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VIP Q&A: Seinfeld, The Hollywood Squares and Beyond ~
During what is always a highlight of conventions, the Question & Answer panels, the fans of both Buffy and Angel received several unexpected treats from the past to the present and were entertained by some of the most humorous talents gathered in one room. The BronzeShelter made the introductions, giving accolades to CityofAngel.com that drew a nice round of applause from the audience waiting to ask their burning questions of the VIP guests in attendance: Mark Lutz (the Groosalugg) and Andy Hallett (The Host, Lorne) took the stage and just as the panel was about to begin, Anthony Stewart Head (Giles), whose time at the convention o mivery limited, joined the panel to the delight of everyone and perhaps more so to himself. Mark addressed the audience, "Don't rush the microphone, " and Tony happily advised, "That goes for us too." We've selected the most outstanding highlights of the panel in the hopes of capturing the hilarity of the day.
Mark Lutz takes a seat in the audience, 'Ah, to be a fan again.'
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Mark jumped into the audience and stood before the mic addressing Andy as a fan: "This question is for Adam, it is Adam right?" Andy, who was trying to keep a straight face played along shaking his head in the affirmative as Mark asked, "In episode 21 last year, you went back to that alternate dimension," (dramatic pause which got a roar from the audience) "yeah, what was that like?" (applause). Andy couldn't refrain from laughing at this point and Mark retook his seat upon the stage. But Andy was not the only guest to fall victim of impromptu humor, throughout the entire 1-hour panel there was more comic relief than might be found on the Comedy Channel. This set the mood for the entire Q&A and as audience members lined up at the mics to ask their questions, Andy was reduced to water boy and Mark arranged the table mics as the first eight questions all went to Tony. This caused a fit of giggles from Tony who, although perhaps slightly embarrassed, enjoyed the overwhelming delight that Giles is truly a character the fans love and admire. Although some fans didn't exactly know who he was, "I have a question for Mr. Stewart, I'm sure everyone is wondering . . ." Tony interrupted with surprise, "Oh, I'm Mr. Stewart," as he corrected with a laugh, "I'm actually Mr. Head but there you go, Stewart's my middle name but that's cool, you can call me Stewart."
Asked about the characters Tony played on VR.5 and Highlander in years gone he had very humorous reflections of both series.
"Highlander [as Allan Rothwood in episode 21, Nowhere To Run] oddly did a series of episodes in Paris back to back and the one that I was doing was basically--there is a special production term for it because they do it all in one location--they don't spend any money going out and basically that's what it's about. 'What can we do?' 'I know, let's lock them all in a house and see what happens.' And I seem to remember it was a very beautiful, fantastic sort of house that we were in and everybody was very nice, and I got a week or so in Paris so that was good. VR.5 [as Oliver Sampson] was good. Lori [Singer], bless her heart was very odd and Michael [Easton] was very cool and John Sacret, the producer, is--ah--odd. He's a good guy, he's lucky he has really good ideas but the weird thing was that they were all Avengers and The Prisoner fans, the producers, so they were kind of making it very deep and very obscure. The more they made it obscure the more FOX loved it and the problem was it was so f***ing obscure --" Here Tony corrects himself while the audience laughed. "So obscure, no one could understand what the hell was going on, especially we got bumped every now and then by ice hockey I think. And they insisted not on having any, 'Last week, so and so and so happened', so nobody knew what the hell was going on so it got pulled basically. That's my theory."
Tony Head vagues it up a bit on Giles' return
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It wasn't long before Tony was asked if he'd heard whether or not Giles will be making any appearances next season on Buffy?
Awkwardly Tony mutters, "Ah, yeah-huh," to which the audience member tries to clarify, "Is that, 'Yes, you've heard?' or 'Yes you know'?" Tony finally commits, "Yes, I've heard. In what capacity and to what degree, I do not know." The fan's follow-up brought a round of applause, "Well, hopefully not lying on the ground the entire episode." "I obviously do that very well," Tony replied, "because he's [Joss] has done that to me quite a few times. 'Oh let's have him lying on the ground again!' Okay! The thing about Joss is that he has everything kind of worked out, he knows exactly what's going to happen. He shares what he needs to share and I've always liked it that way because life doesn't happen sequentially. You get surprised by stuff so its great when he says, 'Oh, by the way, you're going to be a demon next week.' 'Oh!' I like all that. Yes, there are contracts and things to be worked out and I know both he and I, sort of, enjoy working together. So I'm sure that we'll be, but we have plans -- we'll see."
Another question is directed to Tony regarding the character of Giles which has evolved quite a bit from Season 1 when he was the stuffy-dweeby librarian up until now. Asked if it has become a role that's easier to play with the familiarity or has it become more difficult because it's so different, Tony states the obvious.
"No, it just is what it is, you know. You work with the scenes you are given and thank God, Joss writes incredible material and as all his staff. He has collected together a remarkable writing team and they really do come up with some wonderful stuff. The thing that I enjoy about acting is you get a scene and you work out how you are going to basically play it moment-to-moment as you say in America." Andy Hallett interjects, "Here." "We are in America aren't we?" observes Tony laughing. "Sorry forgive me, I only came in yesterday and I'm leaving in just a --" Andy announces that, "He got here like a matter of hours ago and he's leaving in a matter of hours." The appreciative audience applauds and Tony responds, "It's nice to be here, I wouldn't have missed it."
Tony's laugh is contagious as he cuts lose another joke
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Any yet another question for Mr. Head was asked, "So why do they call him Ripper?"
Having been asked, on numerous occasions, this very question he decides to go in another direction for the answer, "I believe it has something to do with flatulence in the dorm." This causes the audience to burst into laughter.
Finally the pattern is broken . . . a young girl approaches the mic and says, "Ok, this is for Andy." Andy bursts out, "Oh, thank you sweetheart!" then proceeds to get up and go down to the girl all the while taking money from his pocket that he gives to her. The audience breaks up at the jester and the money is duly deposited.
The question centered around an earlier conversation Andy was having about his character, Lorne's, makeup and the one scene where it was not really him at all.
"Oh, I was saying that was for the particular episode [There's No Place Like Plrtz Glrb] where my head got cut off. They actually had two heads, one was called: 'the dummy head', which was remarkably an exact replication. They did a hell of a job with it and that was the head that they would use, Cordelia would swing around and bang into poles and things. And then there was actually an animatronics head that three different puppeteers where controlling, one controlled the mouth, another the eyes, it was quite a project. It was really fun and I was just standing off camera reading my lines." At this point Mark Lutz broke in with, "You didn't know your lines? You were reading them?" Andy responded, "He claims I always call for lines. I can't remember, 'Line?' what?" But to the girl who is five dollars richer Andy concludes, "Thank you, thank you very much!"
Mark does his best Paul Lynde imitation to Andy's confusion
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With the number of different conventions and interviews all the actors experience, it was wondered if there was ever a time when they thought, 'I wish someone would ask me this'?
This sort of question only leads to trouble, of the humorous kind, which you will see as Mark was the first to reply, "I think the only thing that comes up for me [as he looks towards Andy] is about your obsessive tanning habits. I live next door to this man and I'll go over there and he'll be on the balcony." Mark goes off on a tangent speaking in the voice of veteran comedian Paul Lynde, most famous for being the 'center square' on the TV game show: Hollywood Squares. "I'm falling into Paul Lynde for some reason," laughs Mark. "Does anyone know who he is?" Apparently, Andy and Mark have done this before and they go into a little Hollywood Squares routine:
Andy asks, "Uh, Paul? What would you say is a stronger product - nylon or steel?"
Mark (ala Paul) replies, "Nylon or steel? I'd have to say nylon because steel panties just don't turn me on!"
The audience explodes into laughter and Mark explains, "We somehow became obsessed in the last month after work ended watching old reruns of The Hollywood Squares. We have so much to do with our lives. It's on channel 135 in case someone asks." Andy helps clarify, "It's on at 7, 5:30 and 12:30, it's on three times a day, because we get the Classic Game Show Network." At this point, Tony has but one thing to observe causing more laughter, "You guys have been working together far too long." Andy tries to get Mark back on track with his tanning story, "But you were saying . . ." Mark asks, "What was I saying? Oh, he's like George Hamilton [an actor known for his infamous tan], I'll go over there and he'll be lying on his balcony, he's actually painted his balcony like silver so it's all-reflective." Andy defends himself, "No, I-did-not." But Mark is insistent, "I'll go over there and I'll go, 'Excuse me, Mr. Hamilton?' " Andy feels it's time to explain himself out of this attack, "I had a week off and I wasn't feeling very well, I was in one of those conditions -- you've had one of those conditions [smirk] -- it was a condition where I was sick and I just didn't feel like being the house and rather than lying in bed for a week, I was like, 'Well I'll just go lie outside'." Mark interrupts, "For a week!" Laughter. "I usually don't tan," Continues Andy, "Like, I don't go tanning and I don't do any of that stuff, but all of a sudden got kind of obsessed because I was like, 'I want to see how dark I can get.'"
Brian Thompson joins the panel and keeps a fatherly eye on Daphne
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We take a break in the laughter as Brian Thompson (Buffy's Luke and The Judge) is announced and joins the panel. Brian, being a rather reserved kind of guy doesn't know what he's in for but having his own unique sense of humor and being more monosyllabic than Oz, when he speaks, you listen. This portion of the panel should be entitled: 'Daphne, cover your ears,' as you shall see, the laughs and joking continues . . .
There wasn't much of a break in the action before questions returned to Tony, this time regarding the progress of The Ripper Giles' spin-off series.
"Basically, it is still coming out there," Tony confirmed, "Joss wants to do it, I want to do it, BBC wants to do it. It kind of depends on FOX and because it'll have to be produced by the BBC under the license to FOX since Joss and I only want to do like six episodes a year. The American studios - UPN were very interested but they want 22 episodes, which is like not really on the cards. So, it's still happening, Jane Espenson [Buffy writer/producer] and Joss are putting together a pile of scripts. Firefly is gonna happen which is Joss's new thing for FOX, which is very cool. It's happening at some point, I'm a great believer that everything happens at the time it happens for a reason. It's just obviously not meant to happen yet which is fine with me, I've got plenty on my cards at the moment."
A moment of reflection for Mark - or is it Britney on his mind
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A question was addressed to the entire panel of who are the practical jokers on the series and what have they done to each other on set?
"As far as practical jokers are concerned," Tony offered, "I have a deep voice." Mark turned to Andy and replied, "Well I TP'd your room before we came down." Andy responded more seriously by admitting, "Probably on Angel, I would say that David [Boreanaz] is probably the most practical or pulls the most practical jokes." Mark humorously clarifies, "They're not very practical." An audience member wanted to know if Alexis Denisof (Wesley) really did do a scene without his pants on to which Andy said, "What was the story on that? I can't remember why?"
[for full details on that story, refer to CoA's Feature coverage on Starfury's Bad Girls & Wild Boys where Amy Acker (Fred) reveals all]
Tony tried to cover with, "I believe he wanted to stretch himself in the scene." The audience laughs and Brian, for the first time, mentions to Tony, "I just wanted to let you know that my daughter Daphne is right over there. What were you thinking?" As the room falls to fits of laughter, an embarrassed Tony clarifies with a smile, "When I say 'stretch', I mean like in an Actor's Studio kind of way." "Next!" cries Mark.
It's personal preference time and the panel is asked: of the recent music that's been out in the past year, what kinds of taste do you guys have?
Andy confessed, "Have you heard of the band, Rush? That's his [Mark] favorite!" Mark jokingly admits, "Yeah, my tastes are kind of frozen in high school for some reason. Yeah, Zeppelin! And of course Britney, but not for musical reasons." On a more serious note, Andy states, "I have a slight obsession with Alicia Keys right now. That's mine." Tony follows with, "I've gone completely blank. I did buy an album, I bought something about two weeks ago and I was very turned on by it!" An audience member shouts out: Music for Elevators? Which is the recent CD to come from Tony's singing talents himself to which he laughs. "I saw Velvet Chain who were fantastic." Finally, Brian is heard and he admits, "My favorite music is from the punk rock band, Stretch. I know that Anthony's very familiar with them." The room is enveloped with laughter once again. Daphne, cover your ears!
"I was changing your diapers a week ago you little prick!" ~ Andy
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Tony is asked about a specific track on his CD: End Game, if there was someone that was about or who or what the inspiration was behind that song?
"It's a deep question because it's sort of a sad song. But yes, a friend of ours who died about a year and a half, two years ago and it started with a friend of ours on the show, a guy called Gustav [Gustafson], he used to work in the prop shop [on Buffy]. It's just a collection basically, there's a number of people, not exactly dedicated to, but it's just like they're part of it." (On the closing credits of Buffy's Season 5, episode 10, Into The Woods is an 'In Memory' dedication to Gustafson who died of cancer at age 41.)
Andy is asked what are his feelings about the darker, more cynical turn that Lorne has taken towards the end of this past season.
"I'm having fun going to a slightly different place with my character. It's fun to see a slightly different side of the behavior between Connor and Lorne. I love calling him names! 'Watch it, I was changing your diapers a week ago you little prick!' And they let me say that, then we had to go back in and take it out." The audience laughs as Brian gives Andy a dirty look. "Whoops! We should just leave now."
It's asked of the panel if they were ever to have a chance to play their ideal role or characters, which would it be.
Mark admits, "I'd like to be Buffy." Andy seizes the moment with, "I know now that they've gotten rid of Whoopi [Goldberg], I'll be 'center square'."
Now Tony is amiss and asks, "What happened to Whoopi?"
"She quit," replies Mark.
"She didn't! She's gone? No, not gone, gone," clarifies Tony.
"We arranged for a little accident, " admits Mark (ala Paul).
Andy informs Tony on the details, "Henry Winkler is now producing . . ."
It's called a Hollywood Squares sidebar!
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"Oh my god!" states Tony who then addresses the audience, "Sorry, it's a little conversation we're having," then he turns back to Andy, "Henry Winkler is producing?"
"Yeah,"Andy confirms, "they say there's a chance that he'll . . ."
"The Fonz is coming back!" Mark shouts.
". . . so they aren't decided on who's going to do the center square," Andy continues, "but there's talk that of Henry Winkler doing it." Things do get back to the question at hand, eventually.
Tony follows through with, "I guess it sounds a bit sort of esoteric, but I do fancy doing Richard III. I must admit, because Joss basically has little gatherings around his place on a Sunday and before (not the last time I was there) but before I left the last time, we did do Richard and we made a little pact: Joss was going to do Hamlet and he does a blinding Hamlet, seriously, I've not seen one as good. And James [Marsters] (Spike) did MacBeth and I did Richard. It was very, sort of you know, slap each other on the back and 'stretch.' " To which Brian looked into the audience and said, "Daphne, cover your ears. The part I'd like to play is Buffy's lover." Everyone laughs and then Mark replies, "I want to change my answer then!" to more laughter and applause.
