This was my first Supanova expo (as it was the first Melbourne Supanova) however I have been to other pop culture expos and I went in to this one expecting to be significantly entertained and I wasn’t disappointed. Though how much enjoyment you will get out of the Supanova expo would depend on your interests. My interests were of course in the realm of film and television and due to the fact I was only able to attend one day (Sunday 30th March), the JB Hi-Fi Seminar room was were I spent most of my day. Here is the first Q&A presentation I attended.

Michael Winslow: Comedian in Space

My first Celebrity Q&A of the day was by far the most entertaining. This isn’t surprising when the star is a man with a million voices. Michael Winslow is an actor and comedian who struck stardom when he was cast as Cadet Larvelle Jones in the Police Academy movies, a character (Winslow explained) was created specifically for him after the producers saw him opening for a local jazz musician.

Michael went through the Q&A with an upbeat energy and an obvious love for what he does, even to the extent of voicing the sound effects for everyone from the guy passing the microphone around to people going to the toilet. When asked if he ever gets sick of doing voices or sound effects for people who recognise him on the street, he explained that he loves his job and he knows that if it wasn’t for the people who enjoyed his work then he would be out of a job. He also mentioned that he is always eager to do his sounds and voices as it takes years of practice, trial and error to learn any skill, not just his. This went on to be his main theme in the Q&A, as he continually encouraged people to “do, because we learn by doing”.

Over the Q&A I learnt a few titbits about Michael Winslow, like for example he honed his skills by muting the TV and just doing as many voices and sound effects as he could for the show. And after all these years he still admits he has much to learn, even to the extent that unlike some impressionists he will not even attempt an impersonation live unless he knows he can do it to a certain quality. When asked to do a Christopher Walken impersonation he said he will leave that up to the people who have perfected it. Like Kevin Spacey, Kevin Pollak, and Christopher Walken.

The other fun titbit I learnt was that Michael Winslow voiced Michael J. Fox’s shoes in Back to the Future Part III. More specifically in the scene where a gunman forces him to dance by shooting the ground near him and he proceeds to dance and moonwalk. Apparently it was cheaper and quicker to get Michael to just voice the sound of scuffling feet than to get a professional sound mixer to time rubbing shoes on soil in the right timing.

Michael’s big performance of the Q&A was a fantastic demonstration of his sound making skills as he proceeded to voice all the sound effects in a scene from Star Wars. Everything from the ships flying past, lasers, computer consoles, explosions and wookies, he did it all live on stage while the clip played on a projector. It was so impressive I thought nothing could beat that, but I had of course forgotten about his legendary Jimmy Hendrix impression, with which he finished off a great presentation with.

Supanova will next be hitting Brisbane on the 4th – 6th of April, and Sydney on the 20th – 22nd of June. Michael Winslow will be at both events so be sure to check him out. While your at it don’t forget to check out his official site at www.michaelwinslow.net. I also highly recomned his dvds Michael Winslow Live!, Michael Winslow: Comedy Sound Slapdown!, and the Police Acadamy movies.