Karaoke and Q&A with Buffy's Xander

Time to break into the Snoopy dance—Xander’s coming to town to sing with you! Well, actually Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Nicholas Brendon is lurking around Puddletown for the Portland Comic Con this weekend (here are his appearances), but the folks at Things from Another World and FanGeek are doing a meet and greet, complete with full-blown karaoke stylings. Sure, it’s going to cost you some bread, but when will you have another chance to duet with the heart and soul of your favorite TV show?

So a few pro tips are in order for this outing:

(1) Do not squee directly into Nicholas Brendon’s face. It’s a rude person indeed who does not keep their squees to themselves (as loud and frantic inner monologues).

(2) Maybe don’t request that he sing a song from the Buffy musical episode “Once More, with Feeling.” That’s been done, my child. I’d go with Woody Guthrie’s “My Yellow Crayon.”

(3) If you’re going to timidly ask him to duet with you, definitely pick a song that he knows.

(4) Keep cool, comrade. This cool:

I got a chance to ask Brendon a few questions via email. I tried to keep cool, but... shrug, pro tips are hard to follow. Hit the jump for the Q&A, and here are the deets about singing off-key with Buffy’s bestie.



Karaoke meet ’n’ greet with Nicholas Brendon, location revealed once you buy a ticket (but I suspect it’s at the new location of a popular karaoke joint in town), Sat Jan 25, 7 pm, $75, tix

MERCURY: It looks like you do karaoke meet and greets fairly frequently. What’s the appeal for you?

NICHOLAS BRENDON: It’s an activity. When we first started doing these meet and greets, they were dinners. I’d move from table to table, and it was just really hard to talk to people. With karaoke, it’s fun! People get up, they sing, I sing, I dance, we end the night with some Queen or Rocky Horror Picture Show. Everyone’s happy.

What’s your karaoke jam?

It’s really more about how I feel in the moment. I’ve done a lot of Barry Manilow at these meet and greets, and Billy Joel, but there’s also been Wall of Voodoo, Radiohead… it really depends!

How does the event work? Do you sing every song and fans join you on stage?

I’ll usually do two or three solos, and duet with fans who ask.

I feel like everyone is working on new karaoke songs to add to their repertoire. Do you have any in the hopper?

Maybe some Alicia Keys? If anyone has any suggestions, tweet me @NicholasBrendon!



Any songs you hate doing?

You know, I discovered there’s a limit to my range. Barbra Streisand is not in that range.

Your singing in the Buffy episode “Once More, with Feeling” has always been a fan favorite. You probably get 1,000 requests do karaoke of “I'll Never Tell.” Do you limit the song to once a meet and greet?

Never. I’ve sang it two or three times at the same meet and greet before. How could I pick who gets to sing it and who doesn’t?



What was your favorite Buffy moment?

It would have to be the musical; I usually say you have to set that one aside, though, because it was just so magical. If you set the musical aside, probably “Hush.” I also really enjoyed playing Renfield in “Buffy vs. Dracula.”

I hear you’re working on the Buffy Dark Horse comics for Season 10. How’s that going? What does it entail?

I am. They have me working with Christos Gage. He’s great.

What are you working on lately? Any projects you’d like to talk about?

I’m in the 200th episode of Criminal Minds. I also have a few movies coming out this year, including Coherence, which won awards at some film festivals last year. And there’s the Buffy comics, of course!