Whatever. Just telling you what I believe to be the correct terminology. You wanna keep sayin’ “idiot” - have at it.
I strongly suspect it’s all an act. An entertaining act, no doubt. But an act nonetheless.
The best evidence is the episode (I don’t have the ref) where a guy comes in to sell his pair of “vintage” Jordans.
Out of left field, Chumlee is knowledgeable and astute. He explains very well why the guy is wrong about the vintage.
Chumlee is a good character. But I’m pretty sure the real Chumlee is much sharper.
/Loved the ep where they bought him business cards that read “Chum Lee” and they addressed him as “Mr. Lee”
I know if I go there, I certainly would. Chumlee rules. (When I first started watching the show, he irritated the hell out of me. Now he’s my favorite – along with the Old Man)
Corey, on the other hand, is annoying. He also has too much of a baby-face to be called “Big Hoss”.
He and Big Hoss would both be good pics for a celebrity death pool (if they count as celebrities) as I wouldn’t be surprised if either of them died. Both seem like walking coronary events and it’s not just the weight but the way they carry themselves and the way they sound. I’d also wager that Rick either is or has in the past few years been a heavy smoker as he has that giveaway wheeze when he laughs.
The show is obviously staged. The episode where Chumlee meets Dylan was the biggest giveaway: he just happens to be able to get within arm’s reach of a notoriously reclusive and weird rock megastar WITH A CAMERA CREW following behind him, and NOT ONE of the camera crew try and stop him when he gets the autograph made out to Chumlee, nor did Rick- who if the show is real knows that Chumlee’s about as sharp as a bag of wet hair, doesn’t think to mention this either. Yeah…
Or the one where he stomps grapes with his feet and adds in sugar and boxed wine. I’m sure they’d have let him do that.
Another thread on the show mentioned the staged nature of Rick’s expert “buddies”. Somebody brings in an axe that supposedly killed Vlad Tepes and Rick mentions “I’ve got a buddy who’s an expert in 15th century Ottoman and Wallachian weaponry- let me call him and have him take a look at it”. What actually happens is that an expert is flown into town from wherever he really lives (which might be Maine, Hawaii, or anywhere in between) and then is filmed giving the assessment and appraisal. The object and its owner are genuine, the expert is genuine, and whatever they say is accurate as they see it, but the notion that he calls up an expert from OTTOMAN & WALLACHIAN ANTIQUES AND GYROS HUT down the street and they drop everything and come to a pawn shop because some wild claim might or might not be genuine is kayfabe (one of my favorite words I’ve learned on the Dope, incidentally). The same staging makes Chum comic relief and the Old Man (who I suspect is a miserable old horse’s ass) into an avuncular curmudgeon.
A savant is a knowledgeable person. An idiot savant is a person who is knowledgeable about a specific thing but otherwise very unknowledgeable. I see no reason to drop the modifier in the second definition; else how would we describe the person in the first definition?
That wasn’t the case when they were on WWTBA Millionaire, Rick got more answers right than the Chumster.
I would never leave this establishment.
The guys on pawn stars never pay the full amount of the appraised value. They rarely pay more than half.
Rick’s gotten more generous this season, especially on higher-end items.
As the poster above said, the show is “worked” (there’s another rassling term for ya!) It superficially resembles the workings of a pawn shop in the same way that *Law & Order *superficially resembles police work, but that’s it. Who gets a great deal at a yard sale and then turns around and takes their prize to a pawn shop? Nobody–you put that thing on eBay, or go to a higher-end dealer. Pawn shops are for quick cash when you KNOW you’re going to take a big loss, not for consignment prices on 300-year-old muskets.
Don’t get me wrong–I love the show, and I’d much rather watch it than watch the more realistic Hardcore Pawn, which is loathsome, but don’t confuse Pawn Stars with the real thing.
i just read that as well. must be true
I don’t know how much money they make from History Channel but I’m sure it can subsidize some slow sell muskets.
Ironically it’s one of the few shows on History Channel that’s at all informative.
Yeah, he’s the lovable goofball just like Mikey is on American Choppers.
This is why I love the show. Learning the history of the items.
Big Hoss and Chumlee were childhood friends. I got a feeling they are a lot alike. Big Hoss seems pretty slow and lazy too.
Big Hoss may be a couple notches sharper than Chum. But, he’s nothing like Rick.
wow, Chum’s short!
http://www.exposay.com/celebrity-photos/ricky-harrison-corey-harrison-and-chumlee-1CV85b.jpg
I can see where Chumlee is made out to be comic relief, but The Old Man comes across as a miserable old horse’s ass to me. Avuncular curmudgeon? No way. He’s just a grouchy old man.
Are you kidding? Every episode is this:
Appraiser/Expert: “Well, I’d say this would sell at auction for perhaps $6,000”
Rick & Customer: “Thanks”
Rick: “So, what do you want for it?”
Customer: “Well, he said it was worth $6,000…”
Rick: “Hahaha… no, really. I’ll give you $2,000.”
If the Old Man is there, he answers first and says “I’ll give you $300 and that’s it.”
I think it’s a given that the shop (Silver & Gold? Whatever it’s named) isn’t a typical pawn shop. They must have had a reputation for handling antiques for the History Channel to take notice of them in the first place and now it’s nationally known as a place to sell your musket. People criticize the show saying people hard on their luck are selling prized possessions but who brings their musket or Civil War uniform on a trip to Vegas? Those people are there to get on the show these days and value the Pawn Stars experience more than the work of “properly” selling their antique.
I’m sure some people say “Screw you and your two grand, I’m going to eBay” but they wouldn’t air those since they want to portray the store as a successful place to go for all parties.
I hope they don’t take advantage of Chumlee. Chumlee needs to get paid for being on this show.
I remember on American Chopper the Teutuls got rich off the show. Employees like Rick, Vinnie, Cody and the others got nothing out of it. They were still punching a time clock and busting their ass making the Teutuls look good. They gave Cody a chopper on tv. Soon as the cameras were shut off, they took it away. Cody has a lawsuit for lost compensation.
They actually do show a lot of instances of this. I just watched the last 4 episodes and I know I saw it at least twice. I know several times they went out to someone’s house to see an item (car, vending machine, airplane etc) and even brought an expert out and the seller still said “no”.
I wonder if the sellers get paid for their appearances. The litigants on the 1,302 court shows get paid several hundred dollars (the defendant’s being applied to the judgment if they’re ruled against) plus travel expenses. If they do then it could explain why someone is willing to sell great-grandma’s handwritten love letters from Charles Darwin and Abe Lincoln for $3,000 when they’ve been told it’s worth twice that.
Did anybody see the episode where the guy brought in a relic of an American saint? The Latin documentation began with a strongly worded “NOT FOR RESALE IF YOU VALUE YOUR SOUL” (the general theme, not the actual words) which made Rick decide not to touch it. I thought that was a really peculiar episode: an item of enormous value but one that the only people who’d be interested in couldn’t buy. Kind of a Borgin & Burke’s feel.
I’ve seen numerous episodes where the seller says “I think I’ll keep it” or something. I haven’t seen one where the seller explicitly says “I’m going to sell it through some other means for more money”.
But I’m no Pawn Stars expert so I could very well have missed it.
He’s just playing along. I’ve known several smart people who have fun acting goofy. Other people have fun messing with them because they have fun going along with it.
Also, just because something is “worth” a certain price, doesn’t mean you’ll get anywhere near that. If you’ve been trying to sell something for a couple of years, taking a big loss on it might not be a bad idea after all that time. Also, they’re in Vegas, who knows what kind of people lose their butt in a casino and get desperate for whatever quick cash they can get. That’s what a pawn shop is for in the first place.