I would buy whole seasons of this on DVD.

syng wht trsh s rtrdd.

We have the Hootenanny Bargain Barn in North Palm Springs, a dusty crossroads on the other side of the freeway. It's your one-stop shopping destination for broken toys and single dishes.

A friend of mine worked Saturday mornings at a rural radio station in western Kansas - "swap & shop Saturday mornings"... live radio call in show with all kinds of random garage sale stuff. Really fun to listen most of the time.

Oh man, I did watch hours of this. My favorite things about it:
-He would always say "As is" about bad items, as if there were guarantees on any of the other items.
-Grab Bags - It would typically be a box of crap nobody wanted to sort through.

I almost ordered once. Almost.

I used to watch this when I was a teenager. In some episodes it seemed that they were filming on the side of a highway somewhere. Also, an older woman used to host occasionally.

I am, once again, so ashamed to live in this state...

I also watched this quite a bit growing up in Tulsa in the 90s. Some of the best moments were from callers on the show. He would take questions from people watching at home about particular items. As the show was usually on later in the evening, you can imagine the types of calls he would get. Lots of stoners, meth heads and plain ol' wackjobs.

No need to make my annual trip to my home state this year.

This took me right back.

watching 30' of this made me feel dirty all over, and deeply frightened. And I am quite sure my reaction is racist in nature........

Saw this when passing through Oklahoma 4 years ago. Best... TV... ever.

I love that Bargain Barn is "where Jesus is Lord"! I've always wondered where Jesus was Lord and now I know!

That dude is refreshingly honest about the flaws in his merchandise. Holding the comforter up to the camera like that... you have to give him points.

Two lines that slayed me:
re: the magic carpet - two minutes of horsing around on a 'magic carpet,' then he finally relents before the cut, "Not really."
re: the recliner - "It gets shabbier!"

That guy's got a great accent.

This is why the Good Lord invented both Pabst and Youtube... I couldn't believe 10 minutes went by that fast. I could watch this all day.

What did they use as a video title generator? An Amiga or Atari ST or something similar?

File under: Things I did not know were missing from my life. I used to watch this for hours in the 90s. Usually, when I think of growing up here, I'm ambivalent. Right now I'm just swelling with pride. Listening to this guy makes me feel like I'm at a family reunion. I do not hear enough people say "warshed" or "that little dude" (in reference to inanimate objects) in New York. Thanks Boing Boing.

that address is on street view!! check it out - 1200 west benedict shawnee OK. hard to say whether the light blue building is the bargain barn, or whether the other corner with the vacant lot is the former bargain barn. either way, it kind of boggles my mind that we live in a world where I can instantly view the intersection this occurred on.

I want the magic carpet!

Even though I lived in Oklahoma in the mid-90s, I somehow missed this, but from what I remember of the state in general and public access TV in particular, this is completely plausible. OK always seemed to me to be one really dry summer away from Dust Bowl II.

We're making fun of how people talk now? Are we not aware of how classist this is, poking fun at them "white trash" folks and their wacky ways of talking?

kinda like a cultural snuff flick. then again, i'm an expatriate southerner.

I thought it was a fun little rig.

The accent brought me right back to growing up in South East Colorado(adjacent to the Oklahoma pan handle)... Didn't even realize I spoke with an accent until my girlfriend started teezing me.

Too bad he didn't say greeze(grease), meelk(milk), or my personal favorite heel(instead of hill).

After not living there for a decade I think the accent is mostly gone, funny though going back I immediately slip into those speaking patterns.

There's got to be more of this on VHS tapes. For the love of humanity, get them on YouTube, otherwise I am going to have to settle for watching this over and over again.

Half of my family is from Oklahoma (my mom's side). To my ear, they all have a much milder accent than the man in this video, but my grandfather definitely used to say "warshed."

Other than that, this guy sounds more like my dad's side of the family, from Georgia.

Wow! "White" trash? Good thing you qualified "trash" so we'd know you weren't talking about the normal trashy types (you know, African Americans, Mexicans, Indians, etc.). I mean, why else would the word "trash" need that differentiation?

I've heard redio swap shows on cross-country trips. Interesting to listen to, and probably a really useful service. The callers offered stuff like puppies and services like painting and palm-reading.

The stuff in the video . . . man, I literally find better stuff in dumpsters every week. The saddest, most pathetic thrift stores have better stuff than that.

I have to give this guy a ton of credit. He's selling this worthless crap with all the enthusiasm he can muster.

That was fun. Seller was good. Would buy from him again. A++++

Agreed, this is true maker culture.

This is great! I lived in Shawnee for the summer of 2002. The Bargain Barn was still running and I watched with my room mates sometimes. I purchased an off-model car CD player once, to replace the tape deck in my old car.

The experience of visiting the warehouse where all this stuff is housed was other-worldly (as was the whole summer, actually). But Anon #31 and MagpieKillJoy are right, I learned more about making that summer than at any other time in my life.

I never got the CD player to work, but as an example of the local maker prowess, a friend once disassembled his truck and then reassembled it in his living room for a laugh. He was late for work the next day cause he had to walk there.

I would be very careful about playing the class card here, it is these people who will survive the zombie apocalypse.

I'm taking 4 months off of everything and turning off my phones and locking my doors and watching this over and over again and smoking non stop.

Wow. All you hipsters are so much cooler than us trash, who are just here for you to laugh at and feel superior to as you drink over priced coffee. Don't spill any on your macbooks, the stains are hard to get out.

We use to have a show like this in my home town. I remember my grandpa watching it late at night on Friday.

that was awesome. it was like going to a bad thrift store and having someone pitch everything to you. "this is a pretty decent rig... just needs a little fixin..."

I watched this. I'm sure there was substance consumption involved.

gnutse, only one person referred to "white trash" and that post was disemvoweled. As a life-long Oklahoman, I'm sensitive to this stuff as well, but most of the comments here are positive and appreciative.

My dad warshes his clothes, orders Eyetalian dressing on his salad, and has visited the city of DE-troit.

i grew up in southeast oklahoma and now live in tulsa. i've always loved the oklahoma accent that pronounced "wash" as "worsh" and "oil" as... the closest i can guess at spelling here is "oull," with the "ou" pronounced as it is in "ought" i study english language and literature as a grad student, and one of the most interesting part of my schooling has been linguistics. as far as i can tell, oklahoma has its own accent which differs from other regional accents. there is something in particular done with vowel sounds; coors beer becomes "curs" (as in a pack of stray dogs), toilet is slurred out as "toullet" (like oil above), y'all is pronounced "yawl," and we're forever "fixin' ta" do whatever it is we're about to do.

Personally, I'd give that quilt a warsh. Even thought it ain't tore up or don't have any flaws. Still needs to be warshed, though, even though it ain't beat up/

A.B., there is one other reference to "white trash" that has NOT been disemvowelled: White trash video addiction

This is an AWESOME show.

I'd say the show was a good idea, considering that most of this stuff would have otherwise have gone to the landfill.

broken toys and single dishes

Dude, country song title!!

Do not always buy new. Keep what you have. Wash and repair. Thats what I got from this video. Very folksy.

Wait, its NOT a magic carpet? Well, damn

That was GREAT! I just loved that auctioneer and could watch him work all day. It's amazing to see a guy having a little fun at work, even though his job is selling some pretty sketchy stuff. He's got a great local accent, wit and zero irony.
Pure sincerety is so rare these days.

Fantastic! A prime example of why I love my state. Hats off to you, Mr. Dirty blanket hawker!

Well folks, if you want to nerd heavily you CAN see the former site of Bargain Barn, and I do believe you can rent it out as well. Charming little site: http://www.loopnet.com/Listing/16258441/1200-West-Benedict-Shawnee-OK/