A 20-Year-Old Video Of A Bizarro-World Yard Sale Featuring ‘The Pricemaster’ Is Going Viral

Nobody at garage sale

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While I’m usually the movie/TV guy here at BroBible, given that it’s the notoriously slow holiday week between Christmas and New Year’s, I’m having to stretch myself a bit in order to find things to write about given that the entire adult world has essentially ground to a halt.

Thus, let me introduce you to The PriceMaster, a 20-year-old avant-garde piece of performance art that’s recently been going viral on Twitter.

Shot in Denton, Texas near the turn of the millennium, The PriceMaster sees a man in full jester-esque regalia standing atop a stage at a local garage sale. As unsuspecting potential customers pick up unpriced items, they must make an offer to The PriceMaster, who almost always responds with an absurd counteroffer.

For example, a customer will say, “How much is this serving dish? Five bucks?” and The PriceMaster replies by saying something like “FIVE… THOUSAND DOLLARS.” And, for whatever reason — perhaps because we’re all braindead from the holidays — the internet, myself included, has been getting an absolute kick out of it in recent days.

‘Everything is for sale.’ ‘Make me an offer!’… the wonderful mantras of the prophet of Captive Market Capitalism (i.e. American Style Corporate Capitalism) echo pertinently on a crisp winter day in Denton, TX in the newborn hours of the great decisive 21st Century. Members of the hallowed Fast House look on and document the unfolding,” the video’s official description reads on YouTube.

This review of the 30-minute mockumentary/performance art (?) over on Letterboxd best encapsulates the insanity of it all:

Very surreal and very unnerving little piece of public access gold focused on a stoop sale as performance art in Denton, Texas, around 2001. My friend texted me the link and said “If you have five minutes, check this out,” and I ended up watching all 30 minutes of it. Shot on a handheld video camera, vérité style, it documents unsuspecting customers finding themselves at a stoop sale in which nothing is labeled with a price and a strange figure, the Pricemaster, dictates outrageous prices for everything when inquired. “Five… HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS!”

The Pricemaster may or may not be a human being in an elaborate costume; they may also be an very elaborate marionette; they may also be the living embodiment of neo-liberalism. Take your pick. What makes this video special is the reactions people have to this masked dictator of commerce. Some people just walk away grumbling, realizing this is a dumb joke when they’re told to pay “Forty…THOUSAND DOLLARS!” for a tiny, portable TV.

Others laugh and lean into it, recognizing the humor in the whole situation. And some people choose to engage and push back against the masked dictator. My favorite part is when a woman engages in a futile back-and-forth with the Pricemaster, offering five dollars for a bunch of junk. The Pricemaster naturally demands a small fortune. “But I really need this stuff!” says the woman, and yet we see all she’s trying to buy is a box of dominoes and a single nunchuck. This is art.

While the days of traditional garage sales may be long gone, at least we’ll always have this glorious moment in time where The PriceMaster ruled all.

Eric Italiano BroBIble avatar
Eric Italiano is a NYC-based writer who spearheads BroBible's Pop Culture and Entertainment content. He covers topics such as Movies, TV, and Video Games, while interviewing actors, directors, and writers.