TALES FROM BIG TEXAS COMICON 2022
On Sunday, me and @redheadlesbianweirdo went to Big Texas Comicon as respectively Leela and Fry! I was gonna style the wig over one eye to make it so just one was showing, but that fell through… so I had four eyes instead of one eye. 🤓
And guess who was there…? BILLY WEST!
He did a one-hour long panel and I got to get up and ask him a question!!! When I got up there, he looked at me and said, “Have we met somewhere before?” 💜👁 So cute!! I asked him about how the voice acting landscape had changed, now compared to when he first started out. He said that currently he’s frustrated by stunt casting and how roles will get cast by people who are famous instead of people who can actually do the job. Ain’t that the truth. He also talked about being on the autism spectrum and how he considers it a superpower that helps him do his job, and that he thinks that everyone who’s autistic has a superpower of some kind. It made me happy to hear him talk so openly about that!
Some anecdotes I think you’ll enjoy…
He told two stories about Katey Sagal that were very sweet, and also made sure to point out that even though she’s a famous superstar, she is 100% the right, capable person to voice Leela because her voice is so distinct and she’s really talented. His dislike of celebrity culture is well-known but obviously doesn’t apply to every celebrity ever!
1) He talked about how great of a singer she is and told the story of how she invited him and their castmates to go see her band play one time. She sang a cover of a song that he said used to make him cry back when he was younger, and when she asked what he thought after the show, he said she made him cry too.
2) Another story: one time, he was at a juice bar on Rodeo Drive when Katey burst in the doors, turned to him, and said “Billy, you gotta help me!” Outside the doors were a bunch of nasty paparazzi. She hid behind him and he turned to the paparazzi and lifted up his shirt and stuck up his middle fingers (and demonstrated this for us). He said he thought it would make it into tabloids with headlines like “Fry Saves Leela!” But it never happened. The photos are floating around out there somewhere, though.
Also— he had a green and black checkered Tanjiro backpack with him up on stage. A congoer got up and asked him if he liked anime and he said that he didn’t know much about it, but that he had been in a few, and asked if she had seen Bad Grandpa because he was in that. I LOST IT at that. She recommended he watch Demon Slayer and he said he’d check it out.
His panel was great and Ash has some footage she’s gonna post! We weren’t able to go to his booth and get his autograph because we just barely missed him 🥲🥲 He had a flight to catch and left while we went to get some cash from an ATM. But I WILL meet him formally somedayyyy… SOMEDAYYYYY!!!!
