NOLA Film Scene with Tj & Plaideau
A podcast about acting, filmmaking, and the improv scene in New Orleans.
NOLA Film Scene with Tj & Plaideau
Scott Innes: Inside Cajun Con
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The voice of Scooby Doo is putting on the biggest pop culture fan convention of the year! He joins the guys to break down what it took to set up, what celebrities are attending, and how to get free tickets.
Voiced by Brian Plaideau
Have you been injured? New Orleans based actor, Jana McCaffery, has been practicing law in Louisiana since 1999, specializing in personal injury since 2008. She takes helping others very seriously. If you have been injured, Jana is offering a free consultation AND a reduced fee for fellow members of the Lousiana film industry, and she will handle your case from start to finish. She can be reached at janamccaffery@gmail.com or 504-837-1234. Tell Her NOLA Film Scene sent you
Follow us on IG @nolafilmscene, @kodaksbykojack, and @tjsebastianofficial. Check out our 48 Hour Film Project short film Waiting for Gateaux: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5pFvn4cd1U . & check out our website: nolafilmscene.com
Welcome to the NOLA Film Team with TJ Play-Doh. I'm TJ. And as always, I'm Play-Doh.
SPEAKER_01:Scooby-Doo, where are you?
SPEAKER_02:And we're live with the man himself, CajunCon founder. Scott Ennis, how are you, my friend?
SPEAKER_03:Well, doing pretty good. I gotta give a little credit to my uh sidekick, Nicole Elmore. She drives me all over to the cons, you know, all over the country. And uh, you know, people ask us what inspired us to uh really want to get Cajun Con going. And uh, you know, nothing against there's some great cons out there, man. I mean, some great people actually get it. But we go to a lot of cons that don't get it. And, you know, you walk in, I always say you can always tell you're in for a long weekend when you go, uh, where's the green room? And they go, What is that? And you're like, you know, the food and and stuff, and they're like, Yeah, we've got a Keurig back there, and there may be some fruit, but I were we supposed to get you a green room? You're like, okay, yeah, that's gonna be a long weekend. So we we we would spend a lot of time going, that's wrong, this is wrong, this is set up wrong, because I'm a promoter by heart. Yeah, I do a lot of big concerts and all that stuff, and and uh I just said we should do our own con. And here we are. We started this two and a half years ago, and we started collecting Yeah, we started collecting vendors information like a year and a half ago, and uh maybe longer than that, and then last June, not this June, the June before, we launched the website, and you know, people were crazy because you know we were calling and inviting our celebrity friends to be a part of this, and they'd be like, Oh, yeah, I'm not doing anything in December. And I'm like, now keep in mind this is December 2025, not four. And they'd go, dear God, that's a whole lifetime away. I don't even know what I'm doing next week, you know. So, you know, it was hard getting people to commit, but we did, and in one button, I kid you not, we made one email to mask email to vendors. And I remember going, God, I hope we sell a couple of vendors today. We sold out 200 vendors in one afternoon. Wow. I was like, okay, so I called Nicole, I said, yeah, I guess we're doing a con officially now. So I'd be lying, guys, if I didn't say I wasn't a little bit puckered.
SPEAKER_02:You're coming to the end, it's the finish line, and you got no gas, huh?
SPEAKER_03:Well, it's funny because I did I told Nicole we tease each other going to cons and everything. I said, You do like it'll be like three in the morning, we're driving back from Amarillo or something, you know, back to Baton Rouge, and I'll go, Well, you do know if we crash and burn on this deal, we'll never set foot in another con. She goes, Yep. And I go, I'm just letting you know. It's kind of like Jerry Maguire, you know, everybody will be going, Hey Ennis, how's that con coming? You know, no, we we really um we're excited about it. I think uh, you know, we've been promoting it a long time. Tickets are free. I mean, who puts on a multi-hundred thousand dollar con and lets everybody in for free? Right here. We do. So uh we're idiots. But uh Yes.
SPEAKER_02:And you know we've shared ours, the physical, and then you went digital, so make sure everybody can get in.
SPEAKER_03:Yes, yes, that's what we did. We had this all planned. Now it's still good to keep the because you get to keep the you know, the collector golden ticket. But now we're digital, so folks can go to CajunConLA dot com and download the free ticket. All you gotta do is screenshot it. You don't even had to download it, just screenshot it, show it at the front door, and we'll put a two-day wrist ban on you, you're in like Flynn. What's funny, and I find this even more so in Louisiana, people will go, uh, CajunCon. How do you spell Cajun? You know? And that here. I mean, literally here. And I'm like, are you serious? Like, yep, we're serious. I'm like, wow, okay. Well, yeah, that's uh C-A-J-U-N. So CajunCon L A.com. Download that free ticket or screenshot it, and you are in. So we're lots of stars, man. I'm telling you. We it's uh and it's it's really weird dealing with a lot of celebrities because when you everybody you got think about this. You have 85 celebrities, 85 personalities that you have to deal with, right? And everybody, everybody thinks they're an A star, including myself. I'm so far on the totem pole, it's not even funny. But it's funny because you have to remind some, and I'm not gonna get into names, but I had one guy that was just, oh my god, this guy hadn't had a job since, you know, 1920. And he was wanting this, he was wanting that, he wanted first class, he wanted this, and I finally just said, okay, hey, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop. Okay. Can I be honest with you? He said, Yeah, man, hit me right between the eyes. I said, Okay, you're here because I owe a favor to one of your friends. You haven't been in a movie in 40 years. Frankly, I'm just being kind. Nobody knows who you are. So you're not getting first class, you're not getting the the hall hotel, you're not getting the limo ride to the the con. And uh other than that, we've got a Keurig and some fruit in the back for you, you know.
SPEAKER_02:Scott, I I don't think you should have treated the rock like that. Oh, I'm sorry. See, now you went and blew it. God I was reading the paper, and that beats rock.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah, yeah. We were go ahead.
SPEAKER_02:No, go ahead. I was gonna say we we did a live, just TJ and I on Saturday, and we were just kind of going through the guest list. And we still missed some. I'm looking at it now, and that's only added some.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, we've added some.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, yeah. You have Pat Cressida. I am a Disney haunted mansion junkie, and you have the bride.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, yeah, we yeah, she's uh in fact, her and I are uh doing a signing uh this Saturday over in uh Gulf, actually Biloxi, Mississippi, and we're doing uh three alarm comics, and uh we're gonna sign there for from noon to five, and uh so for those people who are in that area, whatever are listening to this, come by and see us. But uh yeah, she's she's uh a friend of mine, and uh she will be there. And of course, you know, she's also doing Jesse and Toy Story now and uh does a lot of that. And then of course, who can forget, what does this button do? And she's Dee Dee on Dexter's Laboratory, which is kind of cool because we've got Dexter, we got DD, and then we're gonna have Eddie Deeson, who is Mandalark, who is the antagonist, you know. So, I mean, and Eddie, oh my god, there's not a character this guy hadn't done or a TV show, you know. And then the girls, hey, it's me, Eugene, you know. So uh we've uh we got I I tell you what we did for Eddie. We always like to spoil our stars and we get them little gifts and we put them on the table. And uh I was in Hobby Lobby and I saw these cheap red hats, and they had the little R, you know, from that you put on a letterman's jacket. And I said, wait a minute, I've seen that look before. And I started looking up Eddie, and uh I said, that's the exact look for the uh Rydell High hat. So we made Rydell High hats for him, and um, yeah, he'll have those for sale and sign, you know, and then uh Jackson Bostwick, you know, love this guy, my childhood. You know, he was Shazam. And um I asked him, I said, Do you uh what are you gonna be signing? He says, Man, Scott, you know, he says, My health isn't been that great. And he says, uh, they don't really really make a Shazam pop from like my era. They they make one, but it was in a big plastic tall, tall deal, you know. And I said, Oh, yeah, I've seen that. And he I said, What about capes? Yeah, unfortunately, you have to buy like the the the$150 whole suit to get the cape. So me being the nice guy I am, I got with a seamstress that does a lot of our work, and she made him 20 capes, just like the cape. I mean, it's the cape. And then I ran into a store, I kid you not, through the last two years I've been collecting those tall pops. Thought I had one back here for Shazam, and I've got him about 40. Wow. I mean, my wife's like, and why do we have 40 Shazam pops on the dining room table? I'm like, well, you know, because we like Jackson Bostwick. And we could so yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And we couldn't get a whole bunch of Winnebagos.
SPEAKER_03:Exactly. And uh in fact, she's mad at me now because you know, the new Funko Pop came out of Scooby and Shaggy. And I ordered, you know, because man, when they started, you know, taking orders in late July, early August, man, I was buying these things from GameStop, I was buying them from uh Entertainment, whatever that Hollywood Entertainment place. Man, I'll tell you, I I forgot where I was ordering them from. You know, I just wanted to make sure I had plenty coming in for the fall and next year. We've got 740 on the dining room table right now. And um, she's like about to kick me out of the house. Yeah, it's not pretty. And and here's the thing, guys. You know, when you're when you're preparing for a con like this, we went out and started buying little gifts to give to our celebrity friends as uh thank you for coming. You know, so you get, say, Chris Bartlett, who's coming, who's now C3PO, and he's done a ton of other stuff. Dude, we're collecting C3PO pops, all of his other characters. And you know, we'll have like like big uh plastic things, and we've got them filled up, and it'll say Chris Bartlett. And then you've you've got 80 other people. You know, you've got the Incredible Hulk, Lou Ferrigno, you've got Tom Cook, uh Warner Brothers, uh, you know, Hannah Barbera artist. All these things packed up and they're everywhere. I mean, I wish let me show you something, guys, if I can. This is this just kind of gives you a look. This is just my office now, okay? This is not my Scooby room. So we got these for Lou Ferrigno, okay? And and he will sign those, and and we got him like 50 of them. I mean, everything from Five Nights at Freddy's to Neon Signs. Neon Signs is incredible. Lou Ferigno, you know, everything Cajun Con wristbands and all this stuff, everything in here. I mean, it's crazy. Look here, this is these are hats for Kat Cresson to sign for uh Jesse. There's the hat for Andy. Yeah, it's just it's it's overkill, you know. But you know, so but we enjoy what we do, and so we want people to leave Cajun Con, especially, you know, not only the fans, but we want um the celebrities to go, oh my god, and then he did this. Let me tell you something we're doing. I am a huge Willy Wonka fan, obviously, with the Willy Wonka tickets and our fast passes that people, by the way, we only have 50 of these fast passes left. If people want to get one, they go to CajunCon LA.com, look for FastPass. This gets you to the front of the line. It bypasses all these other long lines. I will warn you that if you get into like Art Art the Clowns line, you're still probably going to have 10 of these in front of you, but it's better than to have 70 people there, you know. Don't be terrified without it. Yeah, exactly. Thanks for the pun. And then, of course, you know, so we've got I've always wanted to reunite the Wonka kids, and we're doing that. And so by doing that, I put together a Wonka set where they will be signing. And I'm not afraid to tell you this because it's kind of almost embarrassing that I did this, but it's my love for Wonka. We spent$10,000 just on the Wonka set that's coming down after two days. So people are like, wait, you spent$10,000 just to build a place for them to sign? And I'm like, Yep, I did. So yes. And then our buddy Jerry the King Lawler, you know, yeah, the legend, the king, you know, we'll have him a bunch of, you know, yeah props to sign and for for f for people and fans.
SPEAKER_02:And so Brian's heart just skipped a beat when Well, first of all, that he had his health trouble this year and then he he powered through like he always does. He's such a champ, and and I was praying for him. And I have a hacksaw Jim Duggan two by four from WrestleMania 30 when he was in town. So I the care for the prop, the care for what fans can get is so awesome. For us, it's like Mardi Gras.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:There are regular beats and those are fun, but when you get a medallion bead, yeah, you know, it's so much more special.
SPEAKER_03:Well, Jerry and I have been best friends for 30 years. We go back to Memphis, and um he called me. Well, I I was at a con with him in uh Perryville, Missouri in mid-July. And I told him, I said, when I left, I gave him a big hug, and I said, Jerry, don't go having another stroke on me because you canceled on me twice. He laughed and he says, Yeah, I don't plan on it. Well, then he did. And anyway, but thank God it wasn't that big of a uh a stroke, and he mustered through it and he called me and he said, Look, I'm canceling a bunch of events, and I thought, ah, here we go. He goes, but I'm coming to yours. So he said, Get my table ready and get all my stuff on there because that's you're the only con that I'm coming to this year. So I said, So, you know, I mean, we've got like 15 wrestlers. Yeah. You know, I mean, I had uh the million-dollar man call me just out of the blue yesterday, Ted DiBiassi, and we're friends. And he says, Man, I was just thinking about that Cajun con, man. He he goes, Man, I was looking at the guest list. He goes, You have a lot of people there. I said, Yeah, and he goes, Well, he goes, uh, I hope you do good, my friend. I hope you do good. And uh, so it's nice. We've been getting people, you know, of the our celebrity friends calling us, going, man, we're rooting for you. And I said, Yeah, I'm sure there's people out there that are waiting for me to hit a wall at 100 mile an hour. But, you know, those are naysayers, and I don't care. We we uh we got a lot of a lot of you know passion and blood, sweat, and tears in this thing, and uh we're just really excited about it.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, you are so overstuffed with stars, like an overstuffed powboy.
SPEAKER_03:Um, we won't do this again. You know, we we've already got the dates for next year for the, I think it's the fifth and sixth, I think, or fourth and fifth, I forget. It's the first Saturday and Sunday. Of December, 25th. Of December, yeah. I think it's fourth and fifth. To see this year it's sixth. Fifth and sixth, I think. But anyway, we've already got a bunch of stars that are signed on with us. A couple that we lost this year due to filming and other things, they're coming back, you know. And so we're gonna make that announcement when we're in the middle of CajunCon. We're gonna have this thing come up. You're gonna be surprised. Some really cool uh celebrities are coming. But we won't do 85 celebrities again. I've learned my lesson. We'll probably keep it around 40. And um, but uh yeah, you know, it's uh it's a lot to undertake. We hired Eight Lugs Circus, which I got to give them a plug because I met them at Smoky Mountain Fan Fest up in Tennessee. They're a women-ran organization. Thank God, because men can't pull their heads out of their asses. Anyway, and they go into cons and they basically go, give me your list, we'll work with your travel agent. Here's who we're picking up. They do cards, they move them around, and they figure, okay, this guy's coming in at this. Oh, this guy's coming in like five minutes later. Let's just wait for him. We'll pick them all up. Dude, they walk away and you're like, I can breathe. They pick them up from the airport, they bring them to the hotel, they bring them from the hotel to the venue, and uh, and then they take them back. So that's been a blessing. I gotta hat's off to those ladies. Eight Lug Circus, if you're a con listening to this, man, look them up. They are wonderful and they're funny as all get out. So, yeah, we've we've came, we've got a lot, a lot of things that we've and we've stolen a lot of great ideas from other cons, and then the ideas that that don't work, you know, we're like, yeah, we're not gonna be doing that. Gotta learn.
SPEAKER_02:Learn from them.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, you know, I learned from Mike Ensley over at PensaCon. He, dude, he does it right in that green room. And uh he treats the stars like stars, and he feeds them first class and uh a good friend of mine, and just a great guy in the con world. And so I said, This is our pattern for the green room. I took pictures, I said, This is what our con is going to look like in the green room. And so my girl Vicky, who does that, she's like, I'm on it. So um one day I was driving down the road and I was like, you know what? I need to get your phone listens to everything you say. You ever notice that? I mean, everything you freaking say. True story. I'm at a con this weekend in San Antonio, Texas, and I was eating dinner with one of my celebrity friends, and we were talking about country music. And phone was down, okay, off, really was black. And I said, uh we were talking about the song Baby's Got Her Blue Jeans on. So he goes, God, who sings that? I said, Man, I forgot who sings that. And you know, Baby's got her blue jeans on. So he's looking it up and he goes, Mel McDaniel sung that song. I said, Yeah, old Mel McDaniel. As he said that, I reached over and grabbed my phone, opened it up, freshened it up. Mel McDaniel is on my phone, you know, talking about that today that was the anniversary of him falling off the stage in Louisiana, where I'm from. And I was like, what are the odds? So one day I'm driving down the road and I'm thinking, man, I need to get some pins, some like little metal pins and blah, blah, blah, for Cage kind of. I was talking to a buddy of mine on the phone, and I said, I just don't know where to go get them. I mean, I, you know, and he goes, give your phone 20 minutes. You'll have 50 of them popping up. So I thought it was funny. So I said, hey, phone, I need some like pens, like collector pins, metal pins. If you can please send me some ideas. So I'm going through my Facebook, and I kid you not, every pen in the world was popping up. And so I found one and ordered it, and there we go, Cajun Con pins, which all the stars will get with their little lanyard, you know, little collector's pen. Yeah, yeah. So, I mean, dude, just be careful what you ask your phone to do.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Totally. And that's like, you know, I think I met you at a con about a year ago and fan expo in New Orleans.
SPEAKER_03:Yep, yep.
SPEAKER_02:And then you've been posting, you know, oh, we got a chance for sponsors. And TJ and I have been looking for ways to expand the con. Uh, excuse me, not the con, the pod.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And I reached out to you and we talked about a price. I said, okay, let me think about it. And minutes later, our friend Janet McCaffrey, who's a lawyer, said, Can you can I sponsor your podcast so you know I can get some clients? Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:You're like, here's what's gonna cost you.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:And when I go in is just like, hey Scott, we're in. I'll call you back later. Exactly. You know, exactly.
SPEAKER_02:Let's just say she was the lion share, but the synergy of the universe, when you need things to happen and they're supposed to happen, it's incredible.
SPEAKER_03:So let me ask you this, TJ Bryan, where are you guys out of? Are you out of New Orleans? We are, yeah. Yes. Yeah, cool. Love me some New Orleans, man. That's uh check this out. This is what the all the stars are gonna get for their VIP lanyards. And the uh I know I must sound stupid, but who did the artwork here? Uh it starts with a J. Well, I'll God dang it. I'm an idiot. I'm almost embarrassed, but look how cool this is. He painted this. This is this drew this and painted it. But all the the uh the actors and um guest artists are gonna get that pass. And um, you know, it's got the lanyard, the Cajun Con layer. We've done everything first class. Jonathan, God, what's Jonathan's last name? Big artist, but uh he's uh he'll be at Cajun Con. I'll tell you his name here in a minute, it'll pop in. But Okay, no problem. But uh yeah, so we've done everything that we possibly can to give it a Willy Wonka feel and to uh to showcase we got a lot of great artists. I mean, more so than an average con. And uh we're gonna be tight in this room. It's gonna be in the Rev Center at Lamar Dixon Expo Center. We thought we had two buildings, we ended up only with one. We'll they have a special needs uh dance going on in the second one, which I'm totally cool with. And so, but next year we'll have both, we'll have both venues and uh we'll we'll definitely take both of them up. But you know, most cons when they start, you know, they they start off and they build they work their way up. We kind of started at the top, and I'm hoping we're not working our way down, but we are gonna go to we are gonna go to 40 celebrities uh next year, though. I can guarantee you that. Of course, Nicole, you know, my rider die, she looks at me and she goes, right, 40. She goes, I think I'm gonna be at when we hit 100, I'm gonna go, what happened to the 40? They're still there. Yeah, they're still there.
SPEAKER_04:Well, you said you got you said you locked in vendors really fast. And I mean, certainly wrangling on that many celebrities can't be easy. What's been the what's been the most challenging part to put all this together?
SPEAKER_03:It's like you know, Jay Branch, who has VXV, good friend of ours. He's got like 30 cons. And I go into his cons and we sign at his cons and set up, and I'm looking at all these volunteers and just his staff, just his paid staff. You know, he's got 30 people, and then he's got a hundred volunteers, and I'm going, so he goes, How many you how many you got? And I go, uh what what do you mean? I goes, how many you got have you got on staff? Are you doing? I go, you're looking at them. Two. So our MO, our whole thing about our con is this. I think people sometimes walk into some of these cons and they get overwhelmed, we're stimulated. There's so much to do. You don't even know what to do. And I think cons have gotten away from what they really were scheduled, they were put out there to do. It was fans, vendors, stars. Boom. Now we've got gaming, we've got TV, we got after parties, we got and you're like, okay, I don't even know where to start. We're gonna need to scan your wristband. Then you scan this, and you do this, you got this, and then blah blah blah blah blah blah. Man, I'm like, I don't even know what to do. I don't even know which door to go into, you know? And I said, we got to get back to simplicity, man. We got to get back to vendors, stars, fans. Boom. That's let's do that.
SPEAKER_04:And Brian's going, yes, finally.
SPEAKER_03:Yes, that that that's what we're doing. We're not doing people go, so who's on your panels? I'm like, there are no panels, okay? I uh now I'm not saying we won't add some panels down the road, but I talk to a lot of my celebrity friends and I ask them, if you could delete anything from a con, and I'm not making this up, I'm just telling you, not everybody would say this, but I'd say 90%. Everybody says, Oh, I delete the panels in a heartbeat. And I'm like, why? And they go, well, I'll tell you why. Because every time you do a panel, you got the same four people sitting out there asking the same question. Uh, what was it like, uh Freddy, to wear the glove? It was an honor. It was really, it was really, really nice. It was really an honor. Next question. Yeah, was it long putting the makeup on? It was. It was 20 hours a day. It was bad. Next question. Meanwhile, now not for somebody right like Robert English, who's a monster star. I love this guy. But, you know, for people like us, I mean, it's like you got the same six, seven people out there. Meanwhile, you have to leave your booth and you've got, you know, 20 people in line, and you're like, hey, folks, I'll be right back. I gotta go do my panel. Well, you're gonna lose that money. They're gonna, they only have so much money, and they're and if they don't want to go to your panel, they're gonna walk away and they're gonna go spend it. So basically, that panel costs you anybody on an average$1,000,$2,000 to go do a panel. Like, gone. Another thing we deleted was uh, and really the same principle works for the pro photos, because most of those celebrities will get four people by their pro photos. Like mine, I get four or five people at a con. I told them, just take me off those things. I don't want to do it. I'll make more money standing there taking a selfie in front of my banner with a with a fan than I am walking halfway across the block to take a professional shot. So, nothing against the pro photos. I'm just saying for me personally and the people I talk, it's it's the scenes. Now, we did do it because you have a lot of fans that want that professional photo with Art the Clown. And he's gonna be in the Santa outfit. And so we're gonna do that. And then you've got the Willy Wonka, the whole reunion. So we decided, okay, we'll do the pro photos and mainly concentrate on Art the Clown and the Wonka kids. We did put uh some of the other big names in there, but again, it's been Art the Clown and the Wonka kids that are getting the buys. Next year, I'll I can tell you right now, I probably will cancel. I won't do pro photos. It's just I think people like that table connection, you know?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I love pro photos, you know. And I'm not saying that you're doing wrong, I agree with that. No, no, no. A lot of people have three of the hobbits from Lord of the Rings showed up, so I brought ring pops for everybody.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. And then Well, and here's where those work out is when you go to a con, and I will give you this, this is where it comes into handy. When you got a reunion, such as the Wonka kids or or let's say a reunion of Freddie Krueger, and you got Freddie and all the and the other group in him, I get it. Because you can't you want a group shot and you're not going to say, hey Robert, can you walk with us all over to all the other people's booths and take photos? Can't do that. I get it. But um, and and and I would say this. If I get, you know, like say next year, if I were to pull off a reunion that's worth that, I can't just put two two booths together and have them walk two feet, like scream, right? That would make sense. I get it. I get it. You gotta have that because the fans want that. But and we did that because of Art the Clown and the Wonka kids and whatnot. I'm just not a big fan of Pro Photos as far as the time it takes me to go do them. You know what I mean? And and but uh a lot of people love them, man. They they they eat and breathe them, and I'm sure that we'll have, you know, some sort of a way to do the pro photos if we, you know, just takes up a lot of room. But that being said, you know, uh, and I will tell you this if we if we get somebody, I do want to add the panels, not and I'm not trying to mention any names, but I I don't think people want to sit and and hear, you know, a B actor talk about for 40 minutes about something. And uh now if you get William Shatner, people love to hear him BS, you know. He doesn't mind going and doing them because he already knows the money he's gonna make in a con, okay? Right. So so people like to hear his BS, and frankly, I do too. But uh, you know, it is what it is. We're just we're learning, man. And here's another thing I want to tell people. This is our first con, folks. We know there's gonna be some stuff we're gonna end up changing. You don't have to drive it through to us. We're offering free parking. It's free to get in. Remember that when you get on and uh let us know your experience this year because we do want to get feedback. But at the same time, remember this. It is gonna be tight quarters because we put way too many stars in there. But at the same time, you got in for free. You didn't have to pay a dime. A lot of cons charge, you know, 60, 70 bucks a day. Yep. You're getting in for free, and you're getting 85 celebrities. We're covering every genre from the si 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s to today. And so everybody's getting a little bit of everything, you know. So uh just remember that when you're nitpicking us at the deal. Oh man, I couldn't, I didn't even know where the line started. And that well, I'm just gonna tell you right now, you might as well just go ahead and type that in there because that's gonna happen.
SPEAKER_02:And never forget, you're gonna see the NOLA film scene there. Yeah, right. That's the main drop.
SPEAKER_03:The NOLA film scene, they are gonna be there, and uh, you can uh pull up their your little chair like and and act like you're on the Johnny Carson show.
SPEAKER_02:Ooh, an interview booth at our booth, you know, interviewing fans, TJ.
SPEAKER_04:That's a little bit on the Yeah, we could probably do that.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah. Yeah, you put a little chair there on the desk and just sit them there and roll tape. So what do you think of CajunCon? Well, it sucks. Okay, thanks for coming. Next, what do you think of Cajun? Yeah, and I'm back there in the back going, yeah.
SPEAKER_04:We charge them five dollars, you know, five dollars for two minutes on the show. Ten dollars ten dollars. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Exactly. No, that's the whole thing. Scott's handing out five dollar bills for every nice comment, you know.
SPEAKER_04:Scott's standing off to the side with a shepherd's crook to pull them off if they say something bad about the show.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know how it goes. Yeah, and and the funny thing is, is we have I I've I'll just tell you this right now. I'm working putting this together. I've got a hernia. And uh, dude, I I I got it from you know, constant setup every weekend. We're somewhere. I'm on a ladder with lifting stuff I shouldn't be lifting. I ended up getting a little torn hernia, and so I gotta get that fixed after Christmas. But it's funny, the doc I told the doctor, I said, Well, I've got a, you know, I got some appearances I gotta do, and then I gotta load up a trailer and move it down to down to Lamar, and I gotta set up for you know a solid week. And he goes, Man, that's that's gonna hurt. I said, Well, what do I do? He says, You need to get online and buy one of these hernia belts, you know. You strap this thing on, it's like you're strapping on uh, well, I don't even know, but uh, it's not comfortable, okay? And so you're walking around with this thing and velcroed on you just so that you can, you know, take the pain. And I'm thinking to myself, God, the stuff that some people do to pull, see that see, people in the world are cruel. I mean, they don't they don't know what you're going through to try to make something happen nice for somebody. And um, like there'll be nobody that'll know that I will be working that con probably in sheer pain, and that I've got a, you know, a little something poking out my gut that I gotta have surgery to fix. You know, it's just so, you know, and then my ride or die has got an abscess tooth. She's then went to the doctor today, they're gonna have to cut this thing out. I'm like, God, we're falling apart right before the con. You know, so it's just a it's a lot of work to make sure you dot, you know, you cross your T's, dot your I's. And uh man, dude, I wish I could all these are like notes. I mean, like everything I'm doing is just notes, contracts, agreements. It's um, so, but we're gonna get through it. We're we're we're gonna get through it. I'm excited about it, I really am. I'm excited to see all my buddies. Um, you know, we're gonna have the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles there, uh, you know, you got Art the Clown. I'll tell you what's really cool is Kevin Freaking Von Erich is gonna be there. And um, you know, I mean, I was in the Ironclaw, you know, I was the ring announcer in the Ironclaw.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:And I I met him at in Dallas at the premiere, and he was just flabbergasted that I did Scooby Doo. Told me that him and his kids used to watch Scooby Doo all the time. And and he said, Man, if you ever need anything, you call me. Of course, I looked over and His manager, he used to be my one of my old radio bosses. And I go, he goes, JC, and he goes, You should have never said that to him. Sure enough, I had his number. I was calling in the week after. I said, You're coming to Cajun Con. Check this out. This is that's my whole outfit that I wore in the iron claw. Yep, that's the uh the tuxedo. I auctioned off the shoes at a at a gala recently, but uh I thought that was pretty cool. That's awesome. You know, to have that. And I'll tell you who bought that for me was Brett Wagner, who is Leatherface. He's coming to the con. I saw that.
SPEAKER_04:Wow.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, Brett's one of my dear friends, and he calls me one night and he goes, Hey, are you uh that A24 which produced uh your movie, The Iron Claw? He goes, You know, they're auctioning off stuff from the movie. And I said, No kidding. He goes, Yeah, they're auctioning off right now, they're auctioning off your suit from the ring announcer. I said, I gotta have that.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:So he um he goes, Yeah, my wife and I are bidding on it right now. We're gonna see if we can get it for you. And I'm thinking, God, I told him, I said, Well, man, don't spend too much money. He goes, ah, yeah, it's only at$12. And I was like, right in the heart. Wow. Just, I mean, God, that that hurt. But you got it. I think he got it for$35. I was like, wow, that tells you how big your role is in the movie industry.
SPEAKER_02:The universe wanted you to have it. You know, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:It's going to be. Dude, I was hanging around Troy Jackson, he owns the Jeepers Creepers truck. We hung out in San Antonio this weekend. And this is the actual screen used truck, number one. He has spent, I think he told me he's got over a hundred thousand now in it, restoring it and getting it um back to, well, it's way better than the film because it had a crappy engine and it then it barely ran. They had to actually push it to some scenes. Yeah. But but now it's got a brand new engine in it, and it purrs like nothing. And and so he's excited about. We actually had breakfast a couple of times this last weekend, and he'll be there, and um, you'll be able to come see all the paraphernalia for that. And and then, of course, you know, Kate Makuchi, who is on the Big Bang Theory, and she's also Velma Dinkly, Gray Delisle, whose family lives all in Gonzalez, Louisiana. Didn't know that. Her aunt and them, she'll be there. She's a Zulu, and uh also, you know, Daphne and a million others. Rakeesh is in the house. Big Samoa. Okay. Mindy Cone. Oh my God. CJ Graham, Jason Libs. I didn't know you got Mindy Cohn. Oh, yeah, Mindy Cone is uh no, I'm sorry, not Mindy Cone. Uh Mindy Sterling. Sterling. Now I'm working on Mindy Cone for next year. That's why I said that. Um, there, let that slip. Son. Yeah, that's okay. Mick Foley. Uh Bam Margera couldn't make it. Uh, he was making good on, he had to cancel at a con that we were actually together uh the first of June up there at Niagara Falls. And so he goes, dude, he's doing a Christmas deal on the same day of yours, and he wants me to come do it. I said, Well, go make it good for him, and I'll catch you next year. So he goes, I'm I'm I'm there, man. So Bam will be back, and um Jason Griffith will be back with us. He's filming a movie, and then Kat Crescina, like I said, will be there. Jason Gramilion, Greg Berger, uh, God, I mean, John Morris, he finally got a pop. Andy has got a pop, and uh I was trying to find a head one here, but you know, he's uh God, he's all grown up now, the voice of Andy on Toy Story.
SPEAKER_02:We talked to Greg a few days ago. Greg Berger. Yeah. We are talking to Ming Chen on the 30th.
SPEAKER_03:Great. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I met Ming a few times. Ming is like, if there's a con, Ming is at it. Ming is at it. There's not a con. I told him, I said, Ming, let me ask you something. You go to every con. How do you, how are you at the same place at a you know, 60 different cons in one weekend? He goes, it's not easy. He he is he is a piece of work. We get along so well, and he's just such a great guy. And uh, and I always said this, you know how I know if a con's going to be successful is I look to see if Ming's on the on the deal. Yeah if if Ming is on, you know, if he's on the bill, I'm going. Yes, sir.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, and that's you have I keep wanting to say the original Captain America, but let's say the 70s Captain America, because there was one one, there was one before him.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, but he's pretty much the yeah, he's pretty much the uh the OG, though. You know, the one that we all kind of remember.
SPEAKER_04:That's what everybody remembers.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. You know, and I go by it's like it's like Shazam. There's been other people play Shazam, but there's been but in the 70s Saturday morning cartoons, that's the Bob, okay? Yeah. Exactly. You know, a lot of people don't remember. If you talk about the superheroes, super friends on Saturday mornings. You know, I'm a kid of the Saturday mornings. And uh I used to I used to love Ted Knight. He'd always go, Meanwhile, back at the Hall of Justice, you know, because he was the announcer on that. I did not know that until about five years ago. Yeah. I was reading a bio because I love Ted Knight. And I said, no kidding. I said, that makes sense. Meanwhile, Ted, you wouldn't want it getting around that you don't like God, you know, how he was on the Mary Tyler Moore show.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_03:And uh, but uh yeah, so God, I miss Saturday morning cartoons. Um I'll tell you that's our theme next year is Saturday morning cartoons. Sweet. And I'm gonna go ahead and let a cat out of the bag, give you guys a little piece of fodder here. Exclusive. We're bringing in the entire cast, living cast of Land of the Lost for next year. Yeah, so that'll be our land of the lost. Marsha Will and Holly. Yeah, on a routine expedition and the greatest earthquake ever known. I also want to get, if he's listening out there, I doubt it, but anyway, uh I want to get um Peter Billinsley to come in. I'm a big Christmas story fan, big Peter Billingsley fan. Yeah, and uh just had him sign one of my pops and uh just I guess uh big fan of his, you know. Totally.
SPEAKER_02:And you have Christmas story at this year's, too.
SPEAKER_03:We do, we do. We've got uh Scotty Flick, uh Schwartz, Scotty Schwartz played Flick. He'll be with us. In fact, he's helping us out on a bunch of TV interviews that we're gonna do the week of. And so he's coming in. And I'll tell you who else is gonna come in early and wear the costume in is going to be Troy Jackson for the Jeepers Creepers. So he's gonna be sitting in there in those interviews in that whole creeper outfit. Whoa. And I just thought that would be you know pretty cool. Yeah. Do you do you have any fake eyeballs he can? Yes. Oh god, yeah. That would be cool. He needs to get him some uh some eyeballs. Or if there's a candy, he can just start popping them in his mouth. Exactly, exactly.
SPEAKER_02:That's awesome. Well, yeah, I think we're up uh one more. Eddie Munster's gonna be there.
SPEAKER_03:Yes, Butch Patrick, love Butch. I've been knowing Butch for 30 something plus years. Uh, he'll call me every once in a while and he'll go, hey, you got any cons that need a uh werewolf? I'm like, yeah, I think some you know, so, but uh yeah, I love Butch Patrick. He's great. He'll be there. He's bringing Dracula, so he'll have that sucker all say. I just spent some time with him at Spooky Empire in Orlando a couple weeks ago. And but yeah, everybody loves the Monsters, you know. And so uh, you know, he's the last official living member, you know, of the original Monsters.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, I think there's one girl left, but uh one of the Marylands, I think they have to. Yeah, it's kind of like Dick York and Dick Sargent. They just switched Marylands in the middle of the and then they made Sergeant York. Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_02:Well, Scott, thank you for letting us be a part of this. We it's a good one.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, we're excited to have you guys, and uh everybody will come see see you guys, and um we're pumped about it. I want to encourage everybody to just come be a part of a first year magic. Uh, we know we're gonna work some tw uh, we'll have some things to probably work on once we we get it up and going. And but the good thing is you have to have one before you know what you want to do and where it goes, right? So uh that's gonna be us. We're gonna be learning. You know, it wasn't created in a day. I think it was a day and a half, but we're going to get through this and um, you know, we're gonna we're gonna have some fun. Folks can come, uh you know, it's funny, I get some of the craziest questions that get emailed to me. You know, they're like, I got this golden ticket in the mail. What what does this do? And I'm like, have you read it? And they're like, Yeah, it says I get in for free. And I said, Well, bing, bum, bingo, you get in for free with this ticket. Well, do I still have to pay for autographs? Yes, yes. Yeah, 85 celebrities aren't just gonna sit there and sign autographs for you for free and give up their pictures. Okay, well, I've never been to a con. You know, it's like, so couple of things. Yes, be courteous. Yeah, we have three things that we're putting on the sign. You know, when you get to a normal con, sometimes they have all these rules and stuff. No. We got three rules. Be courteous, have fun, and wear deodorant. You guys know what I'm talking about.
SPEAKER_02:I do. I'm a common conning.
SPEAKER_03:I tell you right now, I it's like, what do they wake up and go, don't anybody wear a deodorant? Well, you gotta stink at the con. I'm like, oh, oh my God, you know?
SPEAKER_02:If I save my money and I don't put on deodorant, I can get another panel. I can get another picture, I can get another autograph.
SPEAKER_03:My God, yeah, no, it's uh that's gonna be our three main rules. We do have a fourth that says we do have the right under any circumstance to kick you out of the building for no reason because you just never know, and you gotta have that right, you know. By entering this deal, you give us that right. So, but anyway, other than that, it's just gonna be fun. Folks, get your tickets now at Cajun. Here's the thing. If you don't have a ticket or you don't screenshot it, we're gonna charge you$100 to get in. End of story. We've been telling you this for two and a half years. So all you need to do is go to the website CajunConLA.com, download the free ticket, screenshot it, whatever you want to do, show it at the door. We will give you a bracelet for two days and you'll get in. Come have fun with this. It's uh it's the first year, it's it's it's gonna be magical. Everybody's gonna have fun. Now, somebody did ask, I do want to warn people that bought the fast pass. A couple of things. Like I said, we're down to 50 of these left. So they're only 150 bucks. Trust me, if you're trying to get a ton of autographs, you're gonna want this pass. But uh somebody asked me, they said, can we take this off once we go through the line and give it to Susie? No, you can't. It's one per person, it stays on you. Well, how do you know they're not gonna, you know, give it to Uncle Joe in the back and let him come up? Well, I'll tell you, because when you come through the line before you walk in the door, we're putting a plastic wristband nice and tight permanently on your arm. You can have this all day long. If you don't have this, you will not get this to move to the deal. So you can't take this off and just slide it to grandma because it's going to be nice and snug on your arm. So just warning you right now, this is more or less for cosmetics, your collector's deal, and you'll have the wristband that'll get you the front of the line or up close.
SPEAKER_02:And just because Uncle Billy gets to the front of the line, Aunt Susie can't walk up with him.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah. That's how cons work, folks. Yeah, yeah. It's one one per person in the line, or we'd have we'd have a million people standing up there. Hey, this is my son, this is Max, and this is my dog, uh Pedro, and this is my aunt Melly. Melly, come on up here and say hi to you No, it doesn't work that way. It doesn't work that way, you know. So it's one person per deal. And um, but anyway, come see us, folks, have fun. Cajun Con LA. Here's one last thing. We are being bombarded with people asking us what are the prices for a lot of these artists. The answer is we've actually, for the first time, I we're recalling a bunch of these artists. Some artists don't want to put their prices up. I don't know why. I'm like, okay, I don't know why. But we are getting a bunch of those gathered around and gathered up, and we're gonna put everyone that we have on Black Friday. It will go up a week from this Friday. All the ones that have participated to give us their prices, it'll be an autograph, a selfie, and a combo deal. And those will go up next Friday. We're gathering all that info, so just bear with us. Dude, it's it's just, you know, it's a two-man show here.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. So I've been asked the autograph question, so thank you for answering that.
SPEAKER_03:There you go. So people will know now. If and listen, if you don't see one of your favorite stars on that list, that doesn't mean he's not coming. It doesn't mean he's he's he's giving it away for free. It just means he didn't get back with us on the prices or didn't want to put them up. So it's just the way it is, okay? But I can guarantee you this, and I've been telling people this a good ballpark figure for most of all the artists we have is anywhere from$30 to$60. That's kind of a good ballpark figure. So if you're going for, let's say, Eddie Deeson, I'm just guessing, he may be$35,$40. If you're going for Jake the Snake, he may be$50 or$60, you know. Few of them you're gonna have popping in there at$70 and$80. There'll be a few of those, Ark the Clown and some other folks, whatever, are gonna be a little bit higher. But you can kind of guess, folks, when you go through our list at people price accordingly to the the novelty and how rare they are, you know, in in the business. So I think Lou Ferregno charges 80 bucks, maybe a hundred bucks, I don't know. Somewhere near so you you know, you're just gonna have to pick uh pick and choose what you think. Look at the on the food. We'll put that up on the Facebook and the website. But one last thing. Everything we're doing is pretty much going to the Facebook. That has become our everything that we're doing. So, yeah, what's up on the website's probably that's what's gonna end up on the website, okay? The Facebook is our communication tool for everybody. So if you want to get answers, see what we're posting, everything will end up on Facebook.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. And if I can add from my own Comic Con experience as a visitor, as a not as a guest, I have to find the right word. Budget your money. Say I can spare this much, and I want to, these are my top priorities.
SPEAKER_03:Yep. And then we we will have ATM machines. I just talked to the folks at the ATM today. They'll have four ATM machines out there locked and loaded, and they will keep them loaded throughout the whole con. So most celebrities take, I'd have to say now it's kind of gotten to where it's about 50-50, but a lot of some 50% of the stars only take cash. And then you'll get people like me that takes credit card and cash. And then you have people that so I've actually seen some stars that are like, I only take credit cards. So unless you got which I don't know why, but I mean, I have seen a few. So just come prepared, bring lots of cash, you know, bring your credit cards. This is a once-in-a-lifetime event. It's gonna be very fun. And listen, Five Nights at Freddy's debuts the night before on Friday. We have a lot of stars from Five Nights at Freddy's from one and two. And uh they're all gonna be there. We've got Creek Wilson will be there, my buddy Creek. He was the Mariner Ghost. Well, you know Creek. Yeah, yeah. He's yeah, yeah, he's uh he's gonna be there. He was the mariner ghost in you know the haunted mansion as well. And Mr. Slam. Yeah, oh my god. Yeah, and he and he I had to you don't know what it took for me to get him not to to bring, you know, to show samples of him and the uh watermelon. I was gonna say, because he signs watermelon, so that's not coming. Yeah, yeah. You know, the water yeah, well, the samples of the watermelon are coming. I just told him you can't bring a real watermelon and demonstrate. It just is not gonna fly at the con. Yeah. You know? Yeah, that's again frowned upon. Yes, it is frowned upon. So of course. I am well, I am a bit uh jealous. But anyway, and then uh we're next year. Yes.
SPEAKER_02:For next year, give him his own private room.
SPEAKER_03:Yes, well, we could have a watermelon cutting contest. This would go over big.
SPEAKER_02:Compare and contrast with Mr.
SPEAKER_03:Slam, and we'll leave it with that. Exactly. And then, of course, we do have a cosplay contest. The Turtles, hey, Partners in Crime is going to be performing at the event. And, you know, they were the they did the soundtrack of the Teenage Mute Ninja Turtles, the real movie. He'll be performing the song, the theme songs from uh from the Turtles. And then, of course, we've got the Turtles in costume, the real ones from the movies like. And so it'll be a fun time. Kids are gonna love it. But they'll put on two shows. Uh, we got the Sanderson Sisters from Texas. Uh, they do an amazing cosplay deal of the uh Sanderson Sisters, and uh they'll be performing. We got a few other people performing on the stage. It's not a big stage, but uh that'll be going on in the cosplay contest, I think is at four on Sunday with uh uh nice trophies and everything. So if you're gonna enter that, we will have a booth where you can go sign up for the cosplay.
SPEAKER_02:And as they say, cosplay is not consent. Exactly. You know, be respectful of them. Just if someone's dressed scantily, that doesn't give you permission for anything. Ask to take a picture with them. Yeah, and they usually will.
SPEAKER_03:Absolutely. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02:Whether that's guests or visitors. Yes. Just regular people. Because when you dress up, you want to take that picture with somebody.
SPEAKER_03:Yep. Yep. You just always come first. Yep. All right, guys, I'm looking forward to seeing y'all.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, likewise.
SPEAKER_03:I'm off to save the wizard.
SPEAKER_04:Well, thanks, uh, Scott. Thank you so much for joining us.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and a couple things. Do y'all come see us? So we'll be again at Three Alarm Comics this weekend, um, right there in Biloxi. They've been there forever. Scotty owns it over there, and uh Kat Cressida will be there. You can get an early visit with her. Uh, and of course, I'll have all the new Scooby-Doo Funko Pops and uh old pops and new pops and trinkets and movies and t-shirts and whatnot. It'll be a fun time. Uh come spend a little time with us. And oh, and by the way, anybody that shows up at File Three Alarm Comics is gonna get a free family four-pack of the golden tickets. So we will pass those out to you uh for free, obviously. We're gonna give people a chance to register to win uh a pair of Cajun Con FastPasses while we're there. So uh yeah, come see us and then uh we'll see you in a couple of weeks at Cajun Con. CajunConLA.com. Download the free ticket. Good night, folks.
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