As questions were asked of the Dexter panel, I had an epiphany about the types of people who step up to the mike from the audience as patterns became clear. While not all fall into these categories, there are common archetypes: the person who babbles on about himself to the interest of no one, likely because no one in his life listens; the nervous person who gets so lost in his thoughts and can’t believe he is speaking to his idols that he ends up repeating the question multiple times before allowing a response; and the presumptuous fan who offers creative suggestions on where to take the project. There is also the wannabe comedian who thinks they have a hysterical question that barely registers a groan; the fan that is so protective of what they love they don’t trust the creative team involved; and the obnoxious person who wants to deliver a dig, which admittedly at times may be warranted.
The best panel on Thursday was the Comedy Central TV Funhouse panel in honor of the series’ DVD release. Triumph the Insult Comic Dog started off the festivities, tearing apart the audience members who ate up every zinger. He even got most of the audience on their feet to better themselves with one jumping jack. Show creator Robert Smigel, who understandably failed to mention he had written the classic Saturday Night Live sketch where Shatner chastised Star Trek fans, and writer Dino Stamatopoulos, who was in a foul mood because his show Morel Oral has been cancelled on Adult Swim, had a freewheeling session with their friend Bob Odenkerk attempting to control the chaos as the moderator. Smigel showed clips from the DVD and talked about the show’s creation. Dino threw Oral DVDs into the crowd and bravely revealed a behind-the-scenes story about a goose crapping in his mouth. Smigel was trying to get show host Doug Dale to appear via the internet, but his laptop was giving him fits. Since there was no tech support, a young woman from the audience offered up her MacBook.
We concluded the night with a peek into the Star Wars Fan Film Awards. Simultaneously surprising yet not, Ballroom 20, the second biggest room, was nearly filled. The winners got awarded a cool-looking gold statuette of C-3PO and R2-D2 and then the films were screened. All the winners are available for viewing at Atom.com. We caught Best Comedy – “Paraphrase Theater” by Will Carlough, a mildly amusing short, although Best Parody – “Star Wars Grindhouse: Don’t Go In The Endor Woods” by Michael Ramova worked much better. It was funnier and holds up on repeat viewings. Best Creature / Character Makeup – "Contract of Evil" by Lou Klein obviously took a lot of time and work and was an impressive film.
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