For those of you who caught the premier episode of AMC’s Comic Book Men on Sunday, October 23, 2016 you got to see the secret Geppi’s Entertainment Museum (GEM) been keeping since July. So here’s a little behind the scenes sneak peek at what that day was like.

Diamond Comics Distributors founder, President, and CEO Steve Geppi appeared as a guest on the season six premiere of Comic Book Men. In attendance, to help things run smoothly, were the entire staff of the museum, including GEM President, Melissa Bowersox.

“It was a great shoot and we were proud to have Steve Geppi, the museum and our comic library featured in the main segment on the show,” GEM Collections and Exhibits Manager Michael Solof said.

Solof also shared his thoughts on the filmmaking process. “It was a ton of fun, but I didn’t realize how many behind the scenes people it would take to produce the 10-minute segment. We closed down the museum for the day and around 9:30 AM production trucks started to roll in. Camera’s, lights, sound equipment, and all sorts of monitoring equipment were brought in and rapidly started to fill up our main lobby in preparation for the shoot. And did I mention the 25 or so crew members to operate all the stuff?” Solof said.

Then, at 10 AM, the hosts of Comic Book Men, Bryan Johnson, Walter Flanagan, Mike Zapcic, and Ming Chen arrived and Geppi gave them a quick tour of the place as they began to determine what they would shoot and how they would achieve the best angles.

“As we all walked the halls with them, they also started to work on what they would say once the camera’s started rolling. We had to move some of the cases at the museum to make for better TV but it was worth it,” Solof said. “I didn’t mind the extra work at all because I got to hold an Action Comic #1 in my hands. How many people can say they actually have held and flipped through a copy of Action #1?”

As the segment came to a close, it was time for Geppi to make his appearance and seasoned professional that he is, he nailed his part in one take. “After the shoot was completed, the hosts, who couldn’t have been a nicer bunch of guys, said that they were truly impressed with everything they saw here that day, but especially with Steve. Chen said that nobody nails it in one take,” Solof said.

In all, from arrival to filming and then to goodbyes, the whole shoot took just over 4 hours. But what an incredible experience. “We’re all hoping that next time Kevin Smith might be able to make it,” said Solof. “What’s it going to take,” he said laughing, “an Action #1 and a Detective #27? Oh wait...we have that too!”