For trickster, business is a gas
By Darren Garnick / The Working Stiff
Wednesday, April 21, 2010 -
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Wednesday, April 21, 2010 -
+ Recent Articles + Recent Blog Entries + Email + Bio
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Share Jason Washer’s first pilgrimage to Boston’s legendary Jack’s Joke Shop helped him launch his first business more than 30 years ago. He was “The Amazing Jason” back then, commanding a whopping $25 fee in the competitive New Hampshire birthday party market. And every dollar in income was reinvested into new magic tricks.
He remembers nervously strolling through the infamous Combat Zone to arrive at his Tremont Street temple, which had sacred rubber chickens dangling in the front window. He forgets what was in his bag of goodies that afternoon. Likely some flashpaper for his special effects. Or maybe the spaghetti-like “fake snot” his older brother liked to wear at family functions.
Jack’s closed in 2007, but the iconic Theater District landmark still lives on in Washer, a computer sales account manager who just launched Chucklehead Toys. Debuting on April Fools’ Day, the online jokes-and-novelty superstore aims to “bring the classy back to fart jokes and fake vomit.”
“I want to sell quality products, as quality as a whoopee cushion or a stink bomb can be,” Washer says. “I want to be America’s favorite rubber chicken supplier.”
ChuckleheadToys.com, represented by a ventriloquist dummy-like mascot who serves as the symbolic CEO, also strives to be a Web hub for practical joke advice, gag videos and social networking for the fart-loving community.
Turning 40 years old the day after the store’s launch was also an inspiration for Washer to rechannel “The Amazing Jason” from his home office in rural Alstead, N.H. Floating from career to career - including stints with the U.S. Navy, Home Depot, a coffee-roasting business and computer sales - he’s always dreamed of running his own business.
“Gags and pranks and magic tricks are a pretty universal fascination for all kids and most grownups, whether they admit it or not,” Washer says. “Everyone’s parents and grandparents once had their own joy buzzer. It’s kind of a universal goofiness.”
Washer’s parents certainly remember. One of his fondest memories is planting a mildly explosive cigarette load into one of his mother’s packs and watching her freak out over the harmless blast.
“She charged down the stairs and was really upset,” he recalls. “I don’t think I dared a second try!”
As part of his business plan, Washer researched the life of toymaker S.S. Adams, who was dubbed the “Thomas Edison of Practical Jokesmithing” by the Saturday Evening Post. Adams turned his one-person sneezing powder business in 1906 into the world’s largest novelty company. Almost every famous gag enjoyed by baby boomers - including fake insect ice cubes, squirting nickels and the dribble glass - was an Adams invention.
But it was the proceeds from his handshake joy buzzers that emboldened Adams to build his New Jersey factory at the unlikeliest time, in the midst of the Great Depression.
Washer sees business parallels with today’s economic climate. Perhaps a good omen, the Adams-inspired dribble glass is now outselling everything else on the Chucklehead Toys site.
“His success says something about the need to laugh during hard times,” Washer says. “What a great way to make a living.”
He remembers nervously strolling through the infamous Combat Zone to arrive at his Tremont Street temple, which had sacred rubber chickens dangling in the front window. He forgets what was in his bag of goodies that afternoon. Likely some flashpaper for his special effects. Or maybe the spaghetti-like “fake snot” his older brother liked to wear at family functions.
Jack’s closed in 2007, but the iconic Theater District landmark still lives on in Washer, a computer sales account manager who just launched Chucklehead Toys. Debuting on April Fools’ Day, the online jokes-and-novelty superstore aims to “bring the classy back to fart jokes and fake vomit.”
“I want to sell quality products, as quality as a whoopee cushion or a stink bomb can be,” Washer says. “I want to be America’s favorite rubber chicken supplier.”
ChuckleheadToys.com, represented by a ventriloquist dummy-like mascot who serves as the symbolic CEO, also strives to be a Web hub for practical joke advice, gag videos and social networking for the fart-loving community.
Turning 40 years old the day after the store’s launch was also an inspiration for Washer to rechannel “The Amazing Jason” from his home office in rural Alstead, N.H. Floating from career to career - including stints with the U.S. Navy, Home Depot, a coffee-roasting business and computer sales - he’s always dreamed of running his own business.
“Gags and pranks and magic tricks are a pretty universal fascination for all kids and most grownups, whether they admit it or not,” Washer says. “Everyone’s parents and grandparents once had their own joy buzzer. It’s kind of a universal goofiness.”
Washer’s parents certainly remember. One of his fondest memories is planting a mildly explosive cigarette load into one of his mother’s packs and watching her freak out over the harmless blast.
“She charged down the stairs and was really upset,” he recalls. “I don’t think I dared a second try!”
As part of his business plan, Washer researched the life of toymaker S.S. Adams, who was dubbed the “Thomas Edison of Practical Jokesmithing” by the Saturday Evening Post. Adams turned his one-person sneezing powder business in 1906 into the world’s largest novelty company. Almost every famous gag enjoyed by baby boomers - including fake insect ice cubes, squirting nickels and the dribble glass - was an Adams invention.
But it was the proceeds from his handshake joy buzzers that emboldened Adams to build his New Jersey factory at the unlikeliest time, in the midst of the Great Depression.
Washer sees business parallels with today’s economic climate. Perhaps a good omen, the Adams-inspired dribble glass is now outselling everything else on the Chucklehead Toys site.
“His success says something about the need to laugh during hard times,” Washer says. “What a great way to make a living.”
heraldstiff@gmail.com | Visit Darren Garnick’s blog, Working Stiff
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