ADAM BUXTON AUCTION FOR MSF
14 - 24 MAY, 2021
Thanks to everyone who donated, bid for items and bought raffle tickets for the auction in May 2021. In the end, we raised £29,912.00, which went directly to help MSF volunteers provide medical care for people all over the world affected by wars, the pandemic, and natural disasters. Below is the post I wrote before the auction took place.
Adam
ABOUT THIS AUCTION
Being something of a hoarder I have many souvenirs from various projects I've been involved with over the years. Most of these just sit in boxes pointlessly, so I thought it would be good if some of them found a home with people who understand how valuable and historically important they are, even if to most of the world they just look like bits of junk rejected from a charity shop.
The process of re-housing these treasures will raise some money to support the efforts of an extraordinary group of people: MSF (Médecins Sans Frontières or Doctors Without Borders) an independent organisation who provide medical assistance for people all over the world affected by wars and other disasters. All the money raised from selling off these priceless cultural artefacts will go to MSF, but if you're just browsing, please make a donation too, if you're able to do so.
The auction will close at 9am the following Monday 24th May.
I'll send out the items to the winning bidders as soon as possible after 24th May and each package will also include specially made cards printed out and signed by me using a top of the range permanent marker. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that of all the auctions of pop cultural memorabilia ever to take place on eBay, this is the first I've been involved with.
Now, come and delve into my dusty box.
Adam Buxton, May, 2021
ITEM 01: RADIOHEAD CAMERA HELMET 1 (WITH WORKING CAMERA)
In November 2007 my friend Garth Jennings and I travelled to Radiohead's old studio outside Oxford where we helped the band put together a three hour live webcast to celebrate the completion of their album In Rainbows. I made 5 camera helmet rigs for the band to wear as they performed Jigsaw Falling Into Place. There were no GoPro cameras in those days so I had to buy cheap security cameras and mount them on the end of wooden poles jammed into the bike helmets in order to achieve the queasy effect I wanted. Then I sprayed all the helmets silver to make them look more, you know, 'Space Rock'.
ITEM 02: RADIOHEAD CAMERA HELMET 2
This 2nd Radiohead camera helmet features a jazzy variation Jonny's signature and Thom, as well as signing his name ('thm') has indicated that whoever wore the helmet originally was an 'ijit'. He has also written handy instruction for where to put your head on the rear of the helmet. Sadly, the camera on this one no longer works, but with Sharpie scribbles like that from two of the finest musicians of the last century, you should be able to get over it.
ITEM 3: HOT FUZZ MEMORABILIA
I played annoying local reporter Tim Messenger in Hot Fuzz, directed by Edgar Wright. Tim meets one of cinema's most outrageously gory ends when a mystery assailant topples a church spire that explodes his head and embeds itself in his body. My death scene was filmed at St Cuthbert's parish church in the cathedral city of Wells, Somerset in May 2006. When the prosthetic version of my head was blown up (twice) I collected a couple of souvenirs in the form of a large section of 'my' latex face from the first, less destructive explosion, and a nose, which was all that remained from the second take.
As well as these macabre remnants of my 36 year old face (which still have bits of hair and gooey fake blood on them) I have included the laminated sign bearing my character's name from my trailer and the Hot Fuzz shooting schedule, given out by the production to each cast and crew member (both signed by me).
ITEM 04: ADAM'S SAILOR HAT AND TEE SHIRT FROM THE ADAM AND JOE SHOW
This is the original sailor hat and tee shirt that I wore in the first two series of The Adam and Joe Show. On the back of the tee shirt is a big 'T' and the words 'Ad & Joe's' because on the back of Joe's tee shirt was the word 'Show' with a big 'V'. This was because at one stage the programme was going to be called 'Ad & Joe's TV Show' and I liked the idea that during the opening titles (a speeded up sequence of us constructing the bedroom set) the name of the show would be spelt out across our tee shirts when we turned out backs to the camera.
You can see us wearing the 'T' and 'V' shirts in the opening titles for series 1 which we filmed shortly before Channel 4 said they preferred 'The Adam and Joe Show' as a title. I recall getting stressed about this at the time saying "But the backs of our tee shirts say 'Ad & Joe's TV Show' NOT 'The Adam and Joe Show'! We're going to have to get new tee shirts made and we'll have to film the titles again or we'll look like idiots!" But we didn't because for some reason no one else seemed to think it was a big deal.
ITEM 05: SELECTION OF ADAM AND JOE RELATED RECORDS AND CD
Forget about those signed Beatles test pressings, this is the holy grail for the discerning music collector: both volumes of Adam and Joe's ULTRA RARE Song Wars albums (both signed by me and Joe) PLUS the SO RARE IT BARELY EXISTS white label test pressing of The Footie Song by Adam and Joe (featuring Zac Sandler) on Vinyl. This is the actual record that we used in an Adam and Joe Show sketch about how to behave while shopping at intimidating record stores, in which it was referred to as "The Birdy Song, Nancy Knee Caps remix", hence the scrawl on the label.
And for your digital convenience all the music on these RARE AND BEAUTIFUL discs has been lovingly transferred to a beautiful pink 16 GB SanDisk USB key which you can re-use to store stolen NOC lists, viruses to bring down the computer systems of evil corporations and/or cat pictures.
ITEM 06: SELECTION OF ADAM AND JOE RELATED DVDs
Get ready for an evening of unbeatable entertainment with this collection of audio visual excellence. There's the urban sci-fi masterpiece Attack The Block directed by Joseph Cornish, the extraordinary Adam and Joe DVD, featuring compilations of the best bits from all 4 series of The Adam and Joe Show (plus lovingly curated extras), Adam Buxton's Old Bits (signed) which includes excellent live and video material made by A Buckles between 2013 - 2016, AND as a bonus gift of thanks from me personally: a CD rom containing all 8 episodes of Adam Buxton's BUG (originally broadcast on Sky Arts in 2012) as MP4 video files to watch constantly for the rest of you life on your favourite device.
ITEM 07: STAR TREK TNG SINGLE DUVET COVER AND PILLOW CASE (FROM ADAM AND JOE SHOW SET)
I really hesitated about giving this away because I love it very much. Purchased from Morleys department store in Brixton in 1996, this single duvet cover is the one that Joe and I sat on with our actual arses for 4 ground breaking series of The Adam and Joe Show. I bought it because I was a big Star Trek TNG fan, though we ended up using the reverse side with the stars for the show. A few times I ended up working through the night in the studio and slept under this duvet. I hoped one of my children might share my love of Star Trek TNG and I could let them have the duvet cover, but no, they wanted Ben 10 duvet covers.
Just imagine the dreams you'll have beneath this piece of cult TV history (and the DNA you might still be able to extract from its threads).
ADAM AND JOE TOYMOVIE TOYS
One of the most popular parts of The Adam and Joe Show were the parodies of films and TV shows we made using stuffed toys and figurines. I rounded up a few from some of the 'toy movies' I made (apart from the Beardy Bear - he was Joe's), including several cast members from my version of Guy Ritchie's film Snatch and Star Trek TNG.
ITEM 08: PANDA DRUMMER WIND UP TOY (IN STAR TREK TNG COSTUME - WITH BOX)
This talented tin toy panda starred in the Adam and Joe toy version of the film Shine and was later painted into Starfleet uniform (though his badge has been lost sadly) for my toy version of Star Trek TNG. Comes with original box, key and drum, and still works though one of his drum sticks is missing.
ITEM 09: TOY FROG (IN GUINAN COSTUME FROM STAR TREK TNG PARODY)
I worked with this stuffed frog a couple of times. The first was for the Adam and Joe version of edgy 90s TV drama This Life in which she played ambitious barrister Milly. Frog was tremendous in 'Stuff This Life' so I brought her back to play the wise bartender Guinan, originally played by Whoopi Goldberg in Star Trek TNG.
ITEM 10: BULLDOG TOY IN BULLYDOG TONY COSTUME FROM SNATCH PARODY
Guy Ritchie's film Snatch was filled with colourful criminal characters with equally colourful names. Frightening footballer Vinnie Jones played Bullet-Tooth Tony so for my toy version of Snatch I cast this stern looking stuffed bulldog and named him Bully-Dog Tony. It's a clever name that works on a couple of levels: he's a bulldog, but he's also, it must be said, a bit of a bully. The toy comes with the original section of coat hanger I shoved up him to make him stand upright.
ITEM 11: MONKEY TOY IN BRAD PITT COSTUME FROM SNATCH PARODY
In Snatch, the character of Mickey O'Neil, a bare-knuckle boxing champion with an outrageous Irish accent, was played by Hollywood super-hunk Brad Pitt. I needed someone cheeky and sinewy to play Micky so I ended up casting this handsome and extremely pliable monkey. In Snatch, Mickey O'Neil's body is adorned with tattoos so I gave my monkey some equally prominent tats including a large 'jennifer 4 ever' on his stomach, a reference to Brad Pitt's then partner Jennifer Aniston. Though their relationship did not last '4 ever', I'm happy to say they still seem friendly. The monkey also has a tattoo on his back that says 'TWAT', which is what I called my version of Snatch. Again, coat hanger included.
ITEM 12: TOILET HEADED TOY (COUSIN LAVVY) IN SNATCH PARODY
Another Snatch cast member and another fun name, this time New York jeweller 'Cousin Avi' played in Guy Ritchie's film by Dennis Farina. The name 'Avi' made me think of the word 'lavvy', a British slang term meaning 'lavatory' or 'toilet', which lead me to replace the head of another stuffed monkey toy with a small plastic lavatory that squirted water when you lifted the lid (though, sad to say, that functionality did not survive the transplant). The toilet head was also apt because the character of 'Cousin Avi' had a very potty mouth. Again, coat hanger for easy standing and fishing line loop to make the toilet lid 'talk'.
ITEM 13: BEARDY BEAR TOY AS STEVEN SPIELBERG IN SAVING PRIVATE RYAN PARODY
In my opinion Joe's toy version of Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan was as good, or even better than the original, but when it came to casting a toy to play Spielberg, Joe didn't waste too much time trying to find someone who looked the part. Whatever, this stuffed bear with beard and hair lovingly glued on by J Corn, is a wonderful reminder of a tremendous parody of an extraordinary film.
ITEM 14: KNITTED MOUSE TOY IN FRAN HEALY COSTUME FROM JO WHILEY SHOW PARODY
For the 4th and final series of The Adam and Joe Show in 2000, I made a toy version of the BBC cultural review programme The Late Review, which included short parodies of a few programmes I used to watch at the time: 'Loose Women', 'The Richard Blackwood Show' and the Channel 4 music show 'Jo Whiley', on which Jo chatted with musical guests sat on groovy couches. I had recently become friends with the band Travis so I Included a toy version of lead singer Fran Healy as one of Jo's guests. The mouse was knitted by my friend Zivi's mother, so please look after it.
ITEM 15: JABBA THE HUT WITH BABY ARM
As well as stuffed toys Joe and I also employed my extensive childhood collection of Star Wars figurines, carefully stored by my Mum in the attic until Joe suggested we fetch them down to do some filming one day in the mid 90s. This is the Jabba toy that appeared in several TV parodies we located in the Star Wars universe (see accompanying stills of Joe's version of Jerry Springer and my version of the British sitcom The Royle Family in which Jabba played Jim Royle).
Jabba's arm broke off when we were filming the final series of The Adam and Joe Show and when I moved out of London years later the arm got lost. Then in 2016 I was invited to join Richard Ayoade for a couple of days filming in Lisbon for his show Travel Man. There's a famous toy hospital in Lisbon so I took Jabba along, and though the new arm they found for him wasn't a perfect match for the old one, it looks fetching and goes some way to humanising the much maligned bounty hunter.
ITEM 16: VINYL JUSTICE ITEMS
We had a segment on The Adam and Joe Show called Vinyl Justice in which Joe and I dressed up as policemen and 'raided' the homes of music artists in search or 'criminal records' in their collections. I always thought of it as an excuse to meet a few of my musical heroes and over the years we spent strange afternoons filming with Thomas Dolby, Nick Heyward of Haircut 100, Tim and Lætitia of Stereloab, Mark E Smith of The Fall and Frank Black of Pixies.
Over the 4 series of The Adam and Joe Show, our Vinyl Justice uniforms evolved and we made hats and badges that cleverly combined the worlds of music and policing. I wore a helmet with a record top of it for several Vinyl Justice raids and for a spread in The Adam and Joe Book in 1999, in which I also wore the badges you can see me holding below. We often decorated our uniforms with the face of actor Nick Berry, a cast member of Heartbeat, the popular British TV drama about loveable local policemen in the 1960s. The CD badge with Nick's head on it also used to say 'YOU'RE NICKED' but that bit got lost.
In 1998 Vinyl Justice even got its own short lived spin off for VH1 in America in which comedians Wayne Brady and Barry Sobel undertook the raids instead of me and Joe. The notebook was one of the props made for the US Vinyl Justice that I took possession of when it finished.
ITEM 17: THE ADAM AND JOE BOOK
This is one of my very last copies of the book we did in 1999. There's some funny stuff in it and I recall spending ages on Photoshop trying to get it looking as detailed and home made as The Adam and Joe Show on TV. Signed by me and Joe.
