Interview: Rob Benedict Talks Favorite ‘Kings of Con’ Moment, Season 2 & More! [EXCLUSIVE]

Briar
11 Min Read
Courtesy of Monica D Photography

We just completed a huge series on Kings of Con featuring an introduction to the series, our staff’s favorite moments, fans’ favorite moments, and favorite moments from the cast and crew of the show. Now, we have the big finale!

We were so lucky to be able to get an interview with Rob Benedict and we couldn’t think of a better way to close out our series on it!

(Editors note: Rich was also supposed to partake in the interview but is currently busy directing Supernatural; Rob graciously decided to answer for both of them and his answers are gold!)

Read our interview with Rob below!

Nerds and Beyond: We’re doing a big article on Kings of Con and gathering what fans and other actors favorite moments were, either ones they filmed themselves, or ones they saw on the show that they weren’t in. Can you you tell us what your favorite moment was from the series?

Rob Benedict:  It’s hard to pick a favorite moment because they were all like our children that we birthed – that was what was so rewarding about the process.  I literally sit here and try to give a few moments to you and I honestly cannot pick – it was especially thrilling to see all of our friends and great actors we know perform our words — people like Mike Cudlitz, Ron Livingston, Ike Barinholtz, Josh Meyers, Rick Gomez, Jill Benjamen, Lindsay Sloane.  And our SPN friends that breathed life to the main characters – Matt Cohen, Gil McKinney, Sebastian Roche, Kim Rhodes, Kurt Fuller, Oz Chau.  And of course Carly Nykanen and Jay Lund as Handler Beth and Photographer Kurt.  We were blessed with such an amazing cast.

Nerds and Beyond: I know you’ve mentioned a few times at various cons that you’re still looking for a home for Kings of Con and that the two of you would still love to do another season. Can we have an update with the current progress, and if there’s any hope for Season 2? 

Rob Benedict:  We can’t give details but we’re currently in talks with a potential home and it is looking very positive!

Courtesy of Monica D Photography

Nerds and Beyond: You had a lot of guest actors come on to do bits on the show, like Matt Cohen, Kim Rhodes, Osric Chau, Kurt Fuller, Josh Meyers, etc. Did you create any of the characters with them in mind? Or did the actors have any inputs on their characters?

Rob Benedict: Some of them we did create with them in mind.  Matt, Osric, Kim, Gil and Sebastian were always set in our mind. Kurt we weren’t sure if we could get but he was in the back of our mind.  Josh’s character was originally written for Tim Omundson, who was doing a movie and couldn’t be there.  I called Josh and he stepped in like a champ and totally nailed it.  But all of the characters were written and the actors stepped in and brought life to it.  There were little bits that they changed, like for example Kim was supposed to chain smoke and she had the suggestion that it was a vape which we loved.

Nerds and Beyond: From a writing standpoint, what was your favorite character in Kings of Con to write? 

Rob Benedict: I am partial to Sebastian’s character Serge.  Rich does a great impersonation of him, and I can write how he speaks. So it was fun to write out his dialogue and watch Rich give it a test drive.  Rich wrote most of Josh’s character Kent O’Grady, which was fun as well.  It was also always fun for me to write Rich and Rob’s dialogue.  I know us as “characters” so well and it was fun to create them bumbling their way through situations.

Courtesy of Monica D Photography

Nerds and Beyond: What is your favorite line you wrote for the show?

Rob Benedict: Again, really hard to pick.  I find myself saying the lines in conversation, usually with people who’ve never seen the show and they’re like, “wha—?”.  Lines like “let me be your mirror, you fucking rock”, which Rich wrote. “Shakespeare bitches!” which I wrote.  “You sticking with the flaming dildo bit?” “you don’t kill a classic” “cool”. which was both of us.  Really our writing is very much the both of us – we make good writing partners.

Nerds and Beyond: Who came up with WWBKD? (What would Bernie Kopell do?)

Rob Benedict: We both did.  We were laughing one day that in his day Bernie was a Lothario.  We were musing that he wouldn’t be cast in that role in 2018, he’s more of an accountant type, but in the 80s, Bernie was the ladies man.  Then we looked him up and just kept riffing about it.  That man was a legend!  He knew the secret to life!  From that came What Would Bernie Kopell Do?  Then we wrote Bernie’s reps to ask permission to use his headshot and the word came back that he wanted to be in it!  We freaked out.  It was such an honor, to be actually working with THE LEGEND that is Bernie Kopell. The original playboy.

Nerds and Beyond: In some of the episodes, you can see that you’re filming at a real convention. In the next few, there are re-creations of the conventions. What were some of the pros and cons of filming at an actual event as opposed to one that was staged?

Rob Benedict: The purpose of filming at a real convention was to get the expanse of the audience and the energy.  But when you go in to film the scenes you need to be able to control the set – the volume, the angles, etc.  So that part needed to be staged.

Courtesy of Jessica Rae

Nerds and Beyond: Everyone loved the after show, Kings of Conversation. What prompted you to do an after show, what inspired some of the segments, and what was some of your favorite parts about it?

Rob Benedict: That was one of those things that Comic-Con HQ brought up and it was something that Rich and I were already talking about.  Rich had had the idea of doing a talk show with a band and his original idea was to do it for Supernatural.  He actually pitched it to the WB but they didn’t go for it.  So he had that idea mulling about.  Then CCHQ brought it up and we were like YES.  We’ve got the band. We’re your built in hosts.  We’re ready to go.   They passed it off on to a production company called Pilgrim who did a banner job putting it together.  As luck would have it Rich was out of town directing SPN so I hosted the first several eps solo.

Nerds and Beyond: What was your favorite photo op pose from Kings of Conversation?

Rob Benedict: I think you gotta go with the classic “Mommas Garden”.

Nerds and Beyond: Are there any other projects that the two of you are working on that you could share with us?

Rob Benedict: Well, Rich is directing an episode in the 14th season of SPN.  He also has an indie movie “Driven” coming out at some point soon-ish.  I too have an indie movie “30 Miles From Nowhere” coming out later this year.  And I am writing a feature film script and looking for my next acting gig!

Quickfire Questions:

Who is your favorite superhero?
Rob Benedict: Superman

Last TV show you binge-watched?
Rob Benedict: Westworld

What’s your favorite Dad joke?
Rob Benedict: What do you call a Fish with no eyes?  FSH.  (someone just told me this on my Chicago bus tour!)

Last band or artist you listened to?
Rob Benedict: Radiohead.  (that is always the answer)

We asked Rob previously and he said black/white – but Rich, what color would your lightsaber be?
Rob Benedict: I’m going to answer for him: pink polka dot

Thank you again to the wonderful Rob Benedict for doing the interview with us! We so look forward to hopefully good news on Season 2 soon!

Read our entire ‘Kings of Con’ Series: Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4 – Part 5


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By Briar
Briar is the Editor-in-Chief of Nerds and Beyond. She has been running the site since 2015 with the goal of being a unique, professional news site dedicated to all the things she loved - and providing fans with the best content available. Briar oversees the day-to-day operations and runs all of the social media. She loves all things Disney, Star Wars, Supernatural and anything tech related. You can follow her @thebriarroseee.
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