Category Archives: To Be Filed

Singer-songwriter Bunk Pickett came up with a little song about Joe Simon, Jack Kirby and their great creation, Captain America. Here's Bunk and as you can see, he's wearing a t-shirt that enshrines the worse episode of Star Trek ever…

I'm home and almost unpacked and decompressed. There is something very enjoyable about living at that pace for a few days. I couldn't do it every week but I get an odd feeling of excitement when I look at the little schedule sheet I make out for myself and see that I have a breakfast meeting at 9 AM, an interview at 10:30, a business meeting at 11, a panel at 12:30 and so on. Yesterday, I had panels at 10 AM, 11:30, 2 PM and 3 PM…and these are not grudging obligations. These are things I wanted to do. Just as today, I wanted to go home and do nothing, at least on a timetable.

The convention has changed names over the years but this one was the 47th…so it was my 47th. I haven't attended every day of every con but I've attended at least one day of all forty-seven to date. I can't tell you my favorite moment ever — maybe the time everyone chipped in dough to give Jack Kirby a surprise birthday party — but I'll tell you two from this one…

One was meeting Congressperson John Lewis, a genuine superstar of the civil rights movement in this country. He was an unannounced-in-advance presenter at the Eisner Awards…and a winner of one, as it turned out. Not long after I presented the ones I presented, he sauntered into the green room backstage where I was dining…so he was ripe for the meeting. Nothing particularly interesting was said, especially since I resisted asking him if he'd stage a sit-in to protest the cole slaw in the buffet supper. Mostly, I told him I admired him for all the same reasons everyone admires him and he grinned a tiny grin and said, "Not everyone does," which I suppose is true of anyone who accomplishes something noble in this world.

Other fave moment: Sergio's award.

Many awards are presented at the convention but the biggie is the Icon Award, which has been given out since 2006, starting with the one they gave to Frank Miller. A week or so before the con, I was contacted by David Glanzer, who among his other serious duties, is the convention's spokesperson. He told me the convention had voted to give this year's to my partner/best friend Sergio Aragonés and they wanted to present it at Quick Draw! I said, "Okay, if I can make a bit about it." We kept it an absolute secret, especially from Sergio.

If you attended Quick Draw!, here's what you saw happen. Quick Draw! is where three cartoonists — in this case, Sergio, Scott Shaw! and Keith Knight — do drawings based on challenges, some of my devising and some from the audience. In setting up the next challenge, I explained what the Icon Award was and how it had been won by the likes of Ray Bradbury and George Lucas among others. I said (approximately), "This year's winner will be announced later today so right now, let's decide who we think should get it!" The cartoonists on stage set to work drawing their nominees while I polled some folks in the audience for their suggestions.

Sergio drew his fellow MAD veteran, Al Jaffee. Scott and Keith both drew Sergio and gave nice, warm speeches about how they felt he was worthy. Sergio, as a joke, flipped over his drawing of Jaffee and on the other side, drew himself begging for the award. He, of course, had no idea what was happening next. I said, "Well, we'll find out who the winner is when it's announced later today. Now, let's start the next game!"

Just then, Peter David yelled out, "When is the announcement?" or words to that effect. I forget exactly what he said or what I'd told him to yell out. I consulted my notes and said, "Well, how about that? It's being presented here at Quick Draw!" And then I introduced David Glanzer who walked out and presented it to a very-stunned Sergio.

At times, I'm pretty good (I think) at reading the minds of an audience. When David was announced, I'd say a third of the people present realized exactly what was about to happen. When David mentioned that Keith Knight had said much of what he was going to say and then mentioned MAD, another third of those present realized who the winner was and the rest did too, but were waiting for final confirmation before celebrating.

Once it was certain, there was the biggest, happiest and longest standing ovation I have ever seen in my life. Around three thousand people — the capacity of that room is close to that — were standing and clapping and cheering and a few of them were even crying a little. Sergio's eyes looked a little moist, too.

For the rest of the con, people were stopping me and saying they'll never forget that moment. A few asked me if I'd had anything to do with my friend being chosen as the recipient. Nope. Not a thing. If it had been up to me, he would have gotten it of course but it was their good idea. I don't have ideas that good.

Comic-Con was great fun and I'll tell you why over the next few days. You didn't get as many posts during it as I might have liked because in addition to my hotel room having no place in the shower to put my Dial soap and hair stuff, the guy who picked the chair at the desk was apparently about seven feet tall. That's about how tall you'd have to be to work comfortably on a laptop at the work desk. I, being a lowly 6'3", had a little trouble. Otherwise though, it was a peachy room.

And a peachy convention. It seemed less crowded than recent cons here, a fact many attributed to the new RFID badges (embedded with a chip to verify their authenticity) largely eliminating the counterfeiting of badges. It may also have had something to do with more and more big events moved to offsite locations.

Or maybe some of us just have learned to steer clear of the more crowded aisles in that hall. Also possible. My new right knee served me well, though. Walking was much easier than last year with the old, original equipment. I never even took my emergency pain killers.

I also didn't post a lot because so much of my con was déjà vu, doing things I've done and written about in past years. In the next few days though, I'll tell you about, for example, the joy of interviewing Golden Age comic book artist (an endangered species) Allen Bellman and about surprising my partner n' best buddy Sergio Aragonés with a big award. Stuff like that will be coming your way after I'm unpacked and decompressed. Later.

The other day when I mentioned hotel showers with no place to put your soap or shampoo, I should have expected a long, informative message from my pal of many years, Joe Brancatelli. Joe knows more than any person alive about airlines and travel — as you'll see…

You asked about hotel showers. First of all, you should know that hotel bathrooms are undergoing massive changes. The old "four point" bathroom (tub, shower, vanity, toilet) is actually disappearing. People don't really bathe in hotels now so hotels are switching to shower-only arrangements. Which, of course, allows them to design fancy showers and use less space for the bathroom, too. I wrote about it here.

Now, of course, that doesn't really answer your question: Why design without shelves for things like shampoo and soap? Most places do, but, occasionally, you will find them omitted. And the answer is that no one was back-checking the designer and no one gave the designer a punch list of what they wanted in the shower. The designer will show the fixtures (i.e. handheld, rainwater heads, etc.) but the hotel owner is rarely going to be impressed by looking at the shelves. So many designers won't show them and if they aren't specifically asked for them, they may not install them. Ruins the look, don't you know…

Now I'll give you two good hotel-bath stories.

The Opposite House is a glorious hotel in Beijing, designed by one of those artsy-fartsy Japanese minimalist designers. I checked in shortly after it opened and found two anomalies: No shelves in the wood-lined shower, which was otherwise sybaritic. And the sink, also made of wood, was so shallow that even a gentle stream of water splashed up and caught your pants exactly where you wanted not to be caught.

I arranged a walkthrough with the general manager (an Aussie), who had been with the hotel from the construction stage. As we went through all the design aspects, he says "And, of course, you know all about the shower by now. We're very proud of them." When I mentioned the lack of shelving, he sheepishly admitted that the Japanese designer, in his drive for minimalism, decided they weren't needed. They back-filled by finding some lovely teak stools and had them placed in the shower so that guests could at least put things on the stool.

But when we got to the sink, I explained how they splash your pants at the most inopportune spot. The GM looked at me, disgusted, and said: "Yes, I do hear that from guests, but they're wrong."

Imagine a GM saying that. All his guests are telling him his fancy wooden sink was too shallow and soiling their slacks and his answer was only: "They're wrong."

What do you say to that?

Other interesting tale: In the late 1990s, I was in a newly opened Marriott hotel in Moscow. It was a big deal, right on what had been called Gorky Street and just a short walk from Red Square. The place was wonderful. Everyone spoke English. The staff was incredibly well trained. And you may remember the old AT&T Merlin phones that had voice mail. But one problem: The shower curtain kept collapsing in a heap. Four or five times a day. Why? The GM had ordered incredibly ornate curtains, but the bathroom designer used awful spring-tension rods that couldn't hold the weight. As he said: "Who knew you had to ask for the specs on the shower-curtain rod?" You can read that story here. Any help?

I guess. So the answer to my question as to why someone designs a hotel shower with no little shelf in it is that the people who design these things are sometimes stupid. Makes sense, I guess. That's probably the answer to most mysteries of life. Thanks, Joe.

In Jon Stewart's little rant the other night (this one) he said but CBS bleeped the word "bullshit." Paul Harris explains why CBS didn't have to bleep that word but did.

I browsed a number of right-wing websites to see the reaction to Stewart's segment and found a few who didn't seem able to fault most of what he said and some who kinda/sorta agreed. And of course, there were those who referred to him as "Jon Liebowitz" because, of course, if your mind is in a certain place, you believe the worst way you can belittle an opponent is to remind everyone that he's a Jew.

The best summary of the Republican Convention comes to us from Matt Taibbi…

We expected thousand-foot light columns, a 400-piece horn section where the delegates usually sit (they would be in cages out back with guns to their heads). Onstage, a chorus line of pageant girls in gold bikinis would be twerking furiously to a techno version of "New York, New York" while an army of Broadway dancers spent all four days building a Big Beautiful Wall that read winning, the ceremonial last brick timed to the start of Donald's acceptance speech…

But nah. What happened instead was just sad and weird, very weird. The lineup for the 2016 Republican National Convention to nominate Trump felt like a fallback list of speakers for some ancient UHF telethon, on behalf of a cause like plantar-wart research.

But read it all, especially the parts about scaring white people into believing their survival depends on the guy with no track record for anything but selling smoke with his name of it.

If you didn't see this, you should. If you did see this, you probably want to watch it again. This is what this election is all about, people…

So why does someone design the shower in a luxury hotel and make it lovely and stylish with expertly-chosen wall covering and stylish hardware and a fancy curtain and no place to put the soap or shampoo? Please, someone, help me out here…

Megan Hilty and Matthew Morrison singing bits of a few show tunes. This is from a concert with the New York Pops at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens earlier this month…

The con seemed crowded (of course) yesterday but not too crowded, at least in the aisles I roamed. I still see a lot of people who have a huge shoulder bag or a costume that involves extension or faux weaponry and are unable to grasp that their added bulk causes them to bump into others or even come close to eye injury. Most of the traffic jams on the floor seemed to be because of this, as well as the usual cosplayers who think that if someone wants to take your picture, you just stop wherever you are and pose. If people could be a little more aware of those things, it would be a lot easier to get around in that place…or in any convention.

Gotta run to a breakfast meeting so further reports will have to wait. But I'm having a great time. We have artists and writers and other creative folks and enthusiastic fans…and there's a guy working security who looks enough like Roger Ailes that the jokes just write themselves. Back later.

Last night at the Republican Convention, Chris Christie delivered a crazed indictment of Hillary Clinton and practically urged the crowd to get out the noose and string 'er up without a trial. As Fred Kaplan notes, just about everything Christie accused her of was wrong.

The other day, I reran a 2010 post about a time I lost my American Express card. Here from July 18 of that year is another such tale. I have since managed to not lose my American Express card again, though once since then someone got its number and charged a whole mess of lingerie on it at a store in Las Vegas. The AmEx folks removed the charge when I assured them that (a) I had not been in Las Vegas on the date in question, (b) I never wear lingerie and (c) when I do, it's not in that color…

Last Thursday, I went to lunch with a wonderful, witty lady named Laraine Newman who has done many things above and beyond being part of the original cast of Saturday Night Live. I mean, that alone would be enough but there's been so much more.

We talked about mutual friends and our mutual birthday and we marvelled at how though it was a hundred-and-something degrees in Beverly Hills, Sylvester Stallone was dining at a nearby table wearing an apricot-colored three-piece suit. I've just completed my end of the second season of The Garfield Show, which includes the voice-directing, and I was fortunate to get Laraine to appear several times as a guest voice. What's fortunate about this is, of course, that I don't have to do any actual directing when I get someone like that. I just hand Laraine a script, point her at a microphone and tell her to be funny. She always is.

After we'd finished our meals, the check arrived in one of those little leatherette folders. We fought over it, I triumphed and I tossed my American Express card into the folder and a waiter took it away. Laraine and I talked for another hour or so…long enough that when we got up to go, neither of us noticed that our server had not brought it back to me for tip, total and signature.

Friday morning, I took my car in for routine servicing…and this dealership always makes me nervous because they always give me a "loaner" with, like, twelve miles on it. I don't like driving someone else's utterly pristine car and not just because I fear I'll scratch it, thereby taking its automotive virginity. I'm also afraid I'll enjoy the new car so much I'll want to buy one…which I guess is why they only assign out new loaners. Anyway, when I went to give the cashier my AmEx card to imprint for the security deposit, I discovered it was in absentia. It took about a minute to figure out I'd left it in that restaurant.

I cell-phoned them and a nice lady went away for what seemed like about six hours. Eventually, she returned to report that they'd searched the restaurant, high, low and in-between and they definitely did not have my American Express card. Sorry.

I waited fifteen minutes, called again and got someone else. This person went off, did a little search and came back in about two minutes to inform me that, yes, they had my American Express card. "I'll come by and get it later," I told her.

Later that afternoon, I drove the loaner (cautiously) to the restaurant. You may be interested to know that Sylvester Stallone wasn't there but Fabio was and I had to wait while they seated him. I don't know why he's more important than I am. Of the two of us, I'm the one who has a job.

The manager searched the restaurant like the first lady I'd called but eventually, he found the card, checked my i.d. and returned it to me. He thought I would take it and go but I said, "You know, I don't think I ever added a tip to the bill and signed it." This did not win me any points for honesty. It was more like, "You really are a troublemaker, aren't you?" Off he went to plow through all of the previous day's credit card slips. I waited there so long, I was sorry I'd said anything.

Finally, he came back with a slip and announced, "It's okay. You added a tip and signed the slip."

I looked at it and told him, "That's not my signature."

He gasped, "That is not your signature?"

I said, "That's not even my name." Someone else had added a tip (not a very good one) to the bill and signed their name to it. Fortunately, the confusion was only in the bills, not in the cards, and they hadn't given him my American Express card. Anyway, I added my endorsement and left.

On the way back, I stopped at the car dealership, turned in the unblemished loaner and went to pay for the work done on my auto. I opened my wallet, reached for the American Express card…

…and it wasn't there. Gone. Missing. Again. Second time in twenty-four hours.

My distress must have been pretty visible because the cashier asked me, "Something wrong, sir?"

"My American Express card," I said. "It's supposed to be here in my wallet but it has this habit of running off on its own. Excuse me, I have to call a restaurant and —"

She asked, "Have you looked in all your pockets?" I looked in my shirt pocket and there it was, hiding behind my iPhone. And I just went downstairs and looked and it's there in my wallet right this second. I've been checking every hour or so…

Thirty-three years ago, my pal David Jablin produced the first original movie on Showtime and it was also Danny DeVito's directorial debut. It was called The Ratings Game and it was written by two very funny men, Michael Barrie and Jim Mulholland.

It's all about a New Jersey trucking magnate who dreams of becoming a Hollywood hotshot…and finds that pathway when he discovers a way to rig the ratings. Mr. DeVito also starred along with his wife Rhea Pearlman, and the film also featured a number of performers who are better known today than they were then. It was pretty funny and it's about to get its first-ever release on DVD and Blu-Ray. Included also are deleted scenes and a "making of" featurette, several shorts that Danny also directed and probably some other goodies.

You can order a copy here and if you need more motivation, give a look at this trailer…

Sergio and I drove down here to San Diego yesterday in what I suspect will be the last decent daytime traffic on the 405 until the middle of September. The biggest impediment I encountered yesterday to me getting to where I wanted to go occurred at my hotel. I checked in, unpacked and took a walk to get some supplies. When I returned, men with that officious "Secret Service" look were mobllizing to get some Big Huge Important Celebrity into a suite on the same floor.

I never found out who it was. Look and see who the biggest star is who was there last night or this morning. It was probably that person. But all these serious men in serious suits were scurrying about, whispering into small walkie-talkies, concentrating on some voice in their earpieces and eyeing everyone around them as potential threats. The threats are not only to the biggie they were assigned to protect but also to their own careers as bodyguards.

I've seen this before. They're thinking that if someone — me, for instance — were to get close enough to the B.H.I.C. to say something like, "Hey, I've always enjoyed your work," the B.H.I.C. might instantly turn to his/her protectors and yell, "YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO PROTECT ME FROM PEOPLE LIKE THIS!!!" and the bodyguard guys, having failed miserably in their assignment, would be expected to do the honorable thing and resign on the spot. If I were to go so far as to ask for an autograph, they'd wrestle me to the ground, taser me a few times and then quit in disgrace.

I recognize of course that B.H.I.C.s do sometimes face stalkers and other crazies and that they need protection. No question of that. I also recognize that a lot of this is just major league ass-kissing. The studio or someone sucks up to the star by putting on a big show of treating them like they're the most important person on the planet.

For obvious reasons, I will never be a B.H.I.C. If I were and I saw the fuss that was sometimes made on my behalf just to get me into a building, I think I'd be afraid people thought I was a large enough asshole to have demanded such treatment. I think I'd say, "Look, I'm not carrying the nuclear option codes here. You can probably get me into my hotel room with one smart assistant who knows the quickest way."

I'd definitely think that deploying a squadron of operatives in dark suits and sunglasses attracted way too much attention. Those advance men might as well have hauled out bullhorns and blared, "BIG STAR COMING IN! BIG STAR COMING IN!"

I'm reminded of a time I was in Las Vegas and a friend of mine and I were leaving an off-Strip restaurant that was known as a celebrity hangout. That's not why we went there, by the way. We went there because the food was good.

So we're standing there waiting for a cab and up come the men in dark suits, looking around every which way like they're expecting snipers. One of them commands us not to stand where we're standing. We have to stand fifty paces away — in a spot which is not where the cab we'd called would expect to find us.

My friend's name was Joelle and she asked the man, "Are you with the police?" He said no. She asked, "Do you work for the restaurant?" He said no. She asked what authority he had to order us to move. He said, as if this empowered him, "Private Security."

Just then, a gleaming black limo pulled up and the guy had to rush to attend to the man he was there to protect. It was Wayne Newton and he gave us a cheery wave and nod as he strolled past us into the restaurant. I turned to Joelle and said, "Wayne Newton was worried about being mobbed by fans?"

She said, "I've been working in this town for five years. He was probably worried that he wouldn't be."

Here are links to the schedules for programming at Comic-Con on Preview Night, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday — in that order. And more importantly, here's the list of the panels I'm hosting…

Thursday, July 21 – 3:30 PM to 4:30 PM in Room 8
THE MARK, SERGIO, STAN AND TOM SHOW
This used to be the annual "Sergio and Mark Show" but we've changed the name to note that the adventures of Groo the Wanderer are brought to you not just by the award-winning team of Sergio Aragonés and Mark Evanier but also by Stan Sakai (the creator of Usagi Yojimbo) and the hardest-working man in comics, Tom Luth. They'll be discussing the new Groo mini-series – the first issue of which is debuting at the convention – and many upcoming projects. Some feature their silly barbarian, some don't. But it's always a treat to hear these brilliant guys, especially the tall one who wrote this panel description.

Thursday, July 22 – 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM in Room 9
CAPTAIN AMERICA 75th ANNIVERSARY
Created by cartoonists Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, Captain America has been wielding his shield, donning red, white, and blue, and fighting the good fight for 75 years. From Captain America Comics #1 to Captain America: Civil War, Steve Rogers has had a pretty decent 75 years, to say the least. Come celebrate "Cap" with Jim Simon (Son of Joe Simon) and Allen Bellman (artist, Captain America) all while being interviewed and questioned by former Kirby assistant, moderator Mark Evanier (author, Kirby: King of Comics).

Friday, July 22 – 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM in Room 8
WALT KELLY AND POGO
The greatest newspaper strip of all time? Some would call you that and even if you aren't one of them, you've gotta love the wit and whimsy of Walt Kelly's magnum opus, Pogo, now receiving its first ever complete reprinting in an Eisner-winning series from Fantagraphics Books. Let's remember this great artist with comic historian Maggie Thompson (Comic Buyer's Guide), film critic Leonard Maltin, historian Michael Barrier, cartoonist Scott Shaw!, Eric Reynolds (co-editor of the Complete Pogo series) and Moderator Mark Evanier (Groo the Wanderer).

Friday, July 22 – 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM in Room 4
SPOTLIGHT ON ALLEN BELLMAN
Before there was Marvel Comics, there was Timely Comics. Artist Allen Bellman was there, and now you can not only listen to his amazing stories and the history of Timely Comics but also participate in a fantastic Q&A. A short signing will follow. I'm moderating this.

Saturday, July 23 – 11:45 AM to 1 PM in Room 6BCF
QUICK DRAW!
It's still the fastest, funniest panel in the whole convention! Once again, your Quick Draw! Quizmaster Mark Evanier pits three super-speedy cartoonists against one another as they go mano a mano and Sharpie to Sharpie to create great cartoon art right before your very eyes. Competing this year are (as usual) Sergio Aragonés (MAD Magazine, Groo the Wanderer) and Scott Shaw! (The Simpsons) and they're joined this year by Keith Knight (The K Chronicles) plus a couple of surprising surprises!

Saturday, July 23 – 1:00 PM to 2:30 PM in Room 6BCF
CARTOON VOICES I
Each year, Moderator Mark Evanier gathers together a bevy of the most talented cartoon voice actors working today and invites them to explain and demonstrate their artistry! This year's lineup includes Phil LaMarr (Samurai Jack, Futurama), Brian T. Delaney (MAD, Halo 5: Guardians), Georgie Kidder (Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Goldie and Bear), Gregg Berger (The Garfield Show, Transformers), Julianne Buescher (The Muppets, Sid the Science Kid) and Jim Meskimen (Avengers Assemble, MAD).

Saturday, July 23 – 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM in Room 5AB
THAT 70'S PANEL
It was a time of change in comics with a new generation intermingling with the old and taking command. Hear what it was like from Howard Chaykin (American Flagg, Black Kiss), Paul Gulacy (Master of Kung Fu, Sabre), Elliott S! Maggin (Superman, Green Arrow), Marv Wolfman (Tomb of Dracula, The New Teen Titans), probably one other person and Moderator Mark Evanier (Groo the Wanderer, Blackhawk).

Sunday, July 24 – 10:00 AM to 11:15 PM in Room 5AB
THE ANNUAL JACK KIRBY TRIBUTE PANEL
Each year, we set aside time to talk about Comic-Con's first superstar guest and the man they call The King of the Comics, Jack Kirby. Jack left us in 1994 but his influence on comics, film and this convention has never been greater. Discussing the man and his work this year are Kevin Eastman (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Kirby biographer Ray Wyman, Jr., Scott Dunbier, (Director of Special Projects for IDW Publishing) and attorney Paul S. Levine. Naturally, it's moderated by former Kirby assistant Mark Evanier.

Sunday, July 24 – 11:30 AM to 12:45 PM in Room 6A
CARTOON VOICES II
Yesterday's Cartoon Voices Panel will have been such a hit that we'll have to do another one with different but equally talented actors from the world of animation voicing. Once again, Moderator Mark Evanier has assembled an all-star dais that will include Dee Bradley Baker (Phineas and Ferb, Family Guy) Vicki Lewis (Rugrats, Finding Nemo), Fred Tatasciore (The Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H., Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness), Trevor Devall (Guardians of the Galaxy, Kid vs. Kat) and Debi Derryberry (Monster High, F is for Family) and maybe someone else.

Sunday, July 24 – 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM in Room 25ABC
COVER STORY: THE ART OF THE COVER
What does it take to make a great cover for a comic book? Let's ask four of the top artists…all folks who've created some of the best. Come hear the "shop talk" of Jonathan Case (Batman '66, The New Deal), Howard Chaykin (American Flagg, Black Kiss), Babs Tarr (Batgirl, Sailor Moon), Paul Gulacy (Sabre, Master of Kung Fu) and Scott Shaw! (Captain Carrot, The Simpsons). Moderated by Mark Evanier.

Sunday, July 24 – 3:00 PM to 4:30 PM in Room 25ABC
THE BUSINESS OF CARTOON VOICES
Interested in a career doing voices for animation and videogames? There are plenty of people around who'll take your money and tell you how to go about it…but here's 90 minutes of absolutely free advice from folks who work in the field. Come hear cartoon voice actors Dee Bradley Baker and Debi Derryberry, talent agent Paul Doherty (Cunningham-Escott-Slevin-Doherty) and your moderator, voice director Mark Evanier (The Garfield Show).

As always: Times, room assignments and panel participants are subject to change. Get to the rooms early because many of them "sell out." (A lot of folks check to see if there are seats available in the panel that's in the room before the one they want to see. If there are, they go in and squat.)