Nyback is a collector of thousands of classic and rare films. When Nyback tours, he often shows animated films from his collection, including some silent Gertie the Dinosaur shorts. But most of the stuff Nyback shows is controversial or "banned". At a 1997 event in San Francisco, where Nyback showed the banned bugs bunny cartoons and other controversial animations, the SF Weekly said the following: "Sexism, racism, plagiarism, Mormonism: The mostly animated mini-film festival curated by film archivist and historian Dennis Nyback has 'em all."