The Real McPhee
Are you a fan of Archie McPhee? You probably are if you have a thing for stuff like rubber chickens, punching nun puppets, and bacon-flavored dental floss.
And if you want to know how the novelties merchant got its start, you can read “Who Would Buy This? The Archie McPhee Story” by company founder Mark Phallow. (The “real” Archie McPhee was Pahlow’s great uncle.)
Pahlow, who founded the cataloger in Seattle in 1983, in the book shares his theory that shopping exists to make people less depressed. Maybe it’s just shopping for Archie McPhee products that makes folks less depressed. Where else can you find items like inflatable toast, a donkey cigarette dispenser, a Santa dreidel and a yodeling pickle?
You can find these items and thousands more, plus Pahlow’s book, on the Archie McPhee Website. The company’s Slightly Less Disappointing Blog is also a fun read.
And if you want to know exactly who would buy that scary thing pictured on the cover of the book, I can tell you: our former art director. It’s a shockingly ugly alarm clock that shrieks “Bibo.” He loved that thing; we hated it.
