" - "Oh man! Ma, who's that?" [Laughter.]
Can I take a look at the, uh, the boat? - Absolutely.
- I can take it out of the box? Absolutely, oh yeah.
It was out of the box before.
All right.
That's impressive.
Johnson: That's breathtaking.
Flanagan: Ah, look, it's got the little pool at the top.
- You never see any "Love Boat" items.
- No.
Johnson: How'd you get your hands on it? PoppinTwist: It was a gift.
With the resurgence of all the '70s shows - coming back on TV now - Mm-hmm.
it's only a matter of time before "The Love Boat" comes back.
Why now are you selling it? I'm getting a name for myself out there, but I'm trying to get that next level.
- That takes money.
- I can respect that.
So much so, I'll give you 50 bucks for it.
Come on, you know that's a fair price for this.
$75.
Can you give me $75? I can't do $75.
Hey, how about this? Any chance you have your balloon stuff on you? Yeah, I got it in the car outside.
Yeah, is there any chance that, you know, maybe you could perform? Uh, you know, maybe impress Walt? You know, maybe you can cut him a deal? All right, if you can come in with your balloons and impress me, I'll give you the 75 bucks for the Pacific Princess.
I'll be right back, guys.
So, Mr.
PoppinTwist, you know, offers to go out to his car and get the tools of his trade.
At which time you lock the door.
[Laughter.]
All right, Walt, you want me to impress you.
Flanagan: Wow.
What do you think? Is that impressive enough? I'm speechless.
That is amazing.
Johnson: How long did it take you to do that? This takes about three hours to do and most of that is drawing the webbing on the balloon.
Flanagan: Let me challenge you to make something, something, uh, pop culturey, huh? Johnson: Could you make a little Ming? - Zapcic: He already is a little Ming.
- Yeah.
Zapcic: You could make a littler Ming? - I can make a smaller Ming, yes.
- Okay.
[ Playful music.]
[Balloons squeaking.]
- There you go, what do you think? - How'd we do? Zapcic: Can't tell between the two.
Oh, my God.
- Amazing.
- Chen: What'd I tell you? Flanagan: You're right.
I apologize, man.
All those bad stuff I sad about you when you were out in the car - [Laughter.]
- Wow! Was I wrong! [Laughter.]
You more than earned that $75 for this.
I'm blown away.
I got a feelin' we're gonna be hearing a lot more of Mr.
PoppinTwist.
- Thank you, sir.
- Thank you.
Man: This is one of those fabled dispensers.
There's only one of these right now, uh, that's known to exist in the world.
Oh! Chen: All right, ready? [Sigh.]
Well, this is it.
We're gonna find out if this Pez I have is either a treasure or trash.
- Johnson: Probably trash.
- [Laughter.]
You got to go to Pez Land? We all went up to the Pez factory to see if we could figure out the mystery of the Pez.
Nobody thought to call me? I'm so Pezzed off right now, man.
- [Laughter.]
- I would have totally gone to that.
Flanagan: Oh! [ Rock music.]
This place puts The Smithsonian to shame.
Johnson: How The Smithsonian has stayed in business - with these guys around is - [Laughter.]
There were Pez dispensers as far as the eye could see.
To see 'em all lined up in a glass case, I mean, that's-that's my kind of museum.
Shawn? Shawn? - Shawn: Yeah, yeah, yeah, hey guys.
- Hey, Walter.
- How are ya? - Rob Bruce's friend.
Oh, absolutely.
I wanna thank you for inviting us down here and checking out the piece.
You sounded like you were pretty sure I had something of significance.
It's possible, it's possible.
It's happened before.
- This is the factory right here? - Yeah.
- This is actual production? - Shawn: Yeah, it's the real actual factory.
Is this the only factory in the world? Not in the world, but it is the only factory in the United States.
From this facility right here in Orange we usually produce about 12 million individual candy tablets every single day.
There's 12 to a roll so we make about a million rolls of candy every day.
Been making Pez out there since 1975, so, that is a little bit of history we're looking at inside there.
This is like a modern day "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
" [Laughter.]
I'm telling you right now, if they had offered me a job there I might have, you know, left the Stash because I always wanted to work, like, at a Shotsbury where I go into a locker room and I change into a factory uniform.
We'd get you a locker here at the Stash.
You can change in it like Mr.
Rogers when you get to work.
[Laughter.]
All right guys, you know, we're standing here talking about all this great stuff but, you know, right over here we can go actually look at it.
We've got, you know, everything represented from when we became a brand in 1927 up to current day.
So you got some valuable Pez pieces in there? We've got some valuable Pez pieces in there, yeah, - we definitely do.
- Flanagan: Oh, yeah? You wanna come over and take a look? - We'll show you some stuff.
- Absolutely.
- All right.
C'mon.
- Lead the way.
All right guys, uh, this is some of the more rare and unusual things that we have on display here.
Uh, what makes these special is the difficulty to find them.
You know, you notice this particular version's called a Make A Face.
Kind of our version of Mr.
Potatohead.
This is one of those items that is considered a holy grail.
If you can, you know, get a complete version, you know, they sell for about $3,000.
- $3,000? - Yeah, yeah.
It's not about the candy with Pez because the candy is the lowest part of the equation.
The joy of the Pez is the Pez dispenser, which could be anybody.
It could be J.
F.
K.
, it could be Uncle Sam.
It could be the Statue of Liberty.
- I keep going to bicentennial.
- Johnson: Yeah, real patriotic.
[Laughter.]
Could be a tall ship.
[Laughter.]
[ Dramatic music.]
Shawn: I brought you over to this case.
I know you like the superheroes.
This is, you know, our case that we have dedicated to, you know, a lot of the heroes, the different characters Pez has done.
You know, if you look at this Superman he's a little bit different than some of these other ones.
As a character, Superman, generally, aside from the little curl that he has, his identity is in his outfit, his cape and, you know, the S.
Below the neck.
Below the neck, so that-that always, you know, for many years kind of prevented us from doing Superman and then when we started doing these-these different versions, you know, voila, now we have Superman.
Now the superheroes are cool, but right there, the Universal monsters, when did they come out? Shawn: Uh, about mid 1960s.
What I love about the Wolfman and Frankenstein is they're not colored, they're black and white because they're black and white films, right? - Right, right, yeah.
- I re-I respect that.
[Laughter.]
So at any point are we gonna eat Pez? - [Laughter.]
- Absolutely, yeah, yeah.
We just gonna stare at a bunch of dusty old relics all day? Aw, come on! What I'd really like to see, that dispenser you brought.
Can we, uh, go upstairs and take a look at that, - see what you have? - Lead the way.
- Might have something good.
- I think I do.
Flanagan: Would you be able to put a dollar value on this Pez dispenser? Shawn: If it is authentic, it's worth 12 to 15,000.
Fonzie's the coolest character ever on TV, but who's the second coolest character on "Happy Days" if Fonzie's the first? Mrs.
C.
She's the only one who gets to call him Arthur.
- Uh - I don't think Mrs.
C has that cool, like, swagger.
She didn't wear a leather jacket, or anything.
I don't know if cool comes to mind when you think of Mrs C.
- I mean - Look who you're asking.
- [Laughter.]
- That's who you're asking.
What you got? I mean, you've gotta be able to top Mrs.
C.
- Chachi.
- Chachi? Flanagan: He got women like that too, though.
He was a Fonzarelli.
He was Arcola, but he was still a Fonzarelli.
- Yeah.
- Who do you got? Uh, I'm gonna go Leather Tuscadero, Suzi Quatro, right? - Flanagan: Yeah.
- The name says cool, she's a rock and roll star, right? So, that's cool.
I mean, I can't believe no one said this, - but I'm gonna go Spike.
- Zapcic: Spike! Remember little He dressed like a little Fonzie.
True.
He got Joanie too, remember? They went up to Inspiration Point.
- Yeah, you're right.
- Really? So Chachi and Spike - tag-teamed Joanie? - Uh-huh.
- Not tag-teamed.
- Made out! Okay.
- No rodeo-do-doing going on, no.
- Johnson: No? It'd be better if they had with Mrs.
C watching.
[Laughter.]
Now then she'd be the coolest mom on TV.
If you guys could have any pop culture robot to be your robot bodyguard, which robot would you choose? Kind of like, you know, the kid in "The Iron Giant.
" Think like that kind of relationship.
- You got a robot? - Oh yeah, definitely.
I mean, that's easy, the Terminator, but not the Arnold Terminator, the female shape-shifting one from T3.
- Oh, you're going that you're going that way.
- No! - Yeah.
- I was considering something, like, innocent and pure and friendship - and you're going dirty as usual? - No, I never said that.
- You dirty little freak.
Huh? - No, come on.
He just wants to be carried out by her - like Whitney Houston.
- [Laughter.]
Flanagan: Go take a cold shower.
Mike? Yeah, seriously.
I'm gonna go with the Vision from the Avengers.
I think he's a synthezoid, he's got sort of human emotions and he's pretty damn powerful.
Is he-is he I know You love to play this, you love to play this game, like, when I'm thinking tin, steel robot, you throw out the Vision.
- All right, so we're gonna go with - No, no, no, that's your choice.
- You got one? - RoboCop.
Ouf.
- He's got one directive, protect me.
- Flanagan: Well that's true.
Every movie he showed more and more heart.
That's a real damn good choice.
I thought he got more robotic as the series progressed.
Like, two he was even more robotic and then three, didn't they wipe his memory? Yeah, but he overcame all that, though.
And you're busting my balls for choosing the Vision who's partly human anyway.
Yours is partly human, too, it's more of a cyborg - than just a straight up a robot.
- Nah.
- Yours is an android.
- True.
- So he's not human at all.
- Or they're not real.
His at least says "Robo" in the name.
[Laughter.]
All right, you got me on that.
Shawn: All right guys, this is exciting.
When I heard what you might have found, I've been eagerly anticipating this, so let's see what you got.
[ Suspenseful music.]
- My hands are shakin'.
- Mm-hmm.
- There it is.
- Wow.
Well, this is great.
This is one of those fabled dispensers - that you only hear of and never see.
- Fabled? This character that you have is what collector's have termed the Admiral.
There's only one of these right now, uh, that's known to exist in the world.
It's in a private collection in Austria and, uh, it's a rarity.
These things just don't show up.
Wait, so you're telling me this Pez dispenser, there's only one in existence and this might be the second one ever discovered? If it is authentic.
Flanagan: Would you be able to put a dollar value on the one Admiral that's known to exist? I'd say 12 to 15,000.
Oh! Ah! You could have a $15,000 Pez in your pocket? Yeah, he's basically saying if this is an authentic Admiral, we're sitting on 15 grand.
Well, I'm sitting on 15 grand, I found it at the I found it at the flea market.
- They're just along for the ride.
- [Laughter.]
I mean this is, you know, a Pez Pal which would date it to somewhere around the mid 1960s to even as late as the 1970s, uh, before they stopped making 'em, but as we get to looking at it a little bit closer, there's the few clues about it that give me a little cause for concern.
[ Dramatic music.]
One is the weight doesn't quite feel right.
It feels very top-heavy and just kind of the feel of this, it's not the right material.
It almost looks to be, like, a resin, versus an injection molded piece and if you look at the bottom feature of this dispenser, these are what are called feet.
These are the little tabs that they put on it to do essentially this, help the dispenser stand upright, but they didn't appear on dispenser bases until 1987, so it doesn't match up with what the era would be for the head of that dispenser.
What you have here is a well-done replica.
So, you have maybe 20 bucks worth of something fun.
[ Ominous music.]
Would you give me 20 bucks for it? I would give you 20 bucks for it.
That doesn't even cover the tolls.
[Laughter.]
I may not have had a $15,000 Pez but, you know, I got to take a day trip out with my buds, I gotta go see the Pez museum, got to see how Pez was made.
Sounds like a $15,000 day to me.
[Laughter.]
Oh, and that's the end of another Pezitively wonderful episode, and for "Comic Book Men", I'm Kevin Smith.
- Bryan Johnson.
- Walt Flanagan.
- Mike Zapcic.
- Ming Chen.
Always remember to keep your dispenser loaded.
Good night.
You can replace any body part with a bionic version of it.
Which one do you choose? All right, I would replace my stomach.
Like, I could eat whatever I wanted.
It would process everything efficiently.
Johnson: Wait, along with that, no more, like, number two? - Yeah, exactly.
That'd be great.
- That's-that's pretty good.
- Yeah.
- I'm going Bionic Woman.
Ears.
Hearing's starting to go.
You might wanna rethink that, 'cause I really don't think you wanna hear what we say about you when you're not around [Laughter.]
What are you replacing? I'm going with a heart.
That'll never stop beating.
I'll never die with a bionic heart, right? Johnson: Y-y-yeah, the rest of you is gonna wear out.
Yeah, shriveled up, your brain's gone.
- Yeah, you'd be a drooling mess.
- Flanagan: All right - Chen: Yeah.
- bionic brain.
Your heart's gonna go.
[Laughter.]
[ Dramatic music.]
[Roar.]
- Help! - Help! Help! [Mechanical whirring.]
[Boom.]
[ Upbeat music.]
Smith: Hello and welcome to another galactic episode of "Comic Book Men", the only show that got pulled over for breaking the limit of the Speed Force.
I'm Kevin Smith.
- Bryan Johnson.
- Walt Flanagan.
- Mike Zapcic.
- Ming Chen.
All right, man, anything come through the doors this week that me you go "Holy [Bleep.]
"? [Laughter.]
[ Upbeat music.]
- Flanagan: Hey, how are you? - Chen: Hey.
Hey.
I think I have something that might interest you.
Okay, what do you got? Flanagan: Oh, that's awesome.
Seller: MGM's "Marvelous Wizard of Oz" number one, from 1975.
Wow.
Very, very important piece of comic book history right here.
There's something special about this comic book.
Do you see something on the cover that should stand out and just make you scream, "What is going on?" - Should shock your senses.
- [Seller giggling.]
It's number one? Look a little harder.
Flanagan: What does it say up here? Chen: "Marvel and DC present.
" Okay, I'm assuming you know what Marvel and DC are.
- Yeah, yeah, I do.
- Flanagan: Okay? Okay.
This is the very first Marvel and DC collaboration.
- Chen: Put away their differences, came together.
- Flanagan: That's right, man.
That's the power of Oz.
- Or money.
- [Laughter.]
One of the two.
It's a wonderful movie that has captured imaginations for generations.
But not a lot of really cool, badass "Wizard of Oz" merch and this is one.
- Badass.
- I-I don't know [Laughter.]
I've never seen badass and "Wizard of Oz" ever put together in a sentence.
Come on, man, you've got, like, a witch, that's Satan, flying monkeys, that's beasts, abominations from hell, flying in the air.
"Wizard of Oz" is so close to "Game of Thrones.
" I never thought of it that way.
[Laughter.]
Flanagan: You big "Wizard of Oz" fan? Yes, I actually manage a "Wizard of Oz" themed ice cream shop owned by my aunt here.
- Flanagan: Really? - Chen: Based on "The Wizard of Oz"? Johnson: So you love it that much.
I think I hold the world record for seeing it.
I watch it every day at the shop.
Does "The Wizard of Oz" still resonate with the kids as it used to? It makes me sad because so many kids now don't even know it, haven't seen it.
- All they care about is stuff - They - that didn't happen in the '30s.
- No.
[Laughter.]
Flanagan: All right, well, let's talk about this comic book.
Do you mind if I take it out of the bag? - No, please.
- Get a closer look at it? I don't know how you managed to keep it in such great condition being in an ice cream store for all those years.
- We kept it in a frame.
- In a frame.
I can't believe you wanna get rid of it.
I mean We've just accumulated so much "Wizard of Oz" memorabilia.
Seller's Aunt: I forgot it was there.
- So, you're definitely here to sell it, though.
- Seller: Yeah.
Let me pull back the curtain now.
From the guy who's just complimenting your book - to the guy who's about to offer money on it.
- Chen: Yeah, yeah.
- Yeah, meet the real wizard.
- [Laughter.]
What are you looking to get for it? We were hoping for $100.
- $30? - Seller: Oh, no, no.
- [Laughter.]
- No, no! $80.
What about $50 and he'll click his heels like Dorothy.
Chen: I'm not wearin' I'm not wearing heels.
[Laughter.]
- $50 good? - Yes.
Okay.
- Thank you guys.
- Thank you.
- Thank you so much.
- Thank you.
All right.
[ Funky music.]
What's up, fellas? What's going on? - What's up?! - I was up bright and early, and made my way to the flea market before work.
Oh yeah, did you score? - I think I did pretty good.
- Wow.
I picked up these two little DC digests, and I was really after this Overstreet Price Guide.
People are always collecting those and this one's in great shape, right Rob? I mean look-I mean, look at some of this stuff.
- Look at that.
- Wow.
- Pencil sharpener, F.
D.
R.
- Nice.
Flanagan: It's gotta go for a couple bucks, right? - Johnson: Right.
- What's this, a walking robot? What is this? - Ooh, wow.
- Zapcic: Cool cap gun.
Some crazy Pez.
- Pretty cool, right? - This is weird, though, dude.
I definitely have bought a lot of Pez over the last, uh, 30 years.
Used to sell a lot of 'em in the '80s and '90s and I've never seen this Pez Pal.
- Never seen that one.
- Wow.
Flanagan: Maybe I got something here then, huh? Bruce: I-I actually know a guy who would probably be able to figure out what exactly this is.
- You've got a Pez guy? - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
There's a Pez factory in Connecticut that has a museum.
My buddy Shawn curates it.
Oh, yeah? Can you call him? As a matter of fact, I'll let you call him.
Done.
Rob knows everybody, he has connections everywhere.
He even has a connection inside Pez itself.
Somebody really high in the hierarchy of Pez.
[Laughter.]
I think you broke my brain on that one.
Really? Yeah.
He's got the little white curly hair.
He's got the little black pointy hat on.
Yeah, yeah it does.
Yeah, I can take a ride up there.
Yeah, absolutely, all right.
I'll see you then.
- Thanks.
He wants us to come up.
- Yeah.
He thinks we have something substantial.
He would know.
You guys up for a trip to Connecticut? You know, see the Pez museum? Oh yeah, definitely.
What about you, Bry? I mean, a museum sounds boring.
- Flanagan: Candy.
- Zapcic: Candy.
- Sounds good.
I'll go.
- [Laughter.]
Could you make a little Ming? [ Hard rock music.]
[Balloon squeaking.]
I'm speechless.
That is amazing! This place puts The Smithsonian to shame.
Man: Oh hey, Ming.
- Chen: 'Sup Mr.
PoppinTwist.
- How you doing, sir? [Chuckling.]
It's good to see you.
Guys, this is Mr.
PoppinTwist, the premier balloon artist in the world.
Aw, no, I wouldn't say the whole world but, you know, maybe New York City.
[Laughter.]
Chen: Met him at a couple cons.
He does super heroes, does light sabers, all kind of, like, geek pop culture balloons.
- PoppinTwist? - PoppinTwist.
- What's your real-real name? - You can call me Derek.
- Derek.
- [Laughter.]
So, Mr.
PoppinTwist, what brings you in today? What brings me in today? I have brought something in you guys are gonna love.
I have brought in the Pacific Princess herself, The Love Boat.
1984 vintage, still in the box.
Flanagan: I've never seen this before.
This is, like, a replica model? - Yeah.
- Oh, here, it says right there, "replica model.
" [Laughter.]
PoppinTwist: It was a fantastic show.
It was opulent at the time.
I love how they would bring in, like, TV and movie stars.
Who's your favorite celebrity that ever appeared on "Love Boat"? - Paul Williams.
- Zapcic: What? - Flanagan: Oh yeah, I remember Paul Williams.
- Chen: Who? - Flanagan: He had the glasses and the blonde hair, the shag.
- PoppinTwist: Yep.
Paul Williams wrote all the lyrics to the "Love Boat" theme song.
I didn't know that.
He wrote for Streisand and The Carpenters.
You are a Paul Williams fan.
[Laughter.]
Who was your favorite celeb? Come on man, Charo.
Flanagan: Oh, "Cuchi Cuchi.
" Right? - Chen: Cuchi cuchi! C'mon.
- Flanagan: Let me see you do a little Charo! - Cuchi cuchi.
- Shake it like Charo, baby.
- [Laughter.]
- Wow.
I love "The Love Boat.
" "Love Boat" and the sound of "The Love Boat" is the sound of a happy childhood.
I loved when they introduced who was gonna be on that week.
They put their faces in the port hole.
We would sit there and be like, "Who's gonna come up in the port hole?" That is a picture of the '70s right there.
- "Ethel Merman?" - "Oh man! Ma, who's that?" [Laughter.]
Can I take a look at the, uh, the boat? - Absolutely.
- I can take it out of the box? Absolutely, oh yeah.
It was out of the box before.
All right.
That's impressive.
Johnson: That's breathtaking.
Flanagan: Ah, look, it's got the little pool at the top.
- You never see any "Love Boat" items.
- No.
Johnson: How'd you get your hands on it? PoppinTwist: It was a gift.
With the resurgence of all the '70s shows - coming back on TV now - Mm-hmm.
it's only a matter of time before "The Love Boat" comes back.
Why now are you selling it? I'm getting a name for myself out there, but I'm trying to get that next level.
- That takes money.
- I can respect that.
So much so, I'll give you 50 bucks for it.
Come on, you know that's a fair price for this.
$75.
Can you give me $75? I can't do $75.
Hey, how about this? Any chance you have your balloon stuff on you? Yeah, I got it in the car outside.
Yeah, is there any chance that, you know, maybe you could perform? Uh, you know, maybe impress Walt? You know, maybe you can cut him a deal? All right, if you can come in with your balloons and impress me, I'll give you the 75 bucks for the Pacific Princess.
I'll be right back, guys.
So, Mr.
PoppinTwist, you know, offers to go out to his car and get the tools of his trade.
At which time you lock the door.
[Laughter.]
All right, Walt, you want me to impress you.
Flanagan: Wow.
What do you think? Is that impressive enough? I'm speechless.
That is amazing.
Johnson: How long did it take you to do that? This takes about three hours to do and most of that is drawing the webbing on the balloon.
Flanagan: Let me challenge you to make something, something, uh, pop culturey, huh? Johnson: Could you make a little Ming? - Zapcic: He already is a little Ming.
- Yeah.
Zapcic: You could make a littler Ming? - I can make a smaller Ming, yes.
- Okay.
[ Playful music.]
[Balloons squeaking.]
- There you go, what do you think? - How'd we do? Zapcic: Can't tell between the two.
Oh, my God.
- Amazing.
- Chen: What'd I tell you? Flanagan: You're right.
I apologize, man.
All those bad stuff I sad about you when you were out in the car - [Laughter.]
- Wow! Was I wrong! [Laughter.]
You more than earned that $75 for this.
I'm blown away.
I got a feelin' we're gonna be hearing a lot more of Mr.
PoppinTwist.
- Thank you, sir.
- Thank you.
Man: This is one of those fabled dispensers.
There's only one of these right now, uh, that's known to exist in the world.
Oh! Chen: All right, ready? [Sigh.]
Well, this is it.
We're gonna find out if this Pez I have is either a treasure or trash.
- Johnson: Probably trash.
- [Laughter.]
You got to go to Pez Land? We all went up to the Pez factory to see if we could figure out the mystery of the Pez.
Nobody thought to call me? I'm so Pezzed off right now, man.
- [Laughter.]
- I would have totally gone to that.
Flanagan: Oh! [ Rock music.]
This place puts The Smithsonian to shame.
Johnson: How The Smithsonian has stayed in business - with these guys around is - [Laughter.]
There were Pez dispensers as far as the eye could see.
To see 'em all lined up in a glass case, I mean, that's-that's my kind of museum.
Shawn? Shawn? - Shawn: Yeah, yeah, yeah, hey guys.
- Hey, Walter.
- How are ya? - Rob Bruce's friend.
Oh, absolutely.
I wanna thank you for inviting us down here and checking out the piece.
You sounded like you were pretty sure I had something of significance.
It's possible, it's possible.
It's happened before.
- This is the factory right here? - Yeah.
- This is actual production? - Shawn: Yeah, it's the real actual factory.
Is this the only factory in the world? Not in the world, but it is the only factory in the United States.
From this facility right here in Orange we usually produce about 12 million individual candy tablets every single day.
There's 12 to a roll so we make about a million rolls of candy every day.
Been making Pez out there since 1975, so, that is a little bit of history we're looking at inside there.
This is like a modern day "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
" [Laughter.]
I'm telling you right now, if they had offered me a job there I might have, you know, left the Stash because I always wanted to work, like, at a Shotsbury where I go into a locker room and I change into a factory uniform.
We'd get you a locker here at the Stash.
You can change in it like Mr.
Rogers when you get to work.
[Laughter.]
All right guys, you know, we're standing here talking about all this great stuff but, you know, right over here we can go actually look at it.
We've got, you know, everything represented from when we became a brand in 1927 up to current day.
So you got some valuable Pez pieces in there? We've got some valuable Pez pieces in there, yeah, - we definitely do.
- Flanagan: Oh, yeah? You wanna come over and take a look? - We'll show you some stuff.
- Absolutely.
- All right.
C'mon.
- Lead the way.
All right guys, uh, this is some of the more rare and unusual things that we have on display here.
Uh, what makes these special is the difficulty to find them.
You know, you notice this particular version's called a Make A Face.
Kind of our version of Mr.
Potatohead.
This is one of those items that is considered a holy grail.
If you can, you know, get a complete version, you know, they sell for about $3,000.
- $3,000? - Yeah, yeah.
It's not about the candy with Pez because the candy is the lowest part of the equation.
The joy of the Pez is the Pez dispenser, which could be anybody.
It could be J.
F.
K.
, it could be Uncle Sam.
It could be the Statue of Liberty.
- I keep going to bicentennial.
- Johnson: Yeah, real patriotic.
[Laughter.]
Could be a tall ship.
[Laughter.]
[ Dramatic music.]
Shawn: I brought you over to this case.
I know you like the superheroes.
This is, you know, our case that we have dedicated to, you know, a lot of the heroes, the different characters Pez has done.
You know, if you look at this Superman he's a little bit different than some of these other ones.
As a character, Superman, generally, aside from the little curl that he has, his identity is in his outfit, his cape and, you know, the S.
Below the neck.
Below the neck, so that-that always, you know, for many years kind of prevented us from doing Superman and then when we started doing these-these different versions, you know, voila, now we have Superman.
Now the superheroes are cool, but right there, the Universal monsters, when did they come out? Shawn: Uh, about mid 1960s.
What I love about the Wolfman and Frankenstein is they're not colored, they're black and white because they're black and white films, right? - Right, right, yeah.
- I re-I respect that.
[Laughter.]
So at any point are we gonna eat Pez? - [Laughter.]
- Absolutely, yeah, yeah.
We just gonna stare at a bunch of dusty old relics all day? Aw, come on! What I'd really like to see, that dispenser you brought.
Can we, uh, go upstairs and take a look at that, - see what you have? - Lead the way.
- Might have something good.
- I think I do.
Flanagan: Would you be able to put a dollar value on this Pez dispenser? Shawn: If it is authentic, it's worth 12 to 15,000.
Fonzie's the coolest character ever on TV, but who's the second coolest character on "Happy Days" if Fonzie's the first? Mrs.
C.
She's the only one who gets to call him Arthur.
- Uh - I don't think Mrs.
C has that cool, like, swagger.
She didn't wear a leather jacket, or anything.
I don't know if cool comes to mind when you think of Mrs C.
- I mean - Look who you're asking.
- [Laughter.]
- That's who you're asking.
What you got? I mean, you've gotta be able to top Mrs.
C.
- Chachi.
- Chachi? Flanagan: He got women like that too, though.
He was a Fonzarelli.
He was Arcola, but he was still a Fonzarelli.
- Yeah.
- Who do you got? Uh, I'm gonna go Leather Tuscadero, Suzi Quatro, right? - Flanagan: Yeah.
- The name says cool, she's a rock and roll star, right? So, that's cool.
I mean, I can't believe no one said this, - but I'm gonna go Spike.
- Zapcic: Spike! Remember little He dressed like a little Fonzie.
True.
He got Joanie too, remember? They went up to Inspiration Point.
- Yeah, you're right.
- Really? So Chachi and Spike - tag-teamed Joanie? - Uh-huh.
- Not tag-teamed.
- Made out! Okay.
- No rodeo-do-doing going on, no.
- Johnson: No? It'd be better if they had with Mrs.
C watching.
[Laughter.]
Now then she'd be the coolest mom on TV.
If you guys could have any pop culture robot to be your robot bodyguard, which robot would you choose? Kind of like, you know, the kid in "The Iron Giant.
" Think like that kind of relationship.
- You got a robot? - Oh yeah, definitely.
I mean, that's easy, the Terminator, but not the Arnold Terminator, the female shape-shifting one from T3.
- Oh, you're going that you're going that way.
- No! - Yeah.
- I was considering something, like, innocent and pure and friendship - and you're going dirty as usual? - No, I never said that.
- You dirty little freak.
Huh? - No, come on.
He just wants to be carried out by her - like Whitney Houston.
- [Laughter.]
Flanagan: Go take a cold shower.
Mike? Yeah, seriously.
I'm gonna go with the Vision from the Avengers.
I think he's a synthezoid, he's got sort of human emotions and he's pretty damn powerful.
Is he-is he I know You love to play this, you love to play this game, like, when I'm thinking tin, steel robot, you throw out the Vision.
- All right, so we're gonna go with - No, no, no, that's your choice.
- You got one? - RoboCop.
Ouf.
- He's got one directive, protect me.
- Flanagan: Well that's true.
Every movie he showed more and more heart.
That's a real damn good choice.
I thought he got more robotic as the series progressed.
Like, two he was even more robotic and then three, didn't they wipe his memory? Yeah, but he overcame all that, though.
And you're busting my balls for choosing the Vision who's partly human anyway.
Yours is partly human, too, it's more of a cyborg - than just a straight up a robot.
- Nah.
- Yours is an android.
- True.
- So he's not human at all.
- Or they're not real.
His at least says "Robo" in the name.
[Laughter.]
All right, you got me on that.
Shawn: All right guys, this is exciting.
When I heard what you might have found, I've been eagerly anticipating this, so let's see what you got.
[ Suspenseful music.]
- My hands are shakin'.
- Mm-hmm.
- There it is.
- Wow.
Well, this is great.
This is one of those fabled dispensers - that you only hear of and never see.
- Fabled? This character that you have is what collector's have termed the Admiral.
There's only one of these right now, uh, that's known to exist in the world.
It's in a private collection in Austria and, uh, it's a rarity.
These things just don't show up.
Wait, so you're telling me this Pez dispenser, there's only one in existence and this might be the second one ever discovered? If it is authentic.
Flanagan: Would you be able to put a dollar value on the one Admiral that's known to exist? I'd say 12 to 15,000.
Oh! Ah! You could have a $15,000 Pez in your pocket? Yeah, he's basically saying if this is an authentic Admiral, we're sitting on 15 grand.
Well, I'm sitting on 15 grand, I found it at the I found it at the flea market.
- They're just along for the ride.
- [Laughter.]
I mean this is, you know, a Pez Pal which would date it to somewhere around the mid 1960s to even as late as the 1970s, uh, before they stopped making 'em, but as we get to looking at it a little bit closer, there's the few clues about it that give me a little cause for concern.
[ Dramatic music.]
One is the weight doesn't quite feel right.
It feels very top-heavy and just kind of the feel of this, it's not the right material.
It almost looks to be, like, a resin, versus an injection molded piece and if you look at the bottom feature of this dispenser, these are what are called feet.
These are the little tabs that they put on it to do essentially this, help the dispenser stand upright, but they didn't appear on dispenser bases until 1987, so it doesn't match up with what the era would be for the head of that dispenser.
What you have here is a well-done replica.
So, you have maybe 20 bucks worth of something fun.
[ Ominous music.]
Would you give me 20 bucks for it? I would give you 20 bucks for it.
That doesn't even cover the tolls.
[Laughter.]
I may not have had a $15,000 Pez but, you know, I got to take a day trip out with my buds, I gotta go see the Pez museum, got to see how Pez was made.
Sounds like a $15,000 day to me.
[Laughter.]
Oh, and that's the end of another Pezitively wonderful episode, and for "Comic Book Men", I'm Kevin Smith.
- Bryan Johnson.
- Walt Flanagan.
- Mike Zapcic.
- Ming Chen.
Always remember to keep your dispenser loaded.
Good night.