Here’s the Truth About ‘American Pickers’ Danielle Colby’s Second Job
For years, American Pickers fans have known Danielle Colby as the business-savvy “Queen of Rust.” Colby has been an important part of the show since its premiere in 2010. While she was initially hired as the office manager for Wolfe’s antique store, Colby’s love of history led her to join Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz on many of their picking adventures across the country.
Danielle Colby’s Burlesque Beginnings
Most people don’t know this, but Colby’s passion for Burlesque started way before she started working at Antique Archaeology, the shop featured on American Pickers. In an interview with River Cities Reader, the reality star opened up about her years-old fascination with the art form. According to Colby, her passion for it awakened when she attended a performance featuring comedian Margaret Cho and legendary burlesque artist Satan’s Angel. The American Pickers store manager described the experience as transformative and shared that it taught her how to celebrate body positivity and self-expression. Before this, she, like many others, thought that burlesque was synonymous with stripteasing. But the performance was an eye-opening experience for her. Inspired by what she had seen at the show, Colby decided to pursue a career in burlesque.
Her Fun and Empowering Take On a Taboo Topic
She took on the stage name, Dannie Diesel, and eventually started her own troupe, known as Burlesque Le’ Moustache. The name reflected the group’s fun, light-hearted approach to the art form. Colby’s vision for the troupe was to combine comedy and creative storytelling to create a fun, inclusive atmosphere for anyone who came to watch them. Their performances include everything from knife-throwing to aerial acrobatics and musical acts. Colby’s approach with her troupe’s shows is to focus on body positivity and acceptance over everything else. Instead of featuring frontal nudity, the Burlesque Le’ Moustache performers cover themselves up with pasties, and their acts are all about liberation from societal beauty standards.
Colby’s Latest Project Celebrates the History of Burlesque
As American Pickers goes on hiatus for the first time in over a decade, Colby is taking this time to expand her second career. The reality star took to Instagram to announce her latest business venture, a museum tracing the history of stripping. The Ecdysiast Arts Museum in Davenport, Iowa, is slated to open on June 21, 202,5, and is Colby’s biggest passion project to date. The vision with this museum is to introduce the general public to activities, including shows, workshops, panels, and vintage parties, to educate them about burlesque and its evolution over the years.
The name of the museum is derived from the term “ecdysiast,” an old-fashioned word for a burlesque dancer, stripper, or anyone involved in the nude arts. Through this space, Colby aims to honor the culture of burlesque and showcase rare costumes, books, and jewlery that will help the visitors immerse themselves in her world. This feels like a natural extension of Colby’s journey, where she is now expanding her role from a performer to an active champion of an industry that is largely misunderstood in the mainstream. Not just that, but the museum also aims to celebrate old performers who have shaped the past of burlesque and new generations who continue to push the boundaries of the art form.
Colby’s American Pickers co-star, Wolfe, has been incredibly supportive of her new venture. The picker made a generous donation to the museum, which Colby proudly shared with her followers on social media in a now-deleted post. The picker gifted the museum a rare vintage burlesque poster featuring Gay Dawn, an iconic performer from the 1970s. In doing so, Wolfe has contributed to the reality star’s cause of de-stigmatizing the conversation around her second career. This support goes beyond financial contributions and reflects the mutual respect and admiration that exists between the two longtime colleagues.
The Best of Both Worlds
Colby’s shift in focus to her passion project reflects her growing influence outside of the world of American Pickers. With the show going on an indefinite hiatus and the museum’s opening date inching closer, it’s easy to assume that the reality star might not have time to help Wolfe out in his antique-hunting adventures. But given Colby’s longtime involvement in the show and the personal connection she shares with her co-star, she’ll likely be back in action whenever the show resumes. Until there’s an official announcement regarding her departure from American Pickers, there’s no reason to believe that she can’t pursue both her passions at the same time.
In fact, her two careers are essentially two sides of the same coin. Colby’s approach to burlesque is rooted in the history and cultural influence of the art form, two themes that are central to the narrative of American Pickers. In a way, the reality star is taking the spirit of her show, which teaches people to find beauty and value in overlooked things, and applying it to the burlesque industry. Even as the shop manager on the show, Colby has always had a rather unapologetic approach to things. She was always the one keeping Wolfe and his hunting partner, the late Frank Fritz, in line, always reminding them to respect the stories behind the items they collected.Considering this, Colby is in a pretty unique position to bridge the gap between the two industries. Future episodes of American Pickers can include Colby and Wolfe going on a hunt to discover vintage burlesque memorabilia to display at her museum and combine her two passions into one, cohesive project. The idea sounds like a natural next step for both Colby and the show. Not to mention that the audience has always shown genuine curiosity about the reality star’s second career, and bringing her two worlds together could be a great opportunity to tap into that interest.
