DallasCon Report part 2: AKA – Cowboy Hats, Princess Bubblegum And Pigs…welcome to a Supernatural convention.

DallasCon Report part 2: AKA – Cowboy Hats, Princess Bubblegum And Pigs…welcome to a Supernatural convention.
-by sweetondean

Saturday...

Hi! I’m back! And I’m coming to you live from the Texas Eagle train – on my way from Austin, back to Dallas. I have another 5 days before the dreaded headed home day... So I’m going to the State Fair, a Cowboy’s game and Dallas Comic-Con fanday – where I’m going to snuggle John Barrowman and Michael Rosenbaum!

But you don’t care about that, right? You just want to know about Dallascon!

So…where was I?

Saturday kicked off about 10. Another lovely easy start to the day.

First up, the wonderful Richard opened the day. He checked in with us to see how we were all feeling after karaoke and then introduced his mate, Matt Cohen.

Matt and Richard did one of the best panels I’ve ever seen. I’m getting used to seeing their quick as a whip comedy shtick – like at the Aussie Con and their improv’d “Damn You, Matt” sitcom. But this one was something else. The guys decided to educate us all on the laws of Texas – so every time someone came up to the microphone to ask a question, if they were from Texas (or in the later part of the panel – anywhere deemed in the vicinity of Texas) they were asked for a number and then Matt would read out the accompanying law.

Now, I’m pretty sure that the Texan’s thought this just as funny as the rest of us, at least I hope so – because some fun was definitely being poked at them! But in the nicest way… So if you’re going to Texas – please obey the following:

You must not shoot a buffalo from a 2nd storey window. Richard’s advice: go up a floor.

You are not allowed to milk another persons cow – which totally sounds like a euphemism.

You are not to make obnoxious smells in the lift. Which prompted Richard to talk about how he hasn’t washed Jensen’s Coach Roth shorts…and he sweats ALOT at karaoke. Ewwww!

You are not allowed to have more than 3 sips of beer whilst standing – which meant most of us who went to karaoke were under arrest! Richard told us all to get up against the wall for frisking – but only if we were over 18 – unless our mum’s were with us – then they’d do the mum’s first!

In Dallas, you are not allowed to own realistic dildos. You heard me.

And, in Texas you are not allowed to own more than 6 dildos at one time – which prompted Richard to yell at us all again – “All of you, up against the wall!”

Matt just kept saying, “I couldn’t make this up!!” 

Funniest. Panel. Ever.

The guys also told the story about the Dick and Matt Karaoke shirts. Matt played a trick on Rich. All the audience were in on it. Matt put every single karaoke t-shirt down his pants – and swirled them around a bit. Then when Rich came out, he suggested that Rich rub the shirts over his beard to increase their selling potential. Of course everyone had just seen Matt put them all down his pants! But because the fandom is awesome, everyone kept quiet. So Rich rubbed Matt’s crotched shirts all over his face! As Richard said, they were shirts from Matt’s crotch, to Dick’s beard, to our homes!

At one point, a fan gave Matt a ‘Touched by an Angel” t-shirt. Of course everyone yelled out for him to put it on. He slipped back stage and got undressed behind the big screen – so we could see the whole thing happening in silhouette! Richard called it – telling us how it was all looking behind the stage…he said it was “poetry in motion”. I bet!

Richard also told a story about making a commercial with Johnny Knoxville – before Johnny got famous. Johnny offered Rich some moonshine! Rich, not wanting to appear uncool said okay and drank some. He was all right for a moment and then it hit him! He suddenly felt like everything was on an angle and he could barely stand. He had to excuse himself and made his way back to his hotel room – but he felt like the world was tilting so he had to lean on the walls. He acted it out. Both hands on the wall and his legs way out behind him as he shuffled along the hallway, hand over hand! He said he was passing people who were looking at him and he was going, “I’m okay – nothing to see here.” Later he ran into Johnny at a party. Rich had a beer in his hand and was chatting to Johnny. Then after Johnny walked away, Rich looked down and saw Johnny had dropped a couple of Vicodin in his beer! Rich also said that Johnny showed him this show reel of a new show he was planning – which turned out to be Jackass. He had only good things to say about Johnny Knoxville – said he was a great guy, even if he’s obviously trouble!

There was one pretty serious moment when a fan asked about the scene between Sam and Young John in “The Song Remains The Same”. The fan asked how many times they had to work that scene and Matt said, they did it once. He said Jared really brought it and he knocked it out of the park, which meant the scene we saw was the one take they did. It was just that good.

After this and after tears and tears and tears – I can’t tell you, I think we were all in pain from laughing, it was sheer brilliance – I went and got a photo with Rich, because he’s Rich and he’s awesome. 

I said to him – whilst we were snuggled into a cuddle…

“That was one of the best panels I’ve ever seen”

“Oh yeah? You liked that?”

“So much fun. You guys looked like you were having a blast too”

“Oh yeah we had fun”

“Yeah it looked it”

“Yeah, maybe we had a little too much fun?”

 “Never!” 

But I have to say, when Richard came back on stage he did sort of apologise. He said, “We saw that line coming and we jumped straight over it and just kept going!” Yeah they did and it was awesome!

Next up were James Patrick Stuart and Mark Sheppard.

James and Mark have known each other for over 20 years, so there is an easy familiarity between them which leads to great interaction and teasing. For example, James was talking about auditioning and Mark goes, “You still have to audition?” Then laughs that rather delightfully maniacal laugh. Mark, of course, is currently on Supernatural, White Collar (Matt Bomer is his man crush – he called him the prettiest man in the world) and will be back on Warehouse 13!

I love the way Mark asks for questions, he looks over to the line and goes “You” or “What?” or “Go on, you” – all gaud blimey like, being a Londoner and all. I feel like you have to be quite ballsy to get up and ask Mark a question, he’s pretty challenging!

Mark talked about the season 8 finale “Sacrifice” and how it was the amalgamation of the best writing and the best acting coming together. He praised Jared on the performance he delivered, but he also praised Jensen who delivered the same intensity off camera as he did on camera. He said Jensen was on set but off camera for around 3 hours, but at no time did his performance lessen, even though the camera wasn’t on him.

This led to talk about how great the Supernatural set is. That everything we hear about it is true, it’s a wonderful place to work and a lot of the reason for that comes down to Jensen and Jared who set the tone every day. (Oooo that reminds me that Osric said that they actually write an hour into every filming schedule to accommodate the time spent goofing off! Bless!). James said it was one of the best sets he’d ever worked on and when he got the job he thought he’d be working with the tall one and the little one, but then he met the Js and realised they were the sky scraper one and the tall one! Mark then told the story of how a fan turned around the “What’s it like to work with Jensen and Jared” question on the boys and asked, “What’s it like to work with Mark Sheppard”. Mark said quick as a whip, both of the Js stuck out a hand down low and went “Short”.  Off this James and Mark also discussed that the best actors are willing to be silly. This is part of the reason they think the Js are so good at what they do, because they can be silly and just go for it when it’s needed.

Mark also talked about the scene with Crowley and the goats – shot near the Purgatory location. It’s actually in a small enclosure just outside the paintball course entrance, that doubles as Purgatory. Mark said they laden his pockets with food and that’s why the goats were all over him. He said they were climbing on him and one was humping his leg! Mark said on the extended gag reel all you can hear is Mark yelling “Get the f**k away from me!” That extend gag reel was referenced a few times over the weekend. I want to see that extended gag reel SO BAD!

Mark also told a great story about Lauren Tom. When she was hitting Crowley in “What’s Up, Tiger Mommy?” every time she punched out she made a little noise that sounded like ‘douche’. So she’d be punching and she’d go… “Douche. Douche. Douche. Douche” Then on one of the last takes, she punched out and went “Douche” and Jared who was standing to the other side of Mark, instantly punched out too and said “Bag!”

James told a great story about going for an audition and deciding to give himself a hair cut with a razor and slipping causing once side of his hair to pretty much be zipped off. He ran out in a panic to show his wife – because she’s a hairdresser – but all she did was stand there and laugh! I can’t remember if he got to the audition or not, because I was laughing too hard!

Fanboy Mark came out again. He spoke once more about how much he enjoys interacting with all the fans. He believes that we are all brave, because it’s brave to be a fan and wear that love on your sleeve. Openly loving something as we do, we put ourselves out there to be ridiculed – so he sees each and every one of us as brave people. He also said that he believes that the geeks have inherited the earth. We’re an intelligent audience and we can’t be ignored any longer and that is starting to be seen in media and the kind of movies and TV that are now being considered mainstream. But he warned us all (and he was including himself) not to become elitist. We can’t do the ‘we were here first’ bit. 

There was plenty of other stuff. James sang and did his Penguins of Madagascar voice. Mark did a bit about if Crowley had a pet, other than a hellhound, what would it be named? Dog – Growley, Cat – Meowley, then it went on, Owley, fowley, sowley, the fan then said, “Gryffin?” and Mark said, “ Stewie Griffin!”

The panel ended with a fan asking Mark if being the King of Hell helped when disciplining his children. He said, “Yes I’ve killed 7 of them so far.”

Hazel and I then went and got a photo with James. We’d not done this in Vegas, so this was the first time we’d met him. James is pretty Hollywood. Very put together. Very charming. You can kind of tell he’s been raised in the business (his parents were very successful folk singers). He’s absolutely lovely. When you walk up, he shakes your hand and asks your name. After our photo I said to him, “You had one of my Vegascon photos as your twitter icon for the longest time.” He said, “That was your photo? That was a great photo. Thank you for letting me use it” He was holding my hand as he said this. Later in the autos, even though they weren’t personalising on the Saturday, he personalised mine and said, “It was lovely to meet you, Amy. Thanks again for letting me use your photo.” A real gentleman.

The last panel of the day was Mark Pellegrino and Misha. 

I have to say I was pretty surprised to see that Misha was sharing a panel. But then, I also have to say I like it when Misha is paired with someone because it seems to focus him. Misha is chaos personified. I can say this because, as I think you all know, I have grown rather attached to Mr Collins! But his panels usually run the gamut of no answers to bizarre answers. But having another panellist on stage with him – like Jim Beaver at Vancon 2012 or here, with Mark Pellegrino – he actually answers questions! I also think, the questions, for some reason, are better. I like the duelling panels. It leads to fun back and forth and witty banter and I find them massively entertaining.

Anyway, Misha comes on stage, dressed as a cowboy. Well, his form of cowboy! He said he went to the Supernatural wardrobe department and asked for their help because he wanted to dress Western. I have a feeling they had some fun with him and I don’t think he realised it! He looked like a giant 5-year old in a Halloween cowboy costume. He looked, adorable!

The panel started off well, with the guys being asked if they could go back to their first episodes, would they change anything. We all know Misha’s answer, he’s doing permanent vocal damage with his choice for Cass’ voice, but Mark’s answer was a little unexpected. Mark said he’d have dressed in Speedos so we could have seen more of his meat-suit. All right!

Misha and Mark had flown in that morning. Mark off the set of The Tomorrow People and Misha after a Supernatural Fraturday with Jensen. They worked into the wee hours of Saturday and then hopped a plane to Dallas. Misha was asked if there had been any funny moments in season 9 so far and Misha said, the night before. He hadn’t been able to stop laughing. Jensen had him in stiches – but he couldn’t tell us what Jensen was saying because it was too dirty – but it started off from “Wouldn’t mind a big slab of meat in my hands” and went somewhere else entirely that Misha couldn’t share. Jensen just wouldn’t let him get his lines out and so Misha was laughing and laughing. In the end the first time director, as Misha put it, yelled at him! Misha was like, “Jensen got me in trouble, the director yelled at me!” Wouldn’t you have loved to been there to witness that! I’d love to know what Jensen was saying… Is it bad that I’d love to hear him talk dirty? Just sayin’…

Misha also told a funny story about how when he first joined the show he got in trouble for taking a pair of socks home. He said that the socks made love to his feet! He’d seen Jensen and Jared taking home clothes from set – or just walking off wearing the clothes they were wearing for Sam and Dean (as we know they both “borrow” clothes from set – Jensen returns them – to be washed!). So Misha thought this was cool and just wore these awesome foot-loving socks home. Next day he gets called into wardrobe and asked if he took a pair of socks. He said, yes, he’d worn them home, he thought that was okay. He was told, no it’s not, return them. He said it was then he realised, what was okay for Jensen and Jared, was not okay for the rest of the cast!

There was also a fair amount of chat about GISHWHES. Misha said that his favourite GISHWHES moment ever, was NASA tweeting out for everyone to stop bothering them, in the nicest possible way. Mark then made a few suggestions – which Misha put into his phone, so watch out GISHWHESIANS! Toast underwear – but do not eat clothes you’ve worn. A wasabi outfit (ouch!). Or a Gimp outfit – like in Pulp Fiction – but made of fruit rollups (sticky!)

A fan asked Mark if when he was being Lucifer in Sam’s head, was all that dialogue written or did he adlib some of it. Mark said that was how it was all written, that improv is “not encouraged”. Maybe a word here and there can be changed, but as a rule, what’s in the script is what you say.

A fan asked why Misha called himself Misha and not his actual name, Dmitri. Misha said it was because of his mother. She picked Misha for him after an old boyfriend of hers. But she got it wrong. The old boyfriend’s name wasn’t actually Misha! He then said, “Mum, if you’re watching this, I’m not calling you a slut.” Ha! I think his mum would laugh at that!

There was plenty more. Misha called Cass a misfit who doesn’t fit in, but tries to. A fan gave the guys “assbutt” name stickers, which they proudly wore. Richard brought out a cowboy hat for Mark and he slipped it on, looking like a man who should always wear a cowboy hat (he kept it on for his photos). The guys talked about what the sound track to their lives would be. Mark – porn music, Misha – a lone kazoo – which then led them to decide it would be a lone kazoo playing porn music for both of them.

After the panel I went and got a photo with Misha. I looked him up and down and said, “I’m liking today’s outfit choice. You wear it well.” He said, “Well, thank you.” Then we both looked at each other and just cracked up laughing. Honestly, he looked so silly. It was very cute.

I also got a photo op called The Fallen Angels – with Mark P, Mark S and Misha – which was very awesome. I got one by myself and one with my friend Shelley – and guess what, I think Mark Sheppard has a tiny hint of a smile in that photo!

We then got our autographs with James, Matt and Misha. Misha, bless him, took the time to say a proper “Hi” to me and ask how I was doing and then that was Saturday done! We called it an early night because the next day, we were meeting the prettiest of boys…and you don’t want bags under your eyes for J-day! No you do not!

Okay! There’s Saturday. I have to thank Hazel for her epic note taking that helped me fill in my memory gaps caused by excessive laughter! 

Next I will have my J day for you! With my photo ops (OMG – my Jensen op is THE BEST EVER – if you haven’t seen it, go look at my twitter icon), my meet and greets with both Jensen and Jared. The breakfast panel and afternoon panel and anything else I can think about. S-wooooooon! I promise I’ll have it up soon!

Thanks for being patient! And if you happen to be Texan and reading this, man, I’m loving your State!

-sweetondean