Interview with Bruce Campbell for Travel Channel’s Ripley’s Believe It or Not!
Date/Location: Saturday, July 21, 2019 at San Diego Comic-Con
Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Airs Sundays at 9/8c on Travel Channel
Of the interviews during my three-day weekend at San Diego Comic-con 2019 (which happened to be the 50th anniversary of the epic convention), talking to Bruce Campbell for Travel Channel’s Ripley’s Believe It or Not! truly made a memorable impression.
This intriguing interview was conducted in a well-lit room with natural light, and the acoustics made for clear sound quality (unlike the other press conferences held in the worst rooms I’ve ever had the displeasure of being in). I digress.
In my youth, as I noted in my first question, I watched Ripley’s Believe It or Not! when it was hosted by the late great Jack Palance. Admittedly, I didn’t watch the reboot in 2000 with actor Dean Cain. No particular reason, I think perhaps in my mind, Jack Palance was the undisputed voice of Ripley’s for me. But now, with the enigmatic Bruce Campbell at the helm, it’s taken on a new, revitalized feel and I’m definitely curious to see what new stories he uncovers next.
Below is a partial transcript of the full interview with Bruce Campbell. But you have to watch the entire video interview because Campbell (colorfully) answers questions about doing a procedural television series involving medical drama and lawyers; he also talks about Jake Gyllenhaal in Spider-Man: Far From Home. Campbell also mentions a close encounter near his home in Oregon state – was it a UFO? And who wants to go see the ‘Big Foot’ trap? Well, Campbell can tell you exactly where it is. Watch the video… and more transcription to come. Transcribing is a lot of work!
Video: INTERVIEW – Bruce Campbell
Transcript (partial) of Bruce Campbell Interview:
Judy: I used to watch Ripley’s Believe It Or Not with Jack Palance, and I know you have a different style; so what was your approach to this project?
Bruce Campbell (BC): My approach was Detroit 1982.
[Room erupts in laughter]
BC: Seems like a weird answer doesn’t it? No, but that’s where I learned to work with teleprompters and do infomercials. I got my Screen Actors Guild card doing an infomercial for Chrysler to teach car salesman how to sell the interior of the car to customers but you’ll never see it [the infomercial] but it got me trained to do informational stuff in front of a camera.
Normally, acting is you ignore the camera, you know; if you’re the camera (pointing at me) I’d be ‘blar-de-blar’ and you wouldn’t exist, but with this (Ripley’s Believe It or Not!), you have to focus in on it [the camera] – it is the audience. So, I’m used to that, so I sort of become circular coming back to where I started. And we begin, it makes sense.
Judy: Thank you.
Media Outlet: Obviously you have a very comedic style to your presentation; does that sometime conflict with the subject matter on Ripley’s?
BC: My feeling is any actor needs to adapt to the material, you know, uh, same with directors, directors shouldn’t adapt the material to his or her style, so same with an actor – there’s jokey material I like doing but if you’re talking about a guy who has a disability or whatever, you have to tame the snarkiness factor. You have to be respectful. We’re celebrating these people; we’re not looking at it like we’re holding our nose. We’re fascinated and amazed and impressed; that’s our approach.
Media Outlet 2: How difficult is it to find things that haven’t already been blasted around social media that we’ve seen before?
BC: It’s not even that, we found people who have already been found but we’re…we get to know them. These other stories, you’ve seen footage, but you don’t – you haven’t met them. That’s the difference – we’re getting into their lives, we’re getting to know them and therefore you can celebrate their success more because you know their story, what they struggled with, and how they overcame it, especially if they have a disability. A lot of these people have something horrible happened or born a certain way and the fact that they overcome it is just impressive as hell.
Media Outlet 3: What has been your most amazing moment or discovery found?
BC: Well, honestly, it’s just sharing uplifting stories with people that’s what uh, we try and entertain as actors but in this case, it’s really – I’m entertaining in a different way where we’re pretty much just share other people’s stories. I’m just a story sharer; that’s my job for this. But they’re all in the show because they are what we consider extraordinary. So, of 10 episodes, you’ve got 16 stories, so we’re really just scratching the surface; it’s out there and we’ll get to know them and then people will care. <aww, so sweet!>
Media Outlet 4: Is there any items in the Ripley’s warehouse that you’ve seen or heard about that you’re like “Wow, that’s crazy”
BC: Yes, yes, and no, I’m not going to tell you [room says ‘aww’]. Um, well yeah, hopefully they’ll feature more stuff. I’d like to, being the Travel Channel, I’d like to go to one of the museums, stage out of there. They have great aquariums, you know, bop around a little bit because what’s cool is they’re taking all their stuff and that really is what the museums are all about; that’s how you cycle all the stuff around so it’s really great they can keep swapping it out. They may not have the biggest collection, but I think Ripley’s has the coolest collection so that’s what these – this show really, it’s further curating.
More to come here but the last answer is inspiring…but do not try the last part unless you are trained or just really, really want to.
Judy: What is the one thing you would like audiences to take away from the newer Ripley’s
BC: Humans are more capable than we give ourselves credit for; we’re way more impressive than we think we are; we should give ourselves more credit, that’s what I think. Get busy and swallow those swords, light yourself on fire, come on!
– – – – – – – – – –
That’s it for now, but more transcription to come.
Watch the video and then go watch Ripley’s Believe It or Not! on Travel Channel – Sundays at 9/8c.
Video ©2019 Your Entertainment Corner
Judy Manning
Latest posts by Judy Manning (Posts)
- Review: THE CHANGELING – Apple TV+ New Drama Is Extraordinarily Perplexing - September 8, 2023
- Trailer: THE CHANGELING Starring LaKeith Stanfield Premieres Sep 8 on Apple TV+ - August 8, 2023
- CLEAN SWEEP Series Review – Sundance Now’s Addictive and Dynamic New Drama - June 22, 2023
- CITY ON FIRE Review – Apple TV+ Hypnotic Music Driven Mystery Full of Intrigue - May 12, 2023