Every year, I recommend all the events I'm involved in at Comic-Con but there's always one I want to super-recommend and underscore. This year, it's the first-ever appearance at any convention of the great Stan Freberg, accompanied by his superb spouse/partner, Hunter Freberg. I've gushed over Stan elsewhere on this site for years so I'll show a little restraint here. If there's such a thing as a Comic Genius, it's this guy.
He started as a cartoon voice actor and was heard in many a Warner Brothers cartoon…usually unbilled, thanks to Mel Blanc's contract. He was in movies like Lady and the Tramp, and he and Daws Butler were the first Beany and Cecil on the original Time for Beany puppet show. If he'd stopped there, he'd still be a fascinating guy…but Freberg was just getting started.
He began making funny records. There's been a handful of best-selling comedy records and Stan was responsible for about half of them. What's more, his have endured. They're still funny and most are still, in some form, in print. He also starred in the last real network comedy radio show in the classic tradition. Again, if he'd stopped there…
Then it was into advertising. In agencies, he became an adjective. Sponsors would say, "I want a Freberg campaign." That didn't necessarily mean hiring him, though many did. It meant any campaign that was outrageously funny and very, very smart. Or the star of a show would say, "I don't want any Freberg commercials during my show." That meant, "I don't want the ads to be funnier than the show."
The man's had other jobs: Author. Actor. More cartoon voices. Lecturer. But you get the idea. This is a very special guy and obviously, one of my personal heroes. And he and Hunter are coming to the convention.
So you want to do two things. You want to attend "Two Funny Frebergs" a spotlight panel on Friday at 3:30 in Room 6A. I'm going to introduce them and get out of the way so you can hear them talk and show some examples of Stan's fine work.
And then at some point during the con, preferably before that, you want to get over to Table AA-01 in Artist's Alley. That's where Stan and Hunter will be hanging out for much of the four days and you can purchase CDs and photos and get his signature on them. If you miss this chance to meet the man and get an autographed something, you'll regret it…because he doesn't do this often. Like, never before.
People attend these conventions for all different reasons but a biggie is the chance to meet a legend…to get a souvenir and/or to tell them how much their work has meant to you. If you're at all a fan o' Freberg, don't miss this opportunity.