Con Man panel with Alan Tudyk and Nathan Fillion (Comic Con 2016)

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

There have been some odd panel choices for a comic convention this year (Snowden, I’m looking at you), but one thing that definitely belongs is Con Man, Alan Tudyk’s web series about a cult actor traversing the strange world of panels and promotions. The online show, premiering its second season on the Comic Con-HQ channel this fall, opened Friday’s Hall H programming with a panel featuring actors Casper Van Dien, Felicia Day, Nolan North and Mindy Sterling, and moderated by Tudyk’s co-star and former captain Nathan Fillion.

This was Fillion’s first time moderating a panel and as you can imagine, the fan-favorite actor was in his element. Literally, every word or gesture got a reaction from the audience and if they didn’t respond, he came up with a hand signal for applause. Also, if you took a shot every time Fillion said “I run a tight ship,” the whole audience would be dead from alcohol poisoning.

Highlights

– FIllion introduced co-star Casper Van Dien by admitting that he beat him out for the lead role in STARSHIP TROOPERS when they auditioned together back in the mid-90s. That would’ve been a VERY different movie.

– They showed teasers for a new motion comic for Spectrum (the “Firefly”-style show within a show) and Con Man: The Game, which you can download for your phone on August 24. Fillion took credit for making the comic, the game and the show itself.

– They also showed a teaser for Season 2, which revealed Fillion’s character trying to get a Spectrum movie going 13 years too late, Tudyk going to Shocker Con (Chaka Khan, get it?), Lou Ferigno doing a musical version of Of Mice and Men, Felcia Day cosplaying as Lou Ferigno at a fan signing, a Stan Lee cameo, and the money shot—Nathan Fillion messing with his hair to reveal that it’s wig and he’s actually bald underneath. The trailer ended with the actor lovingly brushing his toupee. The crowd went nuts.

– Tudyk created a full blown, full length musical adaptation of Of Mice and Men (renamed “I’m With Stupid”) for the show, in which Tudyk plays Lenny and Lou Ferigno plays George. He said he would release the music and encourage people to put on their own productions of it.

– An opera singer dubbed Lou’s voice for the big musical number “Tell Me About the Rabbits.” Ferigno shared a story about how he was working as Michael Jackson’s personal trainer back in the 80s and one day Jackson asked him to sing happy birthday. As soon as Ferigno started singing, the pop star suggested they immediately go back to training.

– Spartacus star Liam McIntyre plays Girth Hemsworth, the long lost Hemsworth brother, in what looks like a hilarious role. There’s a running joke that they can never figure out how many Hemsworths there are. “They herd together like zebras to hide their actual numbers.”

– Tudyk admitted that after creating and producing his own show, it’s now hard for him not to be in charge on set. He said when he was filming STAR WARS: ROGUE ONE he was trying to order people around out of habit.

– Casper Van Dien plays the bartender in every scene that takes place in a bar, a silent role that called for him to have zero lines. “As it should be,” Dien admitted.

– A woman who came to the panel last year and asked the cast to autograph her unborn child actually returned and brought the baby with her this year.

– When asked if he was tempted to “Whedon” (kill) Joss Whedon during the director’s appearance on the show in the first season, Tudyk said “I would love to kill him in every episode. Like a Kenny thing.”

– Fillion finished up by saying that when he was young and hoped to be an actor, projects like this where he got to spend time making stuff with his friends was his ultimate dream. He also made fun of his bald character in Con Man, saying “I’ve got three things going for me and two of them are my hair.”