NYCC 2017: ‘Robot Chicken’ Panel Live Recap

The Robot Chicken panel at New York Comic Con turned its focus to the forthcoming Walking Dead special, Look Who’s Walking Now, and Season Nine.

Tom Shephard, Tom Root, Macaulay Culkin, Clare Grant, Breckin Meyer, Matt Senreich, and Seth Green came up to the stage with moderator Keith Crofford.

They spoke about the genesis of the Walking Dead special, with Green re-enacting a dinner between Matt Senreich and Robert Kirkman, the creator of the Walking Dead. The two have long been friends, and when Kirkman asked about the second DC Comics special, he told them to do a Walking Dead special. And it happened just like that.

Seth Green and Breckin Meyer spoke about having a “Rick-off.” Because they didn’t know if they’d be able to get Andrew Lincoln or the other actors for the show, Green and Meyer tried to out-do each other with their own impressions of the leader. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to record as the character because Lincoln got involved.

They played a clip featuring Michael Rooker as Merle, having a musical number after Rick handcuffed him on the rooftop in Season One.

Questions and Answers

They revealed they got a lot of people to appear on the show, including Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Stephen Yeun, and Daniel Radcliffe (who is “a wizard at singing”).

The Fan Q&A opened up with a question about whether there was something they weren’t allowed to do. They said there is a skit with Fonzy from Happy Days and Lucille the bat they weren’t allowed to do, but that evolved into a funnier skit.

Asked if they would do a WWE special or a Disney special, they said they were totally open to it. They’ve had discussions with WWE brass, but they think it’s unlikely for a Disney special. 

They spoke about how they create new characters, and how those characters last. They try to come up with new ones by seeing what would make people laugh. But they also respond to the audience, citing Katee Sackhoff and “Bitch Pudding.”

More Q&A

They joked about doing a Game of Thrones special, saying they weren’t big enough to be able to do it.

Asked how they get the rights to feature all of the properties they do, Green said they’re allowed because of Free Speech and parody protections. But when they do full-on specials, they get together with the license holders.

Green revealed there is a Talking Dead bit in the special with Seth Green voicing host Chris Hardwick. 

Asked if they considered doing a skit featuring Superman vs Goku, Green went more into the legalise behind their decisions, saying it takes more justification for them to combine intellectual properties. 

The panel ended with the annual sexy photo, complete with Macaulay Culkin ripping his shirt off, followed by another clip from the Walking Dead special. Look Who’s Walking Now airs Sunday evening on Adult Swim.