The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds - 665 - Beanie Baby Madness - Reverse Dollop

Episode Date: January 7, 2025

Comedians Gareth Reynolds and Dave Anthony are joined by Pam Reynolds to examine the Beanie Baby bubble. Reverse Dollop. Recorded in 2022 for a live online show.  Tour Dates Redbubble Merch Sources   Squarespace  Rocketmoney  Helix Sleep

We're going on tour and this is it's been a while March 2025 is when our tour is happening. First of all, we're going to Tempe, Arizona Maybe our best city of all time. It's the best that is on March 16th And then we go to Albuquerque, New Mexico, maybe our favorite city ever. We really never love the city We've ever gone to that's on March 17th and then we go to Oklahoma City, which is our faith We often say that it's our number one. Yeah, it's our number one. The best city I've ever been to.

That's on March 18th. On March 19th, we're going to be in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Our favorite city without question. And then we head to Dallas, Texas on March 20th. Our favorite city. That's why there's never been a better city. If you don't like it, you're a Dal asshole. Thank you.

And then we go to Houston, Texas on March 23, which is by far the best city. And then we end our tour in Austin, Texas, on March 22, at the Cap City Comedy Club. It's the best city. In the entire world. Number one city in the world. You can get tickets at dolloppodcast.com slash tour.

The dollop is brought to you by Rocket Money. Rocket Money. We've both saved a lot of money with Rocket Money at this point. So much money about a rocket. Yeah, not sure what's going on, but I don't either. Yeah. So I had subscriptions that I had no idea about Especially ones with my kid who just made them and I forgot when he was five or whatever So they don't know for years and then rocket money's like hey you're paying for this

and then and then I also had one of my One of my internet was they they redid the whole I had one of my internet was they redid the whole subscription. And I got a new router, like it just shows up one day. Because rocket money is saving like 300 bucks a year. So it's a great service. It's a good time to do it, right? You're getting organized with all the new year stuff. You're setting your goals.

Everything's going well. Yeah, a lot of people look at their finances and goes, where am I at? Rocket money, it's going to hit your goals. It's going to help you find all your subscriptions in one place and you can easily cancel stuff you forgot you were paying for. So it's great.

We're both fans. Rocket Money is a personal finance app that helps find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions, monitors your spending and helps lower your bills so you can grow your savings. Yes. It shows all your subscriptions in just one place. You know exactly where your money's going and then you get ones you don grow your savings. It shows all your subscriptions in just one place. You know exactly where your money's going,

and then you get ones you don't want anymore. Kick them to the curb, like Gareth. Radio Packers nonsense that he had going on. You have a Packers problem. So, Raga Money has over five million users and has saved a total of 500 million in canceled subscriptions, saving members up to $740 a year

when using all of the app's premium features. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster. With Rocket Money, go to rocketmoney.com slash dollop today. That's rocketmoney.com slash dollop. Rocketmoney.com slash dollop. Dollop. Oh. Oh boy it started poor Dave

Whoa, well that's not supposed to happen, but that's why I Is that you're going to tell you this but you're not allowed to do drops during my episode I said everything where every time I talk musical start. No, that's really gonna It's gonna be fun. That's gonna be very problematic for this. It's a vibe. It's not great. All right, so welcome to the Pollard reverse dollop.

I'll be reading the story to Dave. Oh, to me? And my mother. I thought it was Pam and I was sitting it out. Why would you be? Should we do a regular intro? You're. No, no. Listening. No, you're watching the dollop

on the All Things Comedy Network and Moment. This is a, bye, annual event. Shut up, it's going great. Where rarely I, a marshmallow enthusiast, croc owner, you are nodding to this part, and electric car enjoyer, Gareth Reynolds reads a story from American history

to my friend. Gareth Reynolds, who knows nothing about anything. And tonight's guest is my mother Pam. Good evening. Good evening. Good start. It's my start, isn't it? Yeah. How are you feeling? Are you excited? Oh, honestly, I can't explain the excitement. Is it a bit strange? It's a bit strange. This is all a bit strange. It's all a bit strange. Yes. I'm glad I've got Dave who will direct me in the right direction. He will not be directing you.

Pam and I are dating, by the way. I'm going to need to say, I'm going to actually have to ask Dave to leave. I'm going to actually need you to leave. I'm going to need you to leave right now. I'm dating for a couple of weeks. I'm going to need you to get out. He likes dinosaurs. I do.

I'm going to need you to get out. I'm going to need you both. Actually, I need you both to leave. I can do this alone, no problem. Just how you used to do it. Do you know that that's how the show started? Was Dave just used to read the stories out loud to himself in a closet? This is very passive. I don't. And then he found the money maker. Did he? Yeah. And then he found his little quarterback. But he had a good thing to start with and then you came along and that's not what I'm saying

September 3rd 1944 year of our Lord Buddha Shut up H tie Warner was born into a house of chaos. He was named after Ty Cobb, but the H that started his name stood for nothing. It was an affectation his mother had insisted on, which I believe you did with me, with a D, right?

You always wanted me to be D. Gareth Reynolds. She made up a letter? Yeah, the mother just wanted to attack on an H. She... No, I wasn't sure about Gareth. Yeah, you wanted to go with... I wanted Justin or Benjamin, I think. Well...

Benji, why would she... Why would she... It's Benjamin! Benji, why would she... It's Benjamin! Yeah, she just tacked an H, Chad. Why didn't she just... Benji, why didn't she just name him that from the beginning? Buddy, buddy, listen to me.

We're not... What? We're not doing that. We've been through many versions, and the fact that in the first 30 seconds of the story my mother has somehow trumped Garfy with giving you Benji is problematic. Anyway, so the age stood for nothing. So Ty and his sister Joy grew up in a Frank Lloyd Wright house in LaGrange, Illinois. During his childhood, his mother Georgia was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic. His father Hal didn't handle that or being a dad very well.

It was a rough life in many ways. One that didn't give Ty a tremendous amount of love, which is funny so far, right? It's hilarious. This is like a dollop start. One night, Joy woke up to find her mother standing over her with a knife. Joy said, quote, I don't think they knew how to give us love. Well. Yeah, jump in.

Did she stab? No. Okay, then it's love. And this is, mom, you have to understand, where Dave grew up, someone standing over you with a knife is just, that's a evening that's a bedtime story. Well it sounds like perhaps maybe she was doing Sunday lunch and she was carving up the beef. That's right. She's carving up beef. She's a beef carver. Late night beef carvings. She came in to tell Joy dinner's ready. Which cut you off then? Which cut you off after? You ready? You ready? Hello Governor!

Get out. Ty's dad Hal... That's good, right? Yes, that's a really good do. Ty's dad Hal was gone a lot as a toy salesman. He made a nice living and he was able to financially provide for the family, but that was all he provided. Unless you count unwanted sexual advances towards his daughter because he provided that too. Uhhhh... You don't need to jump in.

Ty's father once locked Ty in a closet for being too affectionate towards his mother. And another time when Ty didn't clean up his dog's shit, his dad got rid of it. The dog, not the shit. Not the dog's shit, he kept the shit? The dog's shit probably went too. Did the shit stay as the pet? The shit stayed as the pet and he got rid of the dog. That's fair.

And then he was like, clean up your shit's shit. The shit was shitting? Yeah, shit's shit. The shit's shit! Did he paint a face on it? All right, that's... Now I don't know where we're at. Did he tape hair to the top? Who's a good little buddy? He must smell my shit! Sounds like the magic roundabout. Okay, so Ty was sent to St. John's Northwestern Military Academy to be their problem.

And after he was out of the house, his parents separated. Ty claims that he thrived at the academy. He graduated with honors and with the rank of fly sergeant. But his sister said that that was all BS. She said that he hated it from all the hazing and he was once stabbed. But either way. Wait, wait. Was that part of the hazing or we just leave that as like a thing?

Sizzle like bacon, pop like popcorn, die like stabbed. That's actually worse than people not liking you at military school. If you get stabbed, that's way beyond like, I don't like that guy. No, but you get a badge. You get one of those. I don't think you do get a badge. You do. You get a little- I think you just go one of those. I don't think you do get a badge. You do, you get a little. I think you just go to the hospital.

Yeah, they give you a little wrist badge. A wrist, yes. Yeah, you get a wrist badge. Yeah, yeah. That's the same, I mean look. Like if I got stabbed, I wouldn't be like, people don't like me. When you get stabbed.

When you get stabbed, good lord. If, imagine, if, Dave, Dave will be stabbed. After college for one year, he went to LA to try to act for another five, and then he moved back to Chicago, moved back in with his dad. So, we just did five years of him trying to act. We just did five years of commercial auditions, five years of groundlings, five years of being on a veil. Yeah. Five years, you know, we've all done five years of kids birthday parties where he's peeing

in bottles in his car making fucking balloon animals and he's going to meet some weirdo in a Walgreens parking lot hey who's to giving him his costumes for the weekend Benji given him his costume for the weekend Benji he's asking him he's at Benjamin you son of a bitch my name is a Benji it And he's asking him, he's at, Benjamin, you son of a bitch! My name isn't Benji, it's Benjamin. I can already feel this coming at me for the next five years. At this time, Ty's father, Hal, was a salesman who worked at Daken. I think it might be Daken.

Either way, Daken. Well, look at you. A $200 million a year toy company. Ooh. See, my mother worked in toy sales. So I thought she might be able to lend a hand to some of this. So it's a big toy company. Yes, I can't remember what they sold. I'll tell you what they sold. They specialized in stuffed animals.

That's right, Dakin, yes, yes. With no real prospects. And that's why the dad was there, because he liked to stuff. Stuff animals. He liked to stuff the dog. He liked to stuff little things. With no real prospects and sick of moping around, Ty became his dad's sub rep at the company. Ty was selling plush stuffed animals.

Now mother, what would you call plush? Do you know, I kind of know what it is, I don't know if you have a better definition of a plush stuffed animal. Well, they were just soft. So Ty and his dad had a super weird relationship. Really? Yes. Believe it or not, Dave, Ty had major daddy issues. On more than one occasion, Ty would date women that his father had previously dated because he was jealous of the attention

his father gave to those women and he wanted to prove he was just as good as his dad. Super normal stuff. I mean, you also want to, like, I can tell you it's great to, like, show a woman that you're a better lover than you're. Now Dave, I don't want you to pull any punches just because my mother's here. So certainly. Well it's weird because we're dating so I don't want to get into things. Oh shut the, you got Benji going, you're dating her.

I mean, you, we are like on page three. Holy shit, this is an absolute nightmare. I don't think I'll get to the end of this. So Ty quickly became the best earning salesperson at Dakin. He was making $100,000 a year in the late 60s, which would be like $800,000 a year in today's money bucks. He even ended up making more than the CEO off of his commissions. Ty was also learning what worked in the toy business, low prices, high volume, and avoiding

the big box retailers for the more mom-pa smaller stores. Ty, quote, I learned marketing impulse items from Deakin. They were the best, end quote. It would give him an innate ability to predict what would work and what wouldn't. As his fellow sales rep, Mike Ingram said, they all really appreciate him. Quote from Mike, quote, he was a smart ass shithead. He was arrogant and thought that he was somebody that he wasn't. I would guess you're going to be hard pressed to find anybody who liked him.

That's pretty cool. It's like a Dave Yelp. He's a salesman? He was a salesman, yep. And he's an unlikable salesman? Yeah, but his supervisor, Paul Roche, on the other hand, also didn't care for him. Quote, I never liked him as a human being. I didn't find any level of trust between him and the company or him and anybody else.

At that time in his life, he was very selfish, totally into himself. So you're probably thinking, were they just jealous? No, I'm thinking he was raised by a terrible father and he is also a total piece of shit. It's weird how being raised by a shitty father will make you a piece of shit, isn't it everybody? Everybody watching at home? Were they jealous? I don't think it was that. Quote from Roche again. I don't think anybody was jealous of him because we all knew he had a lousy life. He had no close relationships. They were close in so far as they served him.

No real friends, none. That was part of the guy's problem. He was into work and pussy in that order. Once he scraped the surface away just a little bit, he was an asshole. Oh, gosh. Well, how do you feel about that, Pam? That got a little graphic. I feel, yes, yes, it was very graphic, wasn't it? Yeah.

Now, what was this? How old was he then and what year? So this is like the, I mean, this quote is probably after the fact, but he worked there during the 60s and 70s. 60s and 70s. Yeah. He worked there about 15 years. Is this the guy the book Workin' Pussy's about?

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, yeah. All right, I've read that. In that, Workin' Pussy call it in that order. Yeah, no, he shows you how to get it both. Now how you feeling? Dave dug a little bit deeper for us.

I think I might want to read Prince Harry's share. Might be quite mild. That you're not bringing up Prince Harry's book. As Ty was getting ready to go off on his own endeavor, Hal, Ty's father, died in 1983 from a heart attack. God damn it, I loved him. I know. So he passes away, and Ty didn't tell his sister for five days. He did this to, alleged

by joy, his sister, clean out his father's collectibles and sell them. So in other words, to beat her to the inheritance money. Warner would later state to people that he was given a $50,000 inheritance. However, there's evidence to suggest that that figure was more like 200,000. So he just kind of like. He took the money.

Well, he took the assets. He sold the stuff. He sold the stuff. Sold the goods. Yeah, he sold the goods. And even though he's making basically $800,000 a year, he needs a little extra cut. He needs some extra scratch. Well, the reason why he's doing this is because he wants to start his own business.

The toy business. Oh, I skipped this part. Sorry. So he was like the best salesman at Deakin. How does he skip things? I don't know. We were talking about Prince Harry's penis. I think it was because we distracted him. Excuse me. We were talking about Prince Harry's penis. I think it was because we distracted him.

Excuse me, we were talking about Prince Harry's penis. He can't keep track of a story just because you bring up something else? He's got ADDDDDD, whatever that is. Thank you. Thank you, mom. Sorry. No, it's fine. Just a joke.

You can't get that medication in this country. So he basically, when he's going on his sale calls, when he's still a sales rep for Deakin, which is what you were, you were a sales rep. I'm a sales rep. So, that's basically what he does. So, when he's going out on these calls, he starts pitching the people his products. Well, like stuff he's thinking about. He's like, what would you think about that?

Future toys. Future toys. And then the word gets back to Deakin that he's doing that. And they're like, hey, are you starting your own business or something? He's like, no. And then they hire a private investigator. The private investigator's like, no, not only

is he starting his own business, he has an office. Like, so they realize. So he's using that money that he took from his father, the inheritance, and his own money to start his own business. So that's the point. So are we supposed to be mad at this guy because he's a go-getter? No, no, of course not.

The toy business. This is the American dream. The toy business is ruthless and brutal. How many people did you kill when you were a toy rep? I didn't kill any, but I was very close. Yeah. That's the spirit. Yes, I was very close to doing it.

Yeah, but you hit people with your car, you always told me. Yes, I did. Yeah. Yeah, there you go. Yes, I did. You hit a deer with your car.. I did well the deer hit me. Did you eat it? Yeah, we ate it that night No, we didn't. Yeah, we ate it raw out back You know, we have this story about we lived in Brown Deer is where I grew up Brown Deer, Wisconsin and there was we had a dog that was like 150 pounds and

Labrador a labrador and like, I mean, just love to eat. So don't be making Jose comparisons and stuff, because that's not what anyone's after. But the dog would like he just for like a week, like he stunk. He just had the worst gas. And we're just going, what is going on? Like, this is next level. And then a cop came to our door and goes, just so you know, I saw your dog in the woods eating this old rotting deer carcass. Cool. And so our dog just was going out there just like eating its guts and then coming back.

You guys should have fed it. Yeah, we did feed it. It's 150 pounds. But what's nice is that in those days, the police were really nice. They'd come and tell you. Excuse me. Sorry. We're still.

Fellas, thank you for all that you do. You're doing amazing work and we really appreciate it out there. I'm referring to the English police. Yeah, the Bubbies. The Bubbies. You American cops. They're murderers. B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B- starting his own business. He doesn't know what to call it, but genius takes time. So, he thought about it long and hard. American girl. And Ty went with Ty Inc. And the logo would be Ty in a Heart. So, his company, his name's Ty and his company is called Ty. Do

you recognize that, Jay? Nope. You recognize that? Oh, yes. Okay. Interesting. That's not a thing. So, the headquarters were opened just outside of Chicago. And Ty's first line of plush was to be a line of Himalayan cats that would be floppy, cuddly, and furry. Sure. They had to have the cuddle factor. And there were beans in the butt and the feet, which gave them the feature of what he called posability.

As Ty would say, quote, no one had put the combination of understuffed with beans, all the animals were stiff and hard. And there you'll see is the. Hell yeah, what the fuck? That might have been the pussy he was talking about earlier. That is terrible. Who wants that? What doesn't want that?

It's got poseability. It looks like a burn on the face and shot out of a cannon. Well, what's funny is one time it took a shit and the dad got rid of it. Which is crazy because the dad's first of all dead and that's not a real cat. That's not a real cat. Was that a beanie baby that one? No, no that's not. That was what he started off with. That's the beginning. Yes. So that is that is what he came up with. We had him alone. Can't you remember? Yeah, that's who it is. This picture. Fun fact, took nine hours because he was like

insistent that they got it right. Shut the fuck up. Well, when you see it, you know that it took work. That's what he wanted to get it right. Also, Ty had now started dressing like Willy Wonka. Yep. There are no pictures of this. I'm I'm going to take off. No, no, you got to stay. No, thanks for inviting me. That door's locked. That door's locked. What in the fuck are you talking about? So there's no pictures of that face.

What do you mean there's no pictures of that? Believe me, I've tried to find him dressed as Willy Wonka. But he would basically do it for toy shows or sales appointment. He would have Italian scarves, hot pink suits, or pink ties, and pink socks. He would match. He also walked with a prop cane, and he drove a Rolls Royce. I mean, Dave, think about it. He wanted to get people talking. He wanted people to be like, hey, who is this guy? Or like, hey,

what's with this guy? Or this guy's really weird, right? Or like, hey, I hate this guy. You know, stuff like that. And I think that look really did it. That look would do it. Absolutely. And get ready because I'm also going to have a Willy Wonka face Benji hit me that Bizarre Benji But he still had this drive to make cuter softer stuffed animals gotta go cuter. Oh, yeah, always be cutering Terrible. It's a toy. It's an old Yeah, we sorry don't forget that's a huge part of this whole thing. I know.

Not just you and Dave hanging out like you have been for the past couple weeks. Sorry. Well, that's why I was looking over because I'm so you can look at the mic. It's like one more candlelight at a restaurant. Yes. Yes. Erin, can you get a bucket? I just need something to sort of put my guts into. I think that's something to sort of put my guts into. Okay, so 1993, Ty Inc. employed 14 people in its main five-room office facility. Ty was about to turn 50, and it made $1.3 million that year. But things were about to get wild. See, he'd acquired this patent to make this special synthetic fur, and he began using

it on a new line of plush. It was a $5 line of bean bag animals that he called Beanie Babies. Well, someone else came up with the name, but it's still technically true and that's what he called them. Ty, quote, in 1983 I built my company on great quality and great prices. My only retail points were $5 and $10. I believe that these retail price points were critical to our success." End quote. He also wanted them to be palm size so the kids could hold them or put them in

their pocket or fit them in their backpack. That's what I do with mine. I still have one. That's smart. The first Beanie Babies were Legs the Frog, Cubby the Bear, Quack the Duck, Chocolate the Moose, Pinchus the Lobster, Spot the Dog, Squealer the Pig, Splash the Whale, Flash the Dolphin, and Patty the Platypus. Let me tell you about Patty the platypus. Let me go. Patty the platypus was named after his girlfriend, Patricia Roche. Sure.

Wait, he has a girlfriend now? Yeah. So yes, yes. At this point, he has a girlfriend. She kind of was integral to coming up with the product line with him. She even had two kids from a previous marriage, and he would kind of test the beanies out with them, and they'd be like, oh, I don't like this, or I like that. So he's kind of test marketing with them. She even had two kids from a previous marriage and he would kind of like test the beanies out with them and they'd be like, oh, I don't like this or I like that. So he's kind of test marketing with them. They were pretty much living together in a shared house.

Okay? So now, like I said, they were a posable plush and they were called beanie babies because of the little beans in them. But they weren't stuffed with beans. Ty made sure they had enough beans to be full, but not too many beans to be unposable. So those are the beans and the beans and Beanie Babies. Now Ty was excited with his new, are you done? Yeah, I'm gonna open up a drink and have a little sippy sip. It's just a little distracting.

So Ty was excited with his new line, but when he unveiled Beanie Babies at the Rocky Mountain Toy Show, nobody cared. Still, he believed in his babies. You ever been to the Rocky Mountain Toy Show, nobody cared. Still, he believed in his babies. You've ever been to the Rocky Mountain Toy Show? No, I wondered where it was. Where was that? I would be in Colorado.

Colorado? Yeah. RMTS. RMTS. RMTS, the Rocky Mountain Toy Show. Oh, oh, oh, right. Yeah, he's really into the lingo. Yeah, he's good.

He's good. Dave's one of the fastest acronyms we've had on the dollar. Yes, yeah, he's very good. But you would of the fastest acronyms we've had on the dollar. Yeah, he's very good. But you would go to a lot of toy shows. Yes. That'd be a place where they would present a bunch of toys. Yes. New York in particular was the main place.

New York's the big one. Now, has anybody ever was like, hey, want to come to my hotel room and cut open a toy? Hey, what do we do? Hey, just drink and get a bar. What do you guys want to do after this? I was thinking we'd go up to my room and just cut open some of the beanie babies and slowly squish them out. Just see what the beans are like.

And then we can suck the beans and just do whatever we want with the beans. Can we have another round of Manhattan's? Let's get some more Manhattan's, then we'll go to my room. I have like 30 beanie babies that I just got from Ty. The Willy Wonka guy. And then we can just go up there and cut him up and then we could just make a bean pile Who's you guys down? No, I'm gonna stay here. Oh you want to do it in the bar? I know we cut open beaties in the bar. I don't know. I just don't want to cut them up Oh, you want to rip a bean? No, I don't do a line of me

I don't want to do any beans do a bean bump Just go ahead and do a key bean. No, I don't want to be a baby. I'm not a bean bump. Just go ahead and go. Do a key bean. No, I don't want a bean at all. Try a key bean. I'm not a bean guy. Step some bean off my hand. It's not. Hey, so going to stall two, I left my credit card with some beans on the toilet paper thing. Hurry. What's supposed to happen with your credit card?

You just cut a nice hot line of bean. Hurry, dude. I don't want bean. What? They're also little. This is primo bean! They're little plastic things. Oh dude, I know it.

Some of it's not going down. Well yeah, because it's plastic. Oh shit dude. I think some is lung based now. Well yeah, it's plastic. Oh man, I am so fucked up. Yeah, you're gonna die. I'm living.

Um, okay. So then he introduced more beanie babies even though nobody gave a shit There here comes Allie the alligator blackie the bear bones the dog Chilly the bear Daisy the cow diggers the crab Goldie the goldfish Happy the hippo Humphrey the camel inky the octopus lucky the ladybug miss the unicorn picking the panda swirly the snail slither the snake speedy The turtle trapped the mouse and spinner the spider who the fuck wants the spider Hey, what? Look at Spinner. Like, I get all those, except for the fucking spider. Dave, what an admission that you get all those.

Well, the rest of them, you're like, I could see a kid cuddling with that. Maybe not the snake. No, not the snake. But the spider? Like, what kind of creepy kid do you have that's like, hey, daddy, daddy, I want the spider. Give me the spider, daddy.

Dad got drunk last night and cut it open and did some bean lines. What happened to my spiders? Oh, my god, my spider made eggs. That's what I was just going to say. You cut it open, you're like, oh, my god. Spinny's pregnant. Hey, Aaron, you want to toss me what I gave you?

Oh, my god. There's actual props. Have you got the spider? No, I got Daisy the cow. Oh. Daisy. I remember. You had quite a few.

So they still sell? No, I didn't. They still sell these? I did not have Beanie Babies. Yeah, they still sell them. Wow, it looks like Jose. What a fucking asshole. Okay, so Ty also stuck to the principles that he learned at Dayken.

He knew to sell to smaller stores. It bred loyalty to his brand. They needed his sales. You know quote, it's better selling to 40,000 accounts than it is to five accounts. It's more difficult to do. I've always said that. But for the longevity of the company and profit margins, it's the better of the two. You've always said to sell the 40,000 accounts.

Yeah, that's one of my sayings. And in what capacity is that? Because you are a- Dollop. Right. I mostly sell the dollop to small stores. That's where we do all of our business. I'm not going to work with the bigger Circuit City and Toys R Us.

Okay. I've got some tough news about Circuit City. What? And Toys R Us, to be honest. What are you talking about? There's no... Do you notice how those places where they used to be are now just Halloween stores? Yeah, they do a seasonal... Circuit City. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Circuit City, you're now... By the way, do you ever wonder what a Halloween store is like in say January are you fucking doing stand up the camera right now what are you doing this is my world you're in the dojo welcome to the dojo what's the dojo go to the enjoy iron so most companies would release end, Joe. Go to the end, Joe. So most companies would release a product and leave it out there, and if it didn't sell well, they would discontinue it and move on, but not Ty. Ty Warner would keep changing his product, like by making a new Teddy Beanies face rounder

versus flat, which he did. If he had an idea on how to make a beanie better, he would simply start making a better one, and he would leave the one out there and he'd be working on another one. And it was all just kind of doing so-so. It's called updating. That's right. Always be working on your product. That's right.

Like if you have a spider, make it a better spider. Turn it into an octopus. Dave's really good. He should have been a marketing manager. Thank you. Yeah, well, I don't know. Did you hear that? Nothing really came out at the end?

Oh, no. I made an octopus. It's a marketing plan. Turn a spider into an octopus. Did you hear that? Nothing really came out at the end. Oh, no I made an octopus. It's a marketing plan. Turn a spider into an octopus. Now you got a black blacktopus Don't encourage that. What do you mean encourage it? Have you ever never heard of the blacktopus? Spocktopus. The Spocktopus. Anyway, it was all doing so so. This is what our dates are like. Oh, well it sounds like a fucking nightmare.

It was all doing so so until he had a revelation prompted by a lamb named Lovey. What? Seen here. Oh shit. Drunk. I would cuddle the fuck out of that. Lovey is lovely.

Lovey is lovely. So sweet. Do you remember when I was a kid growing up, I had a lamb? You did have a lamb. I did have a lamb. And I wasn't nearly as good at that. And I threw up on the lamb.

Oh yeah. And you washed it and we kept it. And you, I gave it to you when you moved. You've got that lamb. When I moved? Well, one of your 300 moves. When I moved out of the house? I gave you lamby.

Yes, you had lamby. Cause it was real fur. It was real lamb's fur. What? And you've got it, he's got it somewhere Dave. I don't, no I don't. You're accusing, I do not have lamby, because it was real fur. It was real lamb's fur. What? And you've got it. He's got it from where I came. No, I don't. I do not have lamby.

You do. I do not. You do. I'm telling you, I know all of the things that I have. And I don't have lamby. It had real fur. It had real lamb. It was actually a real lamb.

And then it just had passed away, because I didn't know that. Yeah, I had a little sheep, but it had real insides. Did it. So Lovey sold very well in hospitals. However, in 1995, because of some fabric issues with suppliers in China, Lovey had to be discontinued. Oh, damn it. Buyers seemed like Dave.

They were upset by this news. So, the decision was made to not say that Lovey was discontinued, but retired. This for some reason made buyers less angry and more intrigued. It's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. This tactic was not invented by Warner, but was one he utilized over and over again. It's stupid. He did have a skill at selling people this way. One of his former execs, quote, he was a master at selling useless shit to people and making it seem really important.

That's exciting. That's really, what an impressive, you should put that on your gravestone. Yeah, yeah. Well, in a way, isn't that just kind of the American economy? Yeah, that's capitalism. It's just like, how can I sell this absolute garbage to people? You need this thing. You gotta have it.

You need it. You gotta have it. Yeah. Around this time, kids in Chicago were starting to like Beanie Babies. And as kids do, they told their parents that they wanted to collect more. And in the small suburb of Naperville, Illinois, a few mothers were helping their kids acquire them, but also began to fall in love with the beanie babies themselves. And since you couldn't go to Toys R Us or Walmart to get them with ease, they would

need to drive around beanie hunting. It felt like a scavenger hunt. Wait, adult? Adults now want feeders? Yes. So like the kids like them and then like mothers in Naperville start falling in love. They just start loving them. But the thing that they start to kind of fall in love with is that you have to kind of find them.

So it is like- Oh, it's a collection thing. It sets off a collection. It's I found the spider and you don't have it. Yes. Here's a quote. What was available, how many were available when they were produced and we had to find this all out on our own. And so they liked that. Can I tell you one of my little tales? Sure. That when I used to go and deal with buyers in the small shops. And if there was a delivery of beanie babies

and there was a mother in there, they would phone around and tell all their friends that the beanie babies were arriving. And they'd follow the UPS truck. You will find more of this coming. It was ridiculous. She told me that story on Wednesday night. And in 1996, and she doesn't even understand. Yeah, microphone. No, it's actually, if you're going to talk about dating. Oh, sorry. Yeah, microphone.

No, it's actually, if you're going to talk about dating, Dave, that could be off mic. And in 1996, one mother, Becky Phillips, began noticing which ones were harder to find than others. So, they began, so she's, this is Becky Phillips, she starts going crazy and she's finding that they're harder and harder to find. She starts going crazy. Becky also was the one who discovered that there were differences in the teddies faces like I mentioned earlier.

Oh my God. So if you look here you see you got old teddy, you got a bit of a boxier nose and then you got round faced teddy. And so she's the one who's like, wait these teddies are different. And once word got out about flat faced teddy or as they call it old faced teddy versus newer rounder faced teddy, the plot thickened even more. More and more mothers began collecting beanies, kind of obsessively. It kind of triggered, like we said, this collection mentality.

Exchanges and trades were common, like drug deal at toy stores or malls. Moms would meet up and they would trade, quote, two tobaccos for one kiwi. So it was all very sort of like crazy. And yeah, it's basically these mothers are like meeting up places like exchanging beanies for ones that they don't have What in the fuck is happen by 96 beanie fever was spreading through the Midwest Bongo the monkey was being sold faster than they could get them at one, Wisconsin location In Christmas 95 one Midwest retailer recounted that bongos were just sitting on the shelves, but by January 1996 quote

They took off like crazy like bongos like bongos much like which does it say which Wisconsin retailer? I don't have that information, but I will certainly get back to you all as soon as I do the cameras not on you It's on us right now the couple That's the couple cam and then they have the single game over there. Oh, oh, oh, I see. Wait a minute. Have you just noticed you're being? Oh, this is when it's you and, this is you and I, when we're together.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. When we're together. Oh, I get it. Oh, how sweet. Shut up, everybody. So, tweaks are being made, like I said, and not just to the plush items and beanies themselves. Lena Trivedi was a 19-year-old that was hired at Ty in 93. Ty had complained

that the Ty tags, those little hearts, were boring because they just had this to and from on them. I agree. Yes. So Lena pitched that they used the space there. You can see the to and from. Oh my god. Oh my god, Lena. That they use the space there. You can see the two in front. Oh my god. Oh my god. Lena. That's Daisy the cow.

Give Lena a raise. No, she hasn't done anything yet, asshole. Give her a fucking raise. No, that's not what she did. So Lena pitched- Lena, you're hired and it's my company. Dave, no. So Lena pitches that they use that space to give them a birth date and a poem. Ty asked for a poem, so she started with Stripes the Tiger, the poem. Stripes was never fierce nor strong,

so with tigers he didn't get along. Jungle life was hard getting by, so he came to see his friends at Ty. And she added Stripes' birthday, June 11th, 1995. I am over the moon with what's happening. Isn't that beautiful? You're excited. This is the best thing that's ever happened. It's so lovely. That beanie baby was born.

It came out of another beanie baby on that day. Mm-hmm, yeah, that's right. And actually, in America now, you're not allowed to choose whether you want to have your beanie baby or not. This is awkward. Warner loved it. He loved the idea, and he asked her to write one for the other 86 beanies in one day. Except, he told her that he would do the one for Patty the platypus.

Now, I told you before, that was named after his girlfriend. Well, that was now his ex-girlfriend. You see, things with Patricia had gone south. Ty had never given her a salary, even though she was essential to the sales and the design. She was paid, but he tried to nickel and dime her the whole way as much as possible with the promise. That's what you do with a girlfriend. With the promise that he would one day take care of her.

Not you. Oh no. I know you are. That was not true. As is exclusive. After their breakup, Patricia had accused Ty of stalking her for two years, knowing where she was every day during that timeframe and even following her on a vacation she had taken with her new boyfriend. Well, what's he supposed to do?

The anger, that's not good for you. The anger that Ty held came across in the Patty the Platypus poem that he wrote. Quote, ran into Patty one day while walking. Believe me, she wouldn't stop talking. Listen and listen to her speak. That would explain her extra large beak." That was in the Beanie Baby. So, ravenous Midwest mothers are now going to more and more extreme lengths to get Beanie Babies. They would call Ty Incorporated headquarters to find out which ones they were missing, what stores may have them, anywhere in the US.

Okay, this is a great example of how we had nothing to do in the 90s. Yeah, this is like, this is a conflation of so many 90s things in one. Totally. Among them, one thing I was watching, this woman who ended up running a Beanie Baby thing, she was like, I mean, I was working a full-time job basically, like six hours a day. And I was like, six hours a day? A full-time job? That's what we used to be like, man, I worked my ass off. Six hours. And now it's just like, I got to do this and I got to do this. And we're just like, but yeah, there is like, it's a combination of many things. But the women would, and again, it's not just mothers, but it was mainly mothers.

They would call Ty Inc. and they would find out which ones they were missing and what stores may still have them. They would call the Chamber of Commerce. I'm not trying to field these calls from these hitties. They would call the Chamber of Commerce. I am calling about Slinky the Binky. I want to know when he was born and then what states he was shipped to. We told you before, Slinky the Binky is not one that we have made.

No, there's a Slinky the Binky in 76 station in Des Moines. Okay, go there. And my friend Sheila saw it when she was on a trip. Okay, well go there. We have to actually keep this line open for other calls, so good luck. Hello? I also want to ask you about... Okay, goodbye.

So they would also call Chambers of Commerce and they would see what shops had them in a city and then they would call those stores and then they would find the beanies. What the fuck are you talking about? Why are they calling them... Imagine being at the Chamber of Commerce. Look at it. Look at it. And some lady's like, hey, where are the Beanie Babies? Look at it.

I fucking see it. Do you? Because it sure doesn't feel like you see it with your attitude, which is getting worse and worse. Can I just tell you another little tale? Sure. Or should I shut up? No.

Well, there was a- Just, should we explain to everyone you just pulled the tissue out of your sleeve? Oh yeah, yeah, I'm just gonna- Like a magician, but who uses the magic handkey? Sorry. She does that all the time. That was a beanie baby, magic handkey. Yeah, okay, yeah, that's pretty good.

But anyway, so this retailer told me that she was coming into her shop one day and there was a huge queue outside. It wasn't open, they opened at 10 or whatever. There was a huge queue and she went to open the door and one of the customers pushed her and told her to go to the back of the queue. Oh my God. And she said, it's my store.

She said, I'm opening up my store and they were waiting for Beanie Beans. Move it, loser. Hey, how did you get a fake key to this store? Where some of us are looking to figure out how to do that. This lady's picking the lock. She should have gone to the back of the line and been like, sorry, we're not opening up until I get to the that. This lady's picking the lock. She should have gone to the back of the line and been like,

sorry, we're not opening up until I get to the front. Yeah. And there was another story because I... Okay, hold... I'll give you a story, another story. Okay. Thank you. So naturally the search got wider and wider. February 12th, 1996, Peggy Gallagher. So Peggy was spending thousands of dollars in long distance Phone calls and found a treasure trove of beanies in Germany So what so like fuck so she so she calls this place in Germany and she orders a hundred Yes, we have beanie Babies which a beanie baby. Are you looking for you want the spider now hold on?

Why are you so interested in all of our beanies? Explain to us the intelligence you have that we've omitted. I think there's something going on with the beanies. They are. They just put cameras on all the beanies. We haven't even said you beanies. The Americans are calling about the pig.

They want 30 squealers. So she orders 198 beanies. She orders 30 chili of the polar bears, 36 peeking pandas, 84 old-faced teddies, 36 trap the mouses, 12 patty the platypuses, all at $7 a pop. And all in all cost her about $2,000. She's going to make bank. In 1996, beanie lunatic and Naperville mom Joni Hirsch Blackman interviewed Ty for the

July 1 issue of People magazine. The article begins with, quote, they have soft heads, floppy ears, and squishy bodies. They're also small enough to fit in your pocket, but to store owners like Richard Gurnady, whose suburban Glenview, Illinois shop sold 5,000 of the pint-sized stuffed animals in the week before Valentine's Day. Beanie babies are huge." In the article, Grinetti predicted, the guy who the store was, predicted that beanie babies would be, quote, the biggest thing ever in retailing.

Elvis, Sinatra, and the Beatles combined. True. True. And this story kind of takes the beanies from a little bit more of a niche market to the mainstream. Blowing up. More people know. And this was the only real interview that Ty Warner would ever give, was this one early

on to this woman who was a Naperville mother who was obsessed with beanie babies. Normal. So that exposure didn't only help Warner and Ty Inc., but it made Grenini come up with the first official beanie checklist, a list of all the beanies ever made on the market, retired, duplicates, old ones, new ones, all of them. And this just kind of kicks it all up another notch. As one mother said, quote, I'll do the Midwest accent, my downfall was the checklists. Once you have a checklist, you don't know what, you don't look at what you have, you

look at what you don't have. I don't have the salamander. Yeah. Where are you from, miss? Sammy the salamander. Excuse me, miss, where are you from? What's that? You're from Naperville?

We moved around all over. What? Are you even American? Yeah, it's a little bit American. I just, you know, from all over. All over the world or all over? I started in California and then I also lived in... Your accent is just like a melange of a bunch of weirdos.

Yeah, like I said, I'm from all over. Hold on, it's that German lady! It's the German! Viva to Novotchevotveskishe! Thanks to the Women of Naperville, the People article and the new Beanie checklist, the sales of Ty Inc. increased 1000% in 1996. The company's sales were $280 million and Ty brought home 98 million. Some say it was the mothers who elevated Ty, but people who knew Ty said he also was a

part of it, pulling the strings. Quote, Tai doesn't fart without planning it weeks in advance. Which is what you're used to. Yeah, that's actually really, no, that's a really good example of someone who knows how to plan. Like a really good, Lee Iacocco is known for that. Like a really good businessman will be like, I'm looking at the calendar. I actually can't, I'm actually farting June 9th.

And the 10th I'm available. Oh no, I'm going to have a shit. I'm actually farting June 9th. The 10th I'm available. Oh no, I'm gonna have a shit. I'm sorry. Looks like I'm free. I have a 10 a.m. fart and at two I free up a little, which means more farting. Gareth, the dollop is brought to you by Helix Sleep. So Gareth, I have started using my Apple Watch is brought to you by Helix Sleep.

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That's helixsleep.com slash slash dollop 25% off site wide plus two free dream pillows with mattress purchase Hicks sleep comm slash dollop ah yeah yeah like they say helix we're gonna enter Dave's dreams I need everyone to stay out of my dreams. We're coming. Helix, don't do that. We're going to take it. Squarespace! Dave, Dave, we love them. Squarespace, all in one. They do it all. It's a website company, but they do it.

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Every single one. Your site, my site, our site, our source site, all of it. It's because they do everything and it makes everything super easy. Squarespace has a site and it is obviously a Squarespace. Now, Gareth, they have a fluid engine. That's right. Do you want to? Well, it's like a flux capacitor for your website. So what this is, is this is an ability

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No, they're not. Stores were now running out of beanies. You know, ravenous fans, winding lines outside of malls. I'm not saying like two, three hour lines. We are talking 16 hour lines. People hanging out outside of malls to what you were talking about. What the fuck? It's a fucking stuffed animal. Stores were forced to put up signs saying that they were sold out basically all the

time. Sorry, sold out of beanies. With that, parents who wanted a specific beanie would have to look elsewhere. So newspapers were now taking over with wand ads. This is like every paper. Beanie Babies. Every paper. Santa.

Yeah. $50. Does that mean? Santa was like, look, the elves quit. Santa's, hello. And what's the ad supposed to say? Santa, and I need some slithery the snakes. Here's all the names, Daisy the cow,

Ringo the raccoon, Crunch the shark, Spike the rhino, Jabber, Pouch, Gigi, nuts. Let me tell you the editing I had to do in this to just not say everyone, because it's like everyone, I'm like, this is also insane, They're just nuts. So Ty Warner has figured out the game by now. He would do tours of stores, and if one wasn't selling well, he would just say it was retiring,

and then people would go wild for it. He would also retire beanies that were scarce already and drive collectors nuts. It was called, quote, controlling the fad. That was a phrase he was known to use a lot and swear by. With all this happening, Lena Treviti also gives Ty some valuable advice that year. We're in 96. She said the company needed to create this thing called a website. Now this is before people could really process what the internet was illustrated here.

What the internet is? That's how 56 passed. I wasn't prepared to translate that as I was doing that little tease. Oh, that's right. That little mark with the A and then the ring around it. See, that's what I said. Katie said she thought it was about. But I'd never heard it said.

I'd always seen the mark but never heard it said. And then it sounded stupid when I said it. Violence at NBC. What would be around or about? There it is. Violence at NBCGEcom. I mean... Well, what Allison should know, when did you say that? What is Internet anyway? America the Violent?

Internet is that... How do we not keep that as our slogan? ...that's becoming really big now. What do you mean? That's big? What do you write to it, like mail? No, a lot of people use it and communicate. I guess they can communicate with NBC writers and producers. Allison, can you explain what internet is?

No, she can't say anything in 10 seconds or less. Oh my god! I'll be in the studio shortly. Such a prick. America the Violet! That's a better name. That's the best, that's our slogan. Yeah, that is.

That's totally us. And isn't it a bit, I mean, this is, we were talking so long ago, and we're like so much worse, but then they're like, we're a little worried about this violence in America. Buddy, you have no fucking clue what's about to happen. So only about 10% of Americans were on the internet at this time. Ty had a lot of questions, why and how it worked, but he trusted Trivedi so he agreed. But he quickly ran into an issue.

Ty.com was already scooped up. A dad had bought it for his son. Some dude was like, Ty, you're getting a website. Obviously Ty Warner sued him because he owned the trademark for Ty. But he lost the lawsuit and then he paid the guy $150,000 for the domain. And boy, was that website worth it when you got to lay eyes on it. Ty opened a website. For many people, the hunt to complete and expand their collection became a quest. Wow.

Pretty good, right? Good grooves. Wow. Good tunes. The beanie wizard. Yeah, yeah. Wow. Yeah, that guy is in jail.

So, the newty.com had blogs, games, a list of all the Beanie Babies. Even easier to see what beanies were in demand, new or retiring. The site also became a community where people could go and trade and swap beanies. I honestly haven't heard a word you said after blogs. So, let's just say, let's say Dave. I need to read a Beanie Baby blog. Are the Beanie Babies blogging? Are they having the Beanie Babies blog as

Beanie Babies? Dave, to answer your question, yes. They are having the Beanie Babies blog. A lot of communication from the website is on behalf of the Beanie. Sure. They have. There's even voices of Beanie. Oh, fuck yeah. You can like hear one of them or whatever. And like people, but it's also.

I'm a spider. But it's also, I'm sorry, Christopher Walk, we're walking the spider. I'm a spider. I'm a spider. But it's also a community. So it's like people are going there and they're able to now trade and swap.

Forums. Forums, chat rooms, ad, Wan ads. Sex, sex. Sex, sex. Online sexing. I don't know if they did sex stuff to be honest with you. Can you put the spider in my bottom? Looking for someone to put the snake inside me

while I barf spider beans. I fancy the lobster. I beg the lobster. I fuck the platypus. Oh be quiet, you braggart. Quiet, you braggart. Looking to sell beanies that have had orgasms achieved upon them. You can't post that on here, sir. Barely used.

Barely used. Only fucked once, sir. Why? I'm just letting them know. So it connected people looking for retired beanies or older versions of ones or ones that were scarce. At this time, 51 had been retired. So you would see messages like this, I have Teddy, 97, and Snowball.

I need maple. So if you have maple and don't have Teddy and Snowball, email me and we can trade. Or this one, which is just nuts. It has all the little things they want that are like the little distinctions. Hello, I need a mint or a non-mint spook, not spooky. Coral, grunt, kiwi, lefty, liberty, manny, radar, righty, sting, tabasco, tusk, bongo, browntail, happy, gray, inch, felt antenna, inky, tan, lucky, retired versions, bumble, magic, different thread, mystic, fine mane, nip, old versions, patty, magenta, pride,

sly, brown belly, stripes, dark, tank, old versions, and zip, old versions. Patty, magenta. Pride. Sly, brown belly. Stripes. Dark. Tank, old versions. And zip, old versions. So... Brown tail and brown belly were lovers. He's like this all the time. The site didn't sell any product, but it would get so many hits that it would often crash.

And people were making bank. The OG Naperville Mothers had collections that were worth far more than they'd ever expected, hundreds of thousands of dollars. Remember before, Peggy Gallagher, back when she called Germany, remember for those 30 Chili the Polar Bears, 36 Peeking Pandas, 84 Old Face Teddies, 36 Trap the Mouses, and 12 Patty the Platypuses that cost her two grand, remember? That was now worth $300,000. Prices kept going up and up and up.

Some collectors were making $30,000 a month on beanies. This is like crypto. Oh Dave, I see no connection. It was full on crazy. These are the feet. This craze is just, it's scary. Of beanie. They're just cute. Crazed. That's the new Patty. Oh, there's scary. Of beanie. They're just cute.

Crazed. That's the new patty. Oh, there's the spider. Collectors. You ready? They've been waiting hours for Coach House Gift Store to open. I like the duck. We got two raccoons, two skunks, and two spiders.

I say you have to admit they're cute. Here's a quick lesson on this beanie craze. A company called Ty makes them, releases them with different names. They're all named after something, an animal. An animal, basically. They haven't done like funguses. Then retires them one at a time.

There's Snort, Seaweed, Jabber-Jake. When they're first released, you can get them for about five to seven dollars. Once they retire, the value goes up. In like two years there was like two hundred and forty five dollars and stuff. He's worth about four thousand dollars. Meet employee Bear and his owner Joy Brissagalla. A Beanie Baby collector resold it to her for? About four hundred and he ended up being worth about 4,000. To Joy. My tie-dyed Lizzie I bet is very much like

a Mickey Mouse baseball card. And? It's a social event. It's how she met good friend and fellow collector. I love them and I'm obsessed. Debbie Searstens. It's like going back into a second childhood. It can be an expensive second childhood.

Debbie spent $1,800 on this hard to find bear. I wanted it so badly and I wanted a good one. Beanie Baby values may explain tight security at the gift store we visited. Yeah, we've got to keep everybody behind the line. Just in case genie collectors get out of hand. I think a lot of people see them and see dollar signs. No trouble today, every beanie crazy buyer. What can I get for you young man?

Goes away content. Deputy Janovic, Fox 13 News. How great was that 90s hair for men? There's a black hole I need to fill inside of me and I need to just buy things because I'm actually sad. They walked amongst us. We were all there and complicit. That was a horror show.

It's a nightmare. It is a total nightmare. But Dave, again, then eBay launched. Oh, fuck me. And this only fueled the fire more. Now you could get whatever you wanted from anywhere, which made a Beanie Baby stock market. The bidding would get very high. People were now quitting their jobs.

Seven to 10% sales on eBay were Beanie Babies. It was next level. What? How? Seven to 10%? Seven to 10% sales. Well, this is when it first launches. When eBay first launches, it essentially is just for Beanie Babies. It's other stuff, but people are like, holy shit, you got one of these? You could finally post your sexy, I fucked the lobster. If eBay just kicks it up a notch.

But if you think that things couldn't get any more out of control than eBay, then buckle up brother and mother. Okay, but there's no actual buckles here, like we just have chairs. There's Buckle the Clam. I love Buckle the Clam. Put it on your crotch. He fits in so good. All right.

One company is about to get into the Beanie Baby game and take this thing from a thriving fad to straight up mass psychosis. Fucking hell. In 1996, McDonald's approached Ty about doing a Happy Meal giveaway. Ty was kind of precious with the brand and preserving what he had. Let me just say right now, this is a bad idea. For instance, he pulled the plug on a Beanie Baby TV show. Fuck yeah, he did.

He was worried that it would take away the child's ability to create its own character out of it. That's right. Which I think is pretty empathetic towards children. I don't want to hear the voice of the crab. No, you want to make the voice of of it. That's right. Which I think is pretty empathetic towards Joe. I don't wanna hear the voice of the crab. No, you wanna make the voice of the crab. That's right, in my head the crab's like, hi, I'm the crabby, but then you get him on TV,

he's like, hey, what the fuck you doing? I'm the crab! Listen, as the censors, we have an issue with the crab. What do you mean, I'm the crab, go fuck yourself, you fucking animal. Well, we don't like it's derogatory Italian, and also the swearing on a kids' show is just not allowed. Why don't you go fucking eat my ass, you shitbag?

I'm the crab! Talk to us as the crab and talk to us as the man who's making the show, please. Fuck you, I'm the crab! You talk to the crab or you talk to nobody. I lead the Beatty Babies. Rocco the crab. Hey, yeah, don't worry about it. We figured it out.

How about I cut your fucking neck, TV guy? Hey, come on. Relax. Don't be shellfish. Oh, very good. Get away. So he passed on to Spiel. Can we cut that, can we cut live?

Can we go back to cut the shellfish? No, no, no, that stays in. No, we're. We're gonna keep that? Yeah, because we wanna give you an authentic experience tonight. It's important to us that you get to see us warts and all. This is the show.

You're watching Benji's World. All right, everyone calm down. Ty even passed, Spielberg wanted to put Beanie Baby in his movies over and over again. Ty said no, over and over again. They were in Minority Report. He passed on serials. Yeah.

They're doing what we thought they were doing the whole time. It's a good joke if you know the film. No, I don't. It's a good joke. We're actually going to watch it in a couple minutes. Yeah, dig. Ah! Ah!

He passed on cereals, kids books, clothes, sporting event giveaways, hell, even a perfume. But McDonald's really, really wanted to do this thing. What in the fuck would the perfume smell like? Like a sweaty woman who had shoved a child out of the way for an alligator. McDonald's presented a rare opportunity to lure lower income consumers.

Oh yeah, the poor people. This would act as a sort of first hit is free to them. Then drive them to the stores more and more. He was still on the fence, but when Mickey D's offered him over $100 million upfront, guess what? He shouldn't have done this. It was time for Beanie Babies of McDonald's. Are they tiny?

Are they tinier than regular Beanie Babies? Dave? Teeny. Teeny. Teeny. They're called Teeny Beanie Babies. And do they come at a Happy Meal? Yes.

Yeah, they do. It's a Happy Meal giveaway. Fuck yeah. So Ty agreed. Actually, Dave, all your questions are about to be answered. The promotion was to last five weeks and would be promoted through TV ads. First I got Pinky.

Then I got Pinky. I got Pinky and Patty in the same week. What, Vanessa catch something? Teeny beanie baby items. Now at McDonald's, your kids can get teeny beanie babies in a Happy Meal. Real Ty beanie babies in a mini size. To toss, tuck, or just plain love. Ones in each dollar 99 hamburger happy meal you buy your kids.

This teeny beanie babyitis, will she outgrow it? Not necessarily. Hey, I would like to order 74 happy meals. Sir. I need 74 happy meals. Do you sell sad meals? Do you sell sad meals? Hi, I'm here to order some pathetic meals. I don't

have a life. Do you have a lonely man who broke up his marriage to early meals? Please. Anyway, well this is where my little bit comes in. It's very important that this one customer, when McDonald's were doing that, they'd buy the happy meal and they would take the meals to the toy shop for the staff because they didn't want the food They didn't want the food. So they donated the food to the toy shop And they do not have the food that is not even slightly because yeah, they just wanted the toys. Yes Of course, we're getting rid of the experience Teeny-beanie teeny-beanie baby teeny- beanie. Teeny beanie babies. Teeny beanies.

The teeny beanies. Who wouldn't eat the fries though? That's one thing I hate all McDonald's. I hate all McDonald's. Except the fries. They are nice. The fries are good. The fries are good.

The fries are good. Splash of vinegar. And you're sorted. Okay, now I've got really emotional. Yeah, it's really weird now. Splash of vinegar. Imagine, I mean in England it's not weird, but here if you were like, and vinegar for my chips? they're like,

ma'am, this is a McDonald's. I'm sorry, what sort of fish do you have? What is the McFish? They're like, the McFish is actually a beanie baby, to be honest with you. We just cooked the inside of a beanie baby and then deep fried it. On April 11th, 1997, the Happy Meal Teeny Beanie Giveaway

began and people were in. They fucked. McDonald's made 100 million teeny beanies and it quickly became clear that wasn't enough. They stopped the ads, that ad after two days. They did not need ads. On the contrary, they wanted to stop the madness. One franchise- Because they couldn't keep up with the people who wanted to buy.

Yes. So they're selling out, so they're looking bad because they put something out as an advertisement and there's not enough. It just got out of control. This is exactly what happened with our book, which you can get on Amazon. Yeah, which is a great website. One franchise owner told CNN, quote, we're getting 15 to 20, sometimes 25 calls every half hour since six o'clock

this morning, quote, do you have beanie babies? Which ones do you have? What time are they going to start selling them? Some people- Could you order the Happy Meal with the specific beanie baby? Or did you get a surprise Happy Meal what's in it? Because it's not what Happy Meal is. Essentially, you couldn't request.

You couldn't request. You couldn't. But it gets so out of control that there were certainly things, there was an order that they were going to sell the Beanie Babies in. So they were trying to not just be like, oh, okay, here you go. They were trying to parse them out a little bit. But the people are crazy. Some people would come into what you were saying, Mother, and order 100 Happy Meals

with the request that McDonald's, quote, keep the food. Calls spike to 100 calls per hour. You can't do that. One Ohio manager instructed employees to answer the phone, quote, good morning, McDonald's, we have the moose and the lamb. It was also putting the employees under great stress. Customers became vicious and deranged trying to get the beanies. And McDonald's was actually panicking a bit at this level of demand.

To counter the ravenous beanie people at McDonald's, they began to set a limit per customer. In turn, the collectors began using disguises. They even began message boards where they could trade disguises to maximize the beanies. Fights broke out too. Two weeks into the promotion, McDonald's was out of

Teeny Beanie Babies. Holy shit. It was supposed to last five weeks. What in the fuck? The popularity of Teeny Beanie Babies was incredible. Beanie Babies were in the news again. WCFT news time is 2 of 3. McDonald's better call the Ronald Police for today. McDonald's announced they'd have to cut short their Kids Meal meal teeny beanie campaign due to the simple fact that they're out. Ronald police. Is that a thing? Yeah, they shot Grimace in the back. They threw a bag of heroin at his feet.

They tased the hamburger. The hamburger, yeah, they shot the hamburger and then they put a gun in his hand and they're like, he started it. And they're like, where's your body cam? And they're like, Oh, my hand was over it for some reason. We're making it about the state of police in America, which is not going great. It's not good. No.

Do you want to hear my McDonald's story? Oh yeah. I was in a commercial, the, uh, the perky morning coffee guy. Yeah. Can you imagine seeing Dave and being like, this happy go lucky fella. Well welcome to knowing what a fucking actor is. So I can play any role. I like your Winchit stuff.

I wish you could, you've got to find that advert. You've got to find the ad, have you got it? Yeah, I wonder if it's still up to me. He's converting all his VHS right now. I am, I don't have that one. I do have an MTV promo I was in. Oh, Dave. I played Jackie Beats' husband. Oh my Oh, Dave. I played Jackie Beat's husband.

Oh my god, Dave, who's Jackie Beat's? Jackie Beat is a... And what's MTV? His mother. Oh boy. Ha! Wait, I've already told you a lot of stuff. Then one day the unthinkable happened. It is. Have you got Alzheimer's?

Yeah. Early onset. But it's great. Good for you. That's? Yeah, early onset, but it's great. Good for you. That's why I don't remember any of the episodes. Me either. Then one day the unthinkable happened when a truck in Atlanta accidentally dumped several hundred international bears and stretchy the ostriches on a freeway during rush hour.

I'm killing people, I'm fucking killing, I stop the car and I just grab it, I mean it's money, it's money on that. They did, one motorist said he saw, quote, at least six or seven motorists leaning from their cars to scoop up the Beanie Babies with one hand and I just grab it much. I mean, it's money. It's money on that. It's money. Well, that's what they did. One motorist said he saw, quote, at least six or seven motorists leaning from their cars to scoop up the Beanie Babies with one hand while they kept rolling with the other hand on the wheel.

Yeah. I mean, you train, if you're into Beanie Babies, you've trained for that kind of moment. This is a trainable moment. Yeah. Absolutely. After the promotion ended, employees were given pins in some shops that read, quote, I survived the attack of the teeny beanie babies. Oh, that's fun.

Now they're having fun. Now the already frenzied beanie market went frenzied deer. One large toy shop, Zany Brainy, which- Oh, I remember Zany Brainy. Oh, is it a chain or is it just a- It was a chain. Yeah. Hell yeah, it was.

Had people answer the phone, quote, thank you for calling Zany Brainy. We do not have any beanie Babies in stock right now. So things now. Yeah, but I don't buy it, I'm going there anyway. No, you're not buying anything, sir. No, but like I know you said on the phone, you don't have them, but I'm here. Where are the Beanie Babies?

I know you got a special stock in back, if you know what I mean. What do you need from me? You want to? Look, I don't want any bullshit. I just am looking for the beanies. You want to trade a car? This guy's offering his car for some beanie papers.

I want Mr. Monkey time. Mr. Monkey time? Mr. Monkey time. I just want to. So we just got to start here. This guy's out of his tits. So why don't we just put a baseball on the body of a doll and tell him that it's missing? I want the Mr. Monkey time with the tits.

Okay, so who's... You know what I mean? I don't know what we're gonna do for the tits. Just get a couple like hacky sacks and glue it to the doll and then just tell this guy it's $25,000. You got the jerk-off lamb? Okay, so we got to call the police and get this guy out of the shop. But for a minute there it sounded like we could angle something. But this guy again is talking about kind of whacking into the beanies, which for us is not cool.

You know what? I'll take just the tits. Just give me the monkey tits. So look, I don't know where we're at with this guy because now he just wants monkey tits, which is sort of like the worst, craziest thing I've ever heard, but it's also really easy to do. There's beans in those, right? Yeah, there's beans in the tits.

They can stand up on their own? Yeah, these tits can stand up on their own beans. All right. So I'll trade the car for that. So this is called beans debating, and a lot of our customers seem to be doing it. A lot of the single dads come in here to beans debate. My wife hasn't slept with me for six weeks.

I need one of these beanie babies. I wonder what her problem is. You're such a catch. All right. So things are nuts now. Nuts. There were beanie auctions. No, no, no. There were beanie auctions, Dave. Shut up. What in the fuck is happening, America?

That's a beanie auction. I can't believe this country can't handle COVID. That's a beanie. Of course he makes it. Ladies and gentlemen, we're not trying to turn this into a COVID. There were, the beanies were like the stuff that we're trying to turn into a COVID. They were like the stuff that we're trying to turn into a COVID. They were like the stuff that we're trying to turn into a COVID.

They were like the stuff that we're trying to turn into a COVID. They were like the stuff that we're trying to turn into a COVID. They were like the stuff that we're trying to turn into a COVID. They were like the stuff that we're trying to turn into a COVID. They were like the stuff that we're trying to turn into a COVID. They were like the stuff that we're trying to turn into a COVID. They were like the stuff that we're trying to turn into a COVID. They were like the stuff that we're trying to turn into a COVID. They were like the stuff that we're trying to turn into a COVID. They Ladies and gentlemen, we're not trying to turn this into a Kovach. There were, the beanies were like the stuffed rolling stones, okay? Everybody wanted a piece.

Beanies were in the news. WBBO Talk Radio, hotter than Cabbage Patch Dolls, Smurfs, Hula Hoops, and Ped Rocks ever hoped to be. Beanie Babies are in the news today. A Hallmark store in Columbus, Ohio had over 500 people waiting in a line over two blocks long starting this morning at 5 a.m. The store opened at 10, and even though there was a limit of three Beanie Babies per customer, by noon they were sold out.

Unfortunately, over 200 people were still in line, and they were upset, but the owner promised more Beanie Babies would be in by next week. I imagine they'll probably start lining up sometime soon. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. This is crazy. What a voice, though, huh? Great voice.

Great, but face for radio. Yeah, you don't wanna see the rest of it. Yeah, no, no, no. That's the guy who comes in asking for monkey tits. Um, divorcing couples were being forced to split their massive beanie baby collections up one by one in courtrooms. You fucking stop it right now. I will not stop it.

They're actually picking in front of the fucking judge? Yeah, so they couldn't figure out who got what, so the judge basically gave them the dodgeball rules and were like, you each get to pick one, and then they just separated into two piles. The judge at one point during that case had to be like, now, hold on one second, did you or did you not buy the squealer the pig from the mall? You know, I'm just trying to get a sense. I don't care about the house, I want the spider. All right, so it's wild.

And listen, I'm not saying that things got out of control, but- You are saying that. You've said it a bunch of times. Well, let me just say that there was a beanie rap. Benji? Oh, yeah. Let me tell you a story about a tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny,

tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, store about a tiny tie since he created these beans that make me hot little beans in their bodies and cute little faces and addicted to them but to all kinds of places smuggling beans upstairs is no lie and it all ain't a fall on a guy named Ties. Beanie wrap it's a beanie wrap it's a beanie wrap I'm all tied up. I just I'm so there are times when I'm so upset I'm a white person. I just, I'm so, Tell me you're not gonna be singing that. There are times when I'm so upset I'm a white person. Tell me, oh, okay, we're not gonna do that.

Yes we are. That white woman is fine. White people don't. Look, I think first of all, white people are great at rapping and they're never are better than what it's about Beanie Babies. She did have mad flow, that was pretty,

She had sick flow. That was Eminem&M-ish. It's the Beanie Wrap. I would actually like to see M&M. I think it's quite catchy. I might be singing that when you drive me up to... Let's not. Thank you. Yes, exactly. Liking the way that the promotion worked, Ty opened up the idea of sporting events. The Cubs were in the midst of a shit season. Average attendance was under 20,000.

The day of the Beanie giveaway... Wait, the Cubs weren't good? The Cubs weren't good. I a shit season. Average attendance was under 20,000. The day of the Beanie Giveaway. Wait, the Cubs weren't good? The Cubs weren't good, I know you can't try to blame. Holy shit, let's nail down this era. So the average attendance was under just 20,000. The day of the Giveaway, the attendance was just shy of 40,000. Double.

So other Major League Baseball teams followed suit, and attendance rose an average of 37% on beanie giveaway days. Here people line up to make sure they're front before the stadium opens to get a beanie baby. Yeah. And who obviously could forget the beanie king? Me. Hey you feeders out there in beanie land, this is the beanie king. Hey you looking for Garcia? We got him. Looking for the weenie? We got him! Looking for the three bunnies? We got him! Call the 800 number at the bottom of your screen.

We buy, sell, or trade beanies 24 hours a day. That's right, or you can email your request. We got all those hard to find beanies you've been looking for. And remember to pick up a mini dome tent at your favorite gift store. The Beanie King makes them and wants you to have one. Beanie babies, we got them! Is it The Beanie King at them and wants you to have one. Beanie Babies, we got them.

Is it the Beanie King at the Ohio State Fair? Can you play the first thing he says again? The first sentence. Beaners. Beaners. This is the Beanie King. He said beaners. I was really hoping he didn't say that.

Yeah. There's a couple of. Come on, he said beaners. Okay. How does he not know? He's. Okay. How does he not know? He's still shouting. How does he not know you don't say beaners? There's that, which is offensive,

and then he also says call the 800 number at the bottom of the screen, and it's a 248 number. 248. So, but by the way, that's who's in charge of England right now. No, he's more sane. Okay, society at large had lost its goddamn mind. You can see here a sign for the Iguanas Comic Book Cafe.

Buying all retired beanies, spending thousands in cash. We pay the most for mint beanies. Oh, the mint ones taste the best. That's exactly right. Yeah, you're right. Ty now opened a new $14 million headquarters near where his old office was with one big change. There were no signs of it being the spot for beanie babies.

No Ty signage or ty-nage, as I like to say. And in 96, Warner began tweaking his own appearance, eyes and facelifts. The main book I used from Zach Bissonnette, quote, the 20-year odyssey of plastic surgery funded by the largest personal fortune in the history of stuffed animals is the first thing anyone who sees Warner will notice. Although the cosmetic work began years before he notably was wealthy, more recently, he's used black sheep embryo injections to further maintain his youth. I do that. Yeah.

And that's just from a Beanie Baby. In 1997, eBay auctioned off $500,000 of Beanie Babies. Those who are still selling were seeing an increase of 500% in profit. Beanie Babies were accounting for 6% of eBay's total annual sales. It's going to drop out. Two weeks before 1997 rang in, Ty.com shut down, aside from a countdown clock that said, quote, are you prepared? Then, on January 1st, the names of the newly retired beanies were announced.

This sent people racing to the stores to get them before it was too late. The site's traffic spiked upwards of 3,500%. Prices rose. It was easy money. Chops the Lamb's price went up 500%. But this is all in the secondary market. The beanies still cost $5 in stores. The beauty was the paranoia of what would be next and got the people buying unpopular

beanies, all in the hopes of it being the next big beanie. There's constant worry and panic trying to predict who would be retired and when. It's like why I bought Dogecoin. That's so much Dogecoin. Because of Elon, your boy. Yeah, that's right. Traviti, the woman from before, admitted that they knew this and used this. On tie.com, employees would write updates through the voices of the beanies.

Okay, I got to go. Who would speculate on newer retired beanies. What the fuck are you talking about? We were able to use the voice and kind of manipulate the market, so to speak. So a single cryptic message from the info beanie could spark a buying frenzy. And they would put this up on the website? Yes. On tie.com, there would be messages on behalf of like Kiwi, like Kiwi the koala would be

like, I think they might retire this beanie. And then people would be like, oh shit, koala would be like, I think they might retire this beanie. And then people would be like, oh shit, I think it's a sign. So they are just like pulling the strings. So one beanie's coming on and being like, hey, this is Marty the monkey, I'm gonna kill Francis the fucker. No, no, no, no.

Nothing about what I said says that that happened. Francis the fucker was my favorite, by the way. That's not a beanie. That's the one with the monkey tits from a woman quoted in Business Insider quote it was a full-on frenzy during several beanie baby quests my son was trampled by a herd of women racing to the shelves to capture an endangered animal the last Ziggy the zebra perhaps it's not endangered animal absolutely it is stuffed animal absolutely it's not endangered absolutely they were in

danger it's not endangered absolutely were Absolutely it is. It's not endangered. Absolutely they were endangered. It's not endangered. Absolutely we're endangered. Remind me to tell you what one guy does with beanies now online and has a successful business. It was also a real job creator. There were clothing lines for beanies, beanie furniture bags for beanies, clear cases for beanies. The clear cases, because that's right,

they were no longer for being played with and enjoyed. They were just to be tombed in cases to keep their value. Who the fuck puts a vest on a beanie baby? Oh, come on, you want your beanies naked? And the periodicals, oh! Yes! The periodicals. There was Beanie World Magazine, which was bi-monthly. What's in it, what is it saying?

It's a lot of stuff about what beanies they think are coming up, but it was also a lot of prices, and it was a lot of where you could find beanies and which beanies were more valuable. So you have all these beanie periodicals kind of flooding the market with different information and telling you, oh, this beanie is worth like $800, or this beanie is worth $600. But it was bi-monthly, meaning that it was once every other month. Or was it twice a month? Well, bi-monthly could be also twice a month.

Interesting. Really got you by the balls. Mere periodicals followed like the Beanie Encyclopedia, a complete unofficial guide to collecting Beanie Babies, Beanie Mania, Beanie Mania 2, For the Love of the Beanies, Encyclopedia, my favorite, the Complete Idiot's Guide to Beanies, Beanie Mania guidebook, the Unauthorized Beanie Guidebook, Beanie Babies Collector's Guide, Rosie's Price Guide for Ties Beanie Babies, Pocket Idiot's guide for ties beanie babies pocket idiots guide to tie beanie babies

the official beanie basher guidebook ties beanie value guide the beanie invasion the unofficial beanie baby coloring book number four there were over one hundred beanie price guides beanies in space so uh... yeah we're not going to do any more issues. But not everyone was- He must have gotten so many offers to do movies.

I can't imagine. I mean, offers for everything. Yeah. Like, he was. He was, yes, everything. But one publication was not happy with the madness. Beanie Digest wrote a rare dissent piece. The recent Ty retirement announcement has turned previously

normal level-headed individuals into crazed beanie hoarding fanatics. Okay, so then in the real world where this was all normal and fine, you got to... What's normal? The beanie baby culture. How is it? You said in the real world? Yeah, in the real world. It's not normal and fine. Yeah, this was, Dave, this was happening a lot. It's not fine. Most people had a beanie baby. So you would see a lot of heated negotiations.

Beanie negotiations were fierce, like right here. Basically, what would you take on this one of each? I'll tell the price for all of them. What I got marked is 44. I'll go 4200 on this. That's what programs and everything. Oh, God. Okay, I'm going to consider it.

I'm not going to commit right now, but I mean, seems like $200 off for me is kind of... I have a lot of room for me to resell it. Bigger than Krabs. What? Maybe 20. Okay, get me a mess then. I'm gonna go with the two and I'm out of here. This guy's the best.

Okay, 2,000 altogether. This one's the new face Viola Teddy and second generation hang tag. It's a real pretty piece. And what are we trying to get turn it this one's 2200 22 for Don because he has to make because he's got to make more money I thought it was 10,000 how much is this one that one is? for you for for Tank is rough on him

And how much you asking for this for 4,000 for this So you mom just changed down. They went four to 48 on Derby and four to 47 on Brownie, or vice versa. One or the other, I can't remember. It's just absolutely crazy. Absolutely bonkers. I remember it though.

I don't remember. I mean, I certainly don't remember this level. I mean, I guess I was younger. I mean, I remember people, I didn't know they went for this much. And I'm also like, what the fuck are they thinking? They think they're never going to stop going up in value? Yes. Well, look, I mean, it is there. Yes, they do not see the end in sight at all. And why those videos are so insane is because the level of seriousness and the amount of money when you're talking about a fucking toy baby.

It's a toy. Yeah. It's not even really a toy anymore. There's this thing about playboys is that's what guys thought play. They also thought playboys and I'll had all this value and they would. Man, the amount of things that I went through as far as like little things like this, like there's the tulip craze, which was nuts. The other one is the Franklin Mint, which did all the collector plates and stuff like that. You know, it's just, I don't know. the Franklin Mint, which did all the collector plates and stuff like that.

It's just, I don't know. There's, I mean, again, like we're saying, like Bitcoin, there's some hole that if you, this was particularly strange though, because the economy is like, there's a lot more money, a lot more like- That's just it. Everyone's flush in the 90s. Everyone's just kind of rolling with cash. But they lost their minds, OK?

And so many men. Yeah, that's the weird thing. By the way, those dudes, you're like, buddy, you for sure know that one of them is just like, you want to see my beanie weenie? Those dudes, they have a real sheen to them. Yes. Yeah, they're shiny.

Yeah. Once the women jumped on it first and drove the value, but once there's value to it, then the dudes roll in to make money. Yes. It's everybody. Because it's, let's face it, it's with the women, it's love. They love their love. No, everyone was nuts.

Everyone was nuts. So they love it, they have an emotional connection, but the dudes don't. Stop talking. The dudes just cold hard cash. Stop talking. A little bit of sex. Okay. So, beanies had certainly crossed into every facet of selling and marketing, which is-

I don't know how to begin on this, and I'm just going to tell you right now. I think the best beanie Adam ever. And we go to breakfast. Especially, I mean we're gonna put this up and once you realize what all's in it, we're putting on music Robert and I are gone for the rest of the night. Doesn't matter. When something's that good and literally sells itself that's how hot this is. I'm gonna tell ya, it's SF 8084, SF-8084.

This deal is so good that I can hardly wait to read the net tomorrow to hear what people have to say about what we did. Folks, we have literally, there are 28 Beanie Babies in here. When you consider retirements, they can literally pay for everything right now. With what's happening with the retired prices. 94 different Beanie Babies and if we could, we'll put with 14 new releases and with 28 retired.

Or we can just put with 28 retired. Since the new releases are really no longer new releases. So that means here's what you got. And we're going to do something special. Is this it? Right there. We're going to give you the $400 Maple Bear free in this package. Look at that.

That's like if Randy Johnson wasn't fully formed. It's like if you smooshed Matt Foley and Randy Johnson into one. We're gonna get the $400 baby baby. Yeah but you saw there's almost $2,000 and like some of them for all of them or just that was for the 28 set. Okay. Yeah 28 in the set. That's a deal. No it's not available anymore. No, I'm gonna get it. What's the number again? No, no, no, the number's not active. I called it, believe me, I called it. He's just, hello, what are you looking for, the Beanie Babies? That guy, by the way, look out.

So as one would expect. He struck me, he'd just come out the pub. I think he had just come out the pub. Fallen out the pub. I mean, if you're on a QVC show selling Beanie Babies, sobriety is not something you need to worry about. No, not at all.

Yeah, I would definitely be drinking it. I would have a beanie that had a little flask in it, and I'd be unscrewing its little unicorn top and being like- A beanie cozy. Yeah, yeah, a little beanie flask. Yeah. Okay, so as one would expect in a world that values money as much as we do, crime followed suit. Where there's money to be made, cheaters are there to exploit it.

Happy the Hippo had a $900 value and was stolen from a Beanie Baby show in Andover. In nearby Nashua, New Hampshire, hundreds of beanies have been stolen. Some valued it over $1,000. A detective investigating the heists said it was totaling more than $15,000 in the same area said, quote, I think we're probably a microcosm of the entire United States. And they were. In Sherman Oaks, an armed robber went into a toy store and made everyone suck carpet

while he stole around $5,000 in beanies. Someone said, quote, he didn't want the cash register, all he wanted was the beanie babies. Oh, my God. Christmas 97 at O'Hare International Airport, 456 counterfeit grunt the pigs were seized by US customs officials. In Orlando, the following January 8th, a separate collectors had each been taken for $1,500 when they thought they were purchasing Chili the polar bears. 25% of secondary market beanies were estimated to be fake or counterfeited for their high value, but no beanie was counterfeited more than Royal Blue Peanut.

Royal Blue Peanut, the elephant, was going for $5,200. Yeah, I fell for this one. All collectors coveted a peanut like Dave, but upon receiving, some would find issues. Quote, the blue dye came off, end quote, they would say when it touched water. I'll never forget when I just, I slept with peanut and I woke up and my whole chest was blue. Or you took peanut into the bath.

My whole chest was blue. You took peanut into the bath and you came out like a smurf. I sweated. Oh, you sweated on it. You were really sad. I was really sad. He was blue. Because he was blue.

Mother! God damn it. If you're looking for more insight into what a beanie criminal... I did smurf kink after that. Stop. Stop for now. Okay. Okay. This beanie criminal will elaborate. I ripped a lady off of $1,500. The way I got started with that, I was watching Inside Edition

one night and they were talking about beanie babies and I was like, hey, I need to find me a beanie baby. So I skipped class the next day, go around to all the shops. I was looking for this thing called Peanut the Royal Blue Elephant, which was selling for $1,500. They didn't have any of those, but they did have these little gray beanie baby elephants

were selling for $8. So I bought one of those, stopped by another store on the way home, picked up a pack of blue dye, go home, try to dye the little guy. Didn't work out too well. Get him out of the bath, looked like he's got the mange, posted it online, a big picture of one. She thought I had the real thing, she wins the bid, and I got her to send me $1,500. That's the first crime I committed online at that point. I also found out the first real lesson of cybercrime. If you delay a victim long

enough, if you just keep putting them off, a lot of them get so exasperated, they throw their hands in the air, walk away, and you don't hear from them again. And none of- That's where the video just cuts off for some reason. None of them complained to law enforcement. No, they just, yeah, they're embarrassed. They're embarrassed that they were like, I was looking for a blue elephant, and I gave him 1500, and they're like, eh, miss, I mean, I feel like this is on you. Yeah, it's on you. You bought a stuffed animal. But, you know what's great?

More jobs. Beanie Baby authenticators could now make a six-figure income. Yeah, well, people don't realize this, but the late 90s were driven by, it was called the baby but bounce this is a little bit you sort of struggling to get him out of the

amounts and it was uh... the whole economy was uh... basically just driven by baby yes term by beans and baby well advice shows began to pop up on how to spot fakes high-budgeted shows like this one right here was a role will be itself or right now? It sells for about $5,000. And Chile? Chile sells for between $2,000 and $2,400. That's a big reason to be concerned. They're about counterfeit beanies. Right, these are some of the counterfeit beanies are on the high price end, so you have to be very careful and know your beanies and educate yourself on these beanies what is counterfeit and what is not counterfeit,

because you are spending a lot of money for a collection. Can I just? Please, Dave, Dave jump in. May I just say, who gives a fuck? It's a stuffed animal, it can be fake. It can be fucking fake, it's a fucking stuffed animal. What the fuck? It's not like it's a fucking baseball card.

Dave, this is thousands of dollars. It's not like it's a baseball card. It's a stuffed animal, man, it's the same fucking material. Why, this is thousands of dollars. It's not like it's a baseball card? It's a stuffed animal. Same fucking material. Why is it different than a baseball card? Because a baseball card is... Stupid too. Yeah, no, it's dumb to collect them, but they're actually a real thing as opposed to this is

a stuffed animal. I mean, it's a little dumber, I agree. It's a little dumber. But it's all very dumb. Speaking of which, Mom, do you remember when one day you cleaned out my room and threw out two baseball cards? I do. Do you know which ones they were?

Why would you throw out them? Wade Boggs' rookie card, Robin Yount's rookie card. Holy shit. Threw them out. I cannot believe we are dating. I'm sorry, Dave. God damn it. We've been doing this for so long, I forgot.

Why did you bring that up? Because he did it. That's so mean. Dave, that's who you're hitching your wagon to. Why did you bring that up? Because he did it. He did it. Dave, that's who you're hitching your wagon to. Why did you throw them out? I didn't know what they were. Yes, you just. But they were just like sitting there.

They were like in cases. Yeah, you threw them. Just tossed them. I didn't know what they were. You just threw them. But they were so valuable. Yeah, but they were just a man with a baseball. I didn't know what they were. When you put it like that, it sounds stupid. By the way, a lot of baseball card stores or like sports

memorabilia stores ended up becoming beanie baby shots because they were like, well, we'll go with the money. So would those cars be worth anything? Yeah. Oh, only like eight times what they were back then, which was a shitload. Yeah, we'll talk about it later. No, no, that would be worth a shitload. It would. Yes. They wouldn't. Yes.

No, they would, it's very... Mom, we're not fucking with you. No, that's not really... Baseball cards go up in value. Oh, yeah. Oh, well anyway, I had a Princess Diana. But by the way, by the way, by the way. What would that be worth?

By the way. Did you have a Princess Diana beanie? Is that what you said? Yes, I did. Is that what you said? Yes. Is that a real thing? I did have one. Somebody bought me one. Hold on.

I just, first of all, if you're curious, that was the beanie in that video. International smuggling also became an issue. I call it the snuggle smuggle. Britannia the bear retailed for about $8 in the UK, but also sold on the secondary market for around $500 in the US. $8 in the UK, $500 in the US. So yes, people would make trips specifically to the UK to purchase Beanie Baby. Canadian Customs said, quote, people are smuggling Beanie Babies in similar places to where they

hide drugs, such as hidden compartments and the spare tire holders. Why? Because they're cheaper in other countries. In the US, they've just gone totally ancient. But that doesn't matter. You don't have to hide them. You can just drive them. No, you did.

Because eventually, they had to pass certain limitations on how many beanies. I took this out. But eventually, they had... Why? Because people would be bringing back so many. That's fine. Like they'd open a suitcase. No, it wasn't fine.

Why? Because eventually, Ty had to set like Ty had Ty incorporated had to set a limit of how many beat like like carrying $10,000 in your suitcase. How can he do that with the globalization? Like you can't stop me from bringing in stuffed animals. The customs considered them to be so valuable that it was basically like sneaking in high levels of currency. Fuck this country. Well, it's the country that in high levels of currency. Fuck this country.

Well, it's the country that God smiles on the brightest. Isn't it? If you say so. Thank you. Wow. On August 31st, 1997, Princess Diana was killed by the Queen. So on October- No, she wasn't killed by the Queen.

Oh. Oh. No. What? That is not right. That's what the paper in front of me says. It's absolute rubbish. What do you know?

Well, because I know that's not right. Well, then you're right. They broke her heart and then they killed her. Okay. Anyway, let's just agree that on August 31st, 1997, Princess Diana was killed by the Queen. No, she was killed in a car crash in a tunnel. Yes, by the Queen that was orchestrated by the royal family. The Queen, what, she couldn't have hobbled out there

to do anything like that. They said give us a sign and the Queen went. The Queen did this. Yeah. Who do you think's who? Anyway, Princess Diana died and then eventually her son wrote a book about putting lotion on his todger. No.

That's true. The lotion his mom used to use that reminded him of his mom. Put her on her lip. Yeah, yeah. That's peculiar. Oh, I did that with Nivea on my penis. Thank you, mommy. That's totally normal.

Okay. He's into taboo porn. So on October 29th, that same year, a purple Princess Diana bear was released named Princess. This is what you had? Right, that's what I had purple Princess Diana bear was released named Princess. Right, that's what I had. That's what you had. There she is. You know what that reminds me of?

Princess Diana. Well, actually, what's funny is the Queen ended up killing that bear. Isn't that crazy? There's a great video of the Queen slicing it open and sticking your fingers in two. I'm the Queenie baby! Philip! I'm Queen Bean! Come here, come and see what's inside this bear.

Now the Diana bear, Warner only allowed orders of 12 Diana bears per store, making them scarce from the beginning. The bear raised more than $20 million for the memorial fund. It's certainly keeping their name out in the lights, said Frank Rison, who is the editor of magazine Playthings. Quote, they're latching onto the hottest name

in the world right now, even though she's dead. Hold on. There's a magazine called Playthings, and it's about stuffed animals and not about. Some guy in a porn shop, he got a penthouse and a plaything. But, excuse me. This only has stuffed animals? I was thinking of other stuffed things. Excuse me. This only has stuffed animals? I was thinking of other stuffed things. Excuse me. None of the guys are doing it to the animals.

Playthings. There was a magazine plaything. I remember. I was going to say, I thought you would know that. Yes, it was a trade magazine. But it just seems like really bad. The giraffes in the centerfold. You're like, oh, man.

Look at Jizzy the giraffe. Once an officer found a Diana bear at a crime scene and said, quote, I thought, good heavens, this was a good scene. I thought, oh, man. I thought, oh, man. I thought, oh, man. I thought, oh, man. I thought, oh, man.

I thought, oh, man. I thought, oh, man. I thought, oh, man. I thought, oh, man. I thought, oh, man. I thought, oh, man. I thought, oh, man. Look at Jizzy the giraffe. Once an officer found a Diana bear at a crime scene and said, quote, I thought, good heavens, this bear is worth $400. What's it doing here? It was actually worth $2,000 at the time. People couldn't leave Beanie Babies on their car dashboards for fear that their cars would

be broken into. And that was the shame because I always want to keep my collection on the fucking car dashboard. Well, do you remember back in the day, people would have them all on the back of their cart like that? Yes, I did. So eventually people were like, we can't do this. Police had records of beanies being exchanged directly for heroin. Employees at Ty were stealing beanies too, sneaking them out in their pants and their

shoes and their bras, making up fake orders. But the craziest story of crime is in West Virginia, where Jeff White and Harry Simmons were security guards at a lumber yard who had talked about starting a trading biz with Beanie Babies. Simmons gave White a stash of Beanie Babies to sell for a couple hundred bucks. But when White isn't giving him the money, they have an argument. Jeff White came back and found Simmons at work, and he shot Simmons execution style near the timber. While White was in jail, awaiting his sentence, he called his mother and said, quote, I cannot go into prison the Beanie Baby killer. He did. The author of the main book, Zach B. Sennett, that I used for this research, interviewed the Beanie Baby killer

in 2014. And before the interview started, White, the killer, asked him, quote, so them Beanie Babies, are those still hot? A 1998 USA Weekend poll said 64% of Americans owned a beanie baby. Stores were running out of all of them. The good news was in 98, Peggy Gallagher had gotten every beanie baby and was keeping up on all the new ones. Her collection was valued as enough to put all of her kids in college for four years at Harvard. Dave's favorite. Sell. Sell high.

And just when it couldn't get any more fucking crazy, another McDonald's giveaway was agreed upon. Why? And if you thought the first one was nuts, you're nuts. Come on. Because the 98 one was even bigger and wilder. Now McDonald's is going to have 250 million teeny beanies. And they took one week off of the promotional run to make it four weeks.

12 beanies in total were to be offered. With a week off? I think they, yeah. A pause, a beanie pause? No, it was supposed to run four weeks. I think the first one was supposed to run five weeks. So yeah, they took, yeah, so it's like smaller time frame, more beanies.

So they're like, we'll definitely be okay. They have a Jose. What? No, that's... Oh, it is Jose. Yeah. I mean, I'll take it. Sure. That's like one of the nicer things.

That is. And that's sweet. You need to get hold of one of those. I'm good. Jose would like that. Yeah. It's worth going to jail to get that. I agree.

What? A shooting. He'll kill somebody. A shooting. Hey, come with me by the timber. I got it. So this right here, the 12 beanies, again gives people a list, a mission, and they wanted it accomplished. McDonald's had its larger ever sales in a US store the first weekend of the promotion. Demand was so high that McDonald's had to limit it to five beanies per visit and implement

a two hour waiting period in between. Mothers and grandmothers then put together search parties. They used cell phones to scout which stores had any of the teeny beanie babies they were missing. In Pennsylvania, a McDonald's manager called the cops. Quote, I responded and observed approximately 50 people standing inside, Officer Brown of Lancaster said. Quote, they said they were waiting for Zip the Cats to go on sale.

The employee said the cat will not be sold until all the Dobie dogs are gone. And there were still over 100 dogs to be sold. Employees said it would be at least an hour. But for Ty Inc. and Ty Warner, it was all working. 1998 beanie sales hit $1.4 billion. Warner took home $700 million. Oh my god, do you know how much surgery you can get for that? No, it's a whole, you can be a beanie baby.

I would walk out of there. He turns into a beanie baby. I would 100% be a cat. He just turns himself into a beanie. Ty, yes, love me. Meow. He's taking beans out of his chest. Ty became more and more greedy.

Lena Treviti, who we talked about a couple times, who came up with the poems, the website, all that, was still making $12 an hour. Oh my fucking God, now I hate this guy. She has to be paid $120,000 a year, $1.4 billion. She has to be paid $120,000 a year. Because she's done so much. More than fair, it was denied, and she quit. What a fucking asshole.

December 1st, 1998, tie.com posted a message quote, surprise. Guess what? We're letting you know one month in advance so your collection can grow. The countdowns begun. So don't hesitate. Get out to the stores before it's too late. This is our promise, our guarantee. Never again in our stores.

They will be our final goodbye to our retirees will be on December 31st, New Year's Eve. I take issue with that rhyming. Retirees, Eve. Sounds like the beanie rap, lady. It's the beanie rap. Over the next two weeks, 26 beanies were to be retired. Halfway through 1998, every beanie that had been retired sold for more on the secondary market than its original price. Oh my God.

For the new year, January 1st, 1999, Ty came out with a whopping 24 new beanies. They had never been released that many at once, so they put out 24. They all dropped at midnight. Now that was a lot of beanies. Marty the mole rat. He's never put out that many at once? No, this is the most. Ah, he's shooting too high.

Getting greedy. Once you fired, he's shooting too high. Getting greedy! You should, once you fired, what's her name? Lena Trevee. Once he fired Lena, he was fucking doomed. The curse is upon him. Well, to be fair, he was putting out Floody the Flounder because he was flooding the market. That's a fun little ad lib we like to do here on The Dolom.

Stop it. Call the 800 number below if you're interested. Please do talk flooding the market. That's a fun little ad lib we like to do here on The Dollar. Stop it. Call the 800 number below if you're interested. Please don't talk to the camera. Oh, okay. You're right, Dave. It was considered too much. It was flooding the market. You were asking too much of your buyers.

You've been selling them all over the place and now you're going go get 24 more. And people are like, Jesus Christ. Greedy. And they were right. The 1999 retiree beanies did not go up in value and this sent shockwaves through the beanie collecting world. For the first time, people saw that sometimes

the retiring wouldn't spike the price. Patty was at $1,500 in the spring of 98, but in the summer of 99 was just $700. Quackers had been valued at $3,500 in the spring of 98 and was now valued at $1,600 in the summer of 99. Not fucking Quackers. I bought Quackers at two. Ty announced to friends, quote, That was Quackers.

Mother. Damn it. This is, ugh. Can't believe you're together. Ty announced to friends, quote, we're shutting it down. He decided it has run its course and he wanted to folk on his next sure fire hit project, Beanie Kids. What?

No, fuck, I'm absolutely terrified. They are. I just threw up in my throw up. Actually, these were filled with throw up. They weren't filled with beans, people barfed in the felt. What in the fuck is that? Look at that. It's terrible. Didn't you always want to know

what a nipple-less man going through a midlife crisis would look like a scottish nipple-less christ almighty can you believe the act we're following i don't think we'll be as successful as the bloody beady babies look at me i've got a big scar on my arm and no nipples! I've been electrocuted! I've been shocked! Donald, where's your trusers? It's the Beanie Wrap! Yeah, they're disgusting. They were nightmare fuel and friends told them they were, quote, ugly. But he believed in them. He would reply to skeptics, quote, who's the billionaire here?

When he was on the list of Forbes' 400 richest Americans, he gave a copy to every one of his employees. The Beanie Babies or the magazine? The magazine. The magazine. Yeah. But he was giving, okay, one year for his employees, he gave everyone their salary matched as a bonus.

So like $12,000. No, like there were, some people were making making bank like sales reps and stuff like that. And then this year, he gives them all a beanie baby. On August 31st, 1999, Ty.com released the name of the new beanies and some bigger news. Quote, very important notice on December 31st, 1999, 1159 PM, all beanies will be retired, including the above. One of the new beanies was named The End, and it had written on its tie tag, all good things come to an end.

It's been fun for everyone. Peace and hope are never gone. Love you all and say so long." Wow. Gosh. It's such a dumb idea. He could have just reeled it in and put out like we're only putting out two this year. He's panicking.

He's panicking because the value is going down, but this is not the way to go. No, and you'll see right here, I mean, he's acting like a lunatic, right? This is like when Schlitzbier changed their formula. Yeah, this is also, yeah, right, you've told me that story before. He's Ray Liotta in Goodfellas looking at the helicopter right now. He's making wild decisions. And again, he's kind of insulated himself so that people don't really, like he doesn't really listen to anybody anymore.

Right. Lena Trivedi was like- Well, he's a billionaire. Once you're a billionaire, you're like, I know how to do everything. And as we can see, for real, in the mosque, that's true. But for a moment, it did work well. People wanted to get their hands on the beanies. A Fort Worth toy shop owner said, quote, it has been crazy to say the least.

It almost makes you think of the runs on the banks in the 1920s. Most people, honest to goodness, are in a panic. This gives you a quick sense of the panic. For years, nothing's been hotter than those cuddly little animals with cute little names. But abruptly this week, the makers of Beanie Babies, Ty Incorporated, announced over the internet that it's over. So is it official? It's official. Shop owner Joe Diamond had to post the news.

Beanie Babies are dead. It's over. December 31st, millennium, no more beanie babies. No, no more Quackers the Duck or Pinky the Flamingo. The company says every last one will be retired. That's why I'm here now, bye. The news caused a frenzy in the beanie world, especially among the adult collectors. Yes, I'm checking right now to see what I'm missing in my collection.

What happened was the chat room actually... Sir, let it go. I'm just checking right now to see what I'm missing in my collection. What happened was the chat room actually... Sir, let it go. Leonard Tannenbaum's Beanie Nation website was overwhelmed with mournful messages like, the end is coming. To them, this is really affecting their life more than most things that you guys have on the news. This, to them, is everything.

That guy becomes a real piece of shit hedge fund manager eventually. Half of the people took this as a time to start selling off their collections. A quarter started buying more and an eighth said they were done. It was just too much. That's interesting. I don't know why people would sell them off unless it's like, because you would think, well, now that they're all going away, the value goes up, but I guess if you can't trade them then the value is off.

I mean, it's, you know, you're panicking. Like there's this market that has been- First of all, I'm not panicking because I would never own Beanie Babies. Yeah, you have a daisy to cow right here, Athol. Why'd you get this, stupid? You're right. You know, they're like, they're totally, I mean, I think you're right. But I also think like the lesson from this and from crypto to some extent is like, they're totally, I mean, I think you're right, but I also think the lesson

from this and from crypto to some extent is like, once you see that modicum of downturn, fucking move. So, okay, so he's done all that. Then it's Christmas Day 1999 and Warner makes an even weirder call that he posted on tie.com. Quote, after much thought, I am willing to put the fate of Beanie Babies in your hands. You make the decision. You have inspired the Beanie Baby line through your devotion to them. There was a hotline set up where people could pay 50 cents to vote, the money went to charity,

if they wanted Beanie Babies to keep going. 91% of voters wanted the Beanie Babies to stay. But obviously anyone calling would want that, like who's paying 50 cents. What's weird to me is there's like 9% of people calling being like enough Well, that's the guy who's like I lost my friend Jim to beany babies Yeah, but pay 50 cents to be like go fuck yourself beany babies But it didn't work. It was over Despite Ty trying to get it back. He couldn't so many were just left with well beany babies

It was once again just a toy. And on November 25th, 2000, the unthinkable happened when Beanie Babies showed up in dollar stores. Oh my God. The bottom. Wow. I didn't think it would happen that fast. Even the classics were losing steam.

Websites like buyingbeanies.com popped up and didn't want to know what color or version or face you had or any of that It offered 40 cents a beanie flat rate their penny stocks The Benny the beanie baby bubble had burst the fall from grace was hard by 2004 Ty was forced to put his own money into the company to the tune of 39 million dollars And it was all just kind of this blur. So wait The little beanie guys the little beanie humans didn't sell? The beanie kids?

No, beanie kids, believe it or not, beanie kids did not do well. How is that possible? They were so cool looking. Can you imagine the balls? You should just make your own, you should just sell stuffed balls at that point. If you think that that little thing, that little thing is gonna be like, imagine people being like, this guy's a genius, he made Beanie Babies, what do you got next?

This kind of, yeah, this kind of like, murder kid. It's a semi-human child. It's like if a man, you know, fucked a mannequin, this thing, where are the nipples? I'm disgusted by nipples. I know, I don't go near them. They don't have shirts. I had my own removed.

Like he was probably like Cabbage Patches are probably freaking out right now. That's right, this was his Cabbage Patch. Totally. Yep. So it was all a weird blur, and kicking a toy company or a toy while they were down were the Berenstain Bears. Remember them? Oh yes. Those little fuckers.

Now when you, do you remember those as the Berenstein Bears? Yes, well, it's Berenstein, and that's a whole oddity for another time. That proves that we're living in a matrix. But anyway, in the Berenstein Bears, which is what they're called, Mad Mad Mad Toy Craze, they mock the lunacy of the era. The story was of the kids wanting berry bubbies because everyone else had them, and some had skyrocketed in value. And the mother says, the father says, just listen to this, said Papa, reading from a

berry bubbies magazine he had found at the supermarket. A rare berry bubby was sold in Bearville for hundreds of dollars. Did you hear that? Hundreds of dollars. But at the end of the story, they were just left, like most frantic beanie collectors, saying to themselves, all you could do is look at them, except they had this way of looking back at you and making you think about all the money you had spent on them.

99.5% of all beanie babies in mint condition are worth less than they retailed for. And that is the sad reality for many. While it's crazy and funny, a lot of people took out credit cards they could never pay back. Oh, God. Bankruptcies, college funds come and gone. And all they had to show for it was a bunch of partially stuffed bean bags that sat in a container in their basement.

It seemed like such a good idea. It did. Like this woman who went bankrupt, our beanie rapper. She is still paying off her debts. She has nothing to show for it. Can't she, what about the album? Did it not sell? She refuses to sell the platinum record that's in her recording studio.

She's sticking to her guns. Poor lady. A former rep told a story about how he would see people with wheelbarrows full of beanies who couldn't afford new clothes for their kids. People had gone all in. But while someone broke, Ty laughed all the way to the bank. That is, until September of 2013, when Warner was brought up on tax evasion charges. Oh, yes. He had apparently been withholding $100 million in a Swiss bank account from the IRS. And Warner wasn't just under the gun, he'd also been under the knife.

Look at his face. Yeah, he's got a real sour beef. He has become a beanie. Warner spoke to the judge through tears and said, quote, I apologize for my conduct. I had great success with my company and I had so much to be thankful for. He was fined $53.5 million and given 500 hours of community service and no jail time. The federal sentencing guide says he should have gotten 46 months. Wow.

Fuck. Here is a picture of his mansion's gates being repainted gold the day after the ruling. Why are they being repainted gold? Because he has the money, because fuck you. That's bad. Warner is now a hotel tycoon. That's his whole own bag of beanies. What hotels does he own? Tons.

He owns the Four Seasons in New York, he owns a couple Four Seasons, he owns one in Santa Barbara, tons. And he actually lived at the top floor of the Four Seasons for ages. Sure. But he's shuttered many of his businesses since COVID and his employees mostly hate him. There are many lawsuits. And in 2021, his longtime partner sued him for $400 million after their marriage-like relationship ended amid claims of years of abuse, physical and mental. Warner denied the allegations as, quote, the lawsuit is a money grab filled with lies. Still, every seven years or so, it seems like rumors come out that make people think Beanie

Babies may be valuable again. Like in 2007, when people bought into the rumor that the Princess Bear, Alf of Diana, was worth $100,000 again. I said, wait a minute, I have that bear. Kelly Despotakis remembered her daughter getting that bear as a baby. First she told her husband. He was up and into the basement in about 30 seconds flat,

and he has had two knee replacements, looking for the bear. I found it. Then she told her daughter. First I got super excited and just ran up and hugged her. Then I started crying a little bit. It would just be so great if this actually was worth a lot of money because I really need to pay for my college.

You're not going to college. So do you think it wasn't? Can you imagine taking that to Stanford and being like so. They're like, yeah. Actually, you're more Emerson material. No, it wasn't worth it. But what I love about that clip is they spent all this money on Beanie Babies.

And she's like, I need college money. America is just the fucking worst. It happened again in 2021 with the Princess Bear and a few others. People believed they would be worth thousands. but again, it was a scam. So that is the story of the cuddly crypto of Beanie Bitcoin, of commemorative plate plush. The saga is all pretty well summed up by Peggy Gallagher's sister, who when reached for comment when Peggy completed her collection of all 822 Beanie babies, her sister said when her

sister Peggy completed, quote, the calm experienced with owning the collection comes only after the storm of the hunt. How did she do it? Thousands of dollars to Ma Belle looking for them, hours on the computer trying to find people who could trade for what they needed, harassing poor tie reps, following overnight couriers thinking they had her beanies. Why this happens or how this happens is beyond me. Peggy has had so many sleepless nights thinking of places that she hasn't searched and nightmares

of calling a store as the targeted piece leaves the store to a lucky buyer. It is just about the time when hopelessness overcomes you, that you just then happen upon the animal that has eluded you for so long. Well, well, well. And that's the story of the Beanie Babies. And let me say, the best book for this was The Great Beanie Baby Bubble by Zach Bissonette. There's also a great documentary called Beanie Mania on HBO Max, which talks to a lot of the original mothers who were obsessed with the Beanie Babies and Beanie Go Bust on Vice.

But then there's Bloomberg articles, lots of YouTube videos, as you saw, and then just lots of local news clips and stuff. But that's the story of the Beanie Babies. You said, I'm going to save something until the end. Oh, it was the guy. So this one guy, I don't know where he sells them, but his parents had a huge collection of beanie babies. And so, what he started to do was, he came up with a business where he cuts the head

off the beanie babies and he puts them on the little mountings that you would put hunted animals on, and he sells those. And he makes quite a little bit of money. That's hilarious. Yeah. There are a couple beanie businesses that have have popped up and there's some good stories and ways, but it really is just like, it's just a tragic story of like- He never started selling them again?

He actually kept selling them. And in 2013, he tried to do something with these, which were called beanie booze. Let me see beanie booze. Oh my god. And he basically, what he did was it basically he created like a beanie metaverse with beanies where you could become the beanie and interact with other beanies on this website component. But all of it is- Now we're getting into the sex stuff.

All of it is totally failed. You still buy Beanie Babies. Did you buy that one? Yeah. Yeah, you can still buy them. CVS top them? Yeah, they're everywhere still. Now I notice them everywhere.

So he's still making money off Beanie Babies. He still makes money, but it's like. Not like it was. No. We're talking. But he still makes money. Yeah. No, he's a rich monster.

And now the company is more into acquisitions, too. Sure. Like acquired Br rats dolls or like Garfield I think and stuff. Yeah, you got to start by this one's called fudge Yeah, and it's birthday is December the 13th. So you just had a birthday fudge. Oh Look he's with the cows come to his party Well, that's fun. It's fun. Yeah. That's fudge. So there you go. That's the... Well, that was very interesting. Benji, that was great. Thank

you. It was great. Thanks, Derry. Yeah. We mustn't tell Garfy, though. Don't tell Garfy about Benji. Benji did a good job. Yeah, don't tell Garfy that Benji did a good job. He'd be a bit upset. Yeah. Did you enjoy this time, Mother? I did. It was very good. very good It was very do you have any extra beanie stories or any toy sale rep stories? No, no, I think I think you I've covered all of them But I just remember it was absolutely crazy and as a toy rep you were so jealous of the tie reps Because because they were making a ton of money. We were all struggling, you know It's like pharmaceuticals a little wooden trade you got it was on commission Yes, it was a commission. So that was when he was matching the salaries those people were making.

You know, he was matching people's huge salaries. But I bet he was cutting down on the commission because at one point the commission was probably 10 percent, but when he got big and he seems nasty, I bet he cut it down to like 2 percent. They were all, I mean, it seemed like the salespeople make good money and then like the people who were like at the company, like people were like, you're making millions of dollars. And they were like, no, like they were just, he was screwing people left and right, you know?

Yeah. I mean, that's what they do. Yeah. And like you're saying, like towards the end, it's like he fires or he just lets people go who are valuable. And it's like, those are the people would be like, dude, don't put 24-hour right now, you know? But they're gone.

So anyway, anyway, very interesting. Well, well, we want to thank you all for joining us this evening for the dollop. We hope you have learned something about beanie babies and about yourself. Because at the end of the day, each beanie is like us. We're all snowflakes. Shut the fuck up, it's Gareth. It's your song. Alright, we're done. Benji's Word.

Not my song! Welcome to Benji's Word. No, cut it, Eric. Cut the goddamn feed. Benji. No! Benji. And called it, quote, his jam patch. Jim?

Jim? Jim? Jim? Jim? Jim? Jim? Jim? Jim? Jim? Benji. Benji. Benji. Benji. Benji. Benji. Benji. Benji.

Benji. Benji. Benji. Benji. Benji. Benji. Benji. Benji.

Benji. Benji. Benji. Benji. Benji. Benji. Benji. Benji.

Benji. Benji. Benji. You both present sick arguments. No sleep-tell-hip-out! No sleep-tell-hip-out! Action partner. Hi, Gaby. No. I see that, my friend. No!

No! Roeder! Roeder in the corner!