FAN EXPO Chicago 2025

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Last year, I reflected on each interview individually.

At that time, I said I wasn't sure if I'd ever do it again.

But this year's interviews and interactions were so varied that it only makes sense to do it again.

Kellan Lutz

This interview was extremely short. I think it was about a minute.

That was because it happened to fall between his dinner break and needing to leave for his photo ops.

But, while extremely short, I'm glad I got the opportunity to talk to him.

I absolutely loved the joke that got him a guest spot on 30 Rock, though I am a bit disappointed that he isn't actually related to John Lutz.

Paul Reiser

While, these days, Mad About You may not be on par with shows like Friends (with whom it shared a universe and the character of Phoebe's twin-sister Ursula), it's still up there.

I'm admittedly not as familiar with it as Seinfeld and Friends, but the rise of streaming has made it more accessible.

I'm always fascinated to talk to people who had these huge shows from decades ago about the impact that streaming has had on our culture and what they've seen, in terms of the show finding a new generation of fans.

I think a lot of people overlook how that shift from watching TV on a set schedule that's inherently set by someone else over to the current streaming landscape has impacted these shows. Even the 1,000+ cable/satellite channels that exist these days are nothing compared to having the choice of nearly any show you want, anytime you want.

And it's always fun to explore that with actors like Paul.

Loren Lester

While Loren has had one heck of a career on both stage and screen, he's best known for his role on Batman: The Animated Series.

I talked about this a bit last year, when I interviewed Diane Pershing, who'd played Poison Ivy, but that show came out the same year I was born.

Here we are, all this time later, and fans are still lining up to meet these actors.

I, obviously, couldn't watch the show during its initial run, being aged between “newborn" and “toddler", but I did watch it relatively recently (within the last 10 years or so).

It's really no wonder that a show of that caliber is still going strong with fans today.

Rick Hoffman

Similar to what I mentioned with Paul Reiser, streaming has been very…interesting for Suits.

While I watched a fair bit of the USA Network, especially in college, I hadn't seen Suits during its initial run.

Instead, I first saw it when it hit number one on Netflix, a few years ago.

I was excited to explore what that resurgence in popularity looked like, as well as to look at the experience of making a show that evolved so much during its nine seasons, from an actor's perspective.

And Rick didn't disappoint.

Phillip Glasser

When I was covering the Jeff Award-winning production Beautiful: The Carole King Musical at the Marriott Theatre in 2023, Erica Stephan (playing Cynthia Weil) mentioned her work on the song Somewhere Out There from An American Tail.

Naturally, I wanted to explore that further with Phillip, as one of the people singing that very song.

I mentioned this a bit when I spoke with National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation director Jeremiah Chechik, but one of my favorite things is to explore topics across multiple interviews.

After seeing and covering such a well-done production of Beautiful, that especially goes for the cultural contributions of all the artists depicted, especially Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil.

Kate Micucci

Similar to my interview with Stephen Tobolowsky a few years ago, I genuinely didn't know going in what this interview was going to be.

Kate has had a career where I genuinely think of her as just Kate Micucci, rather than “Kate Micucci from any particular role or project".

So I truly expected to wing it and follow her lead, and I'm glad I did.

I've talked a lot before about the things I love to explore with my guests, because, well, that's why I do this.

One of those things, which only comes up rarely, is the difference between taking over, rather than originating, a role.

It's even rarer that it comes up with a role as iconic as Scooby Doo's Velma.

I love that it was a door she decided to open, and I'm glad I got to follow her through it.

Greg Weisman

This was a really fun one, because I don't really get the opportunity to explore topics like this.

I especially enjoyed looking at, not just what it was to take a fan-favorite like Gargoyles to the screen, but also his more recent work on the property in comic book form.

A lot of people don't necessarily think of what considerations go into presenting a story in one format vs another, and a lot of people don't have the experience to speak to that.

So getting a chance to talk to Greg for a few moments about all of that was a real treat.

Bob West

Like a lot of people born around the time I was, I loved Barney as a kid.

I'd watch the TV show, my parents took me to a touring stage production, we'd listen to his story time radio show at night.

Meeting and talking to Bob was great, but, more than anything, what got me was watching from afar as other people did the same.

As he mentioned during the interview, he even had a box of tissues handy at his table, as people would get so overcome by emotion meeting this person who was such a big part of their childhood.

While I know the impact the role had on my childhood, I was in awe seeing how it impacted that of so many others. And, while he's presumably somewhat used to it, I think Bob was too.