 We at A-to-J Connections have been trying to expand our horizons when it comes to our interviews at events and conventions, and this one is quite a bit different than the ones we usually do. No stranger to conventions, Lemar "The Con Guy" Harris has hosted several interactive panels at conventions across the country, and can often be found at karaoke and comedy events. He's graced the legendary stage at the World Famous Comedy Store, and has been featured at conventions like Kawaii Kon, Level Up Expo, Anime Expo, and Anime Los Angeles. He's also taken part in several TTRPG streams including The Imitative Order, New Age Geeks, Creators Assemble, Open Circuit Studios, Guild Superior, FaeWildnOut, and many more. We caught up to him at Anime Los Angeles recently, and we discussed his start in the convention scene, his TTRPG history, and some of his thoughts regarding playing versus DMing. This is an interview you don't want to miss, so read on and be sure to check out his social media via the links at the end! A-to-J: Thank you for the interview! Can you please give us an introduction and tell us a little about yourself? Lemar: Yes. [Irish accent] Top o’ the morning to you, lads! [Normal accent] My name is Lemar Harris AKA Lemar the Con Guy, “L-E-M-A-R The Con Guy”. You can find me on all social medias made before 2023 as LemarTheConGuy. Anything after that, I don’t care. I wanna care but I can’t because I’m tired. A-to-J: We’ll keep that in mind. Thank you. As you said, you’re known as Lemar the Con Guy. How did you get started doing cons and panels? Lemar: It’s a hilarious story. My very first convention, at least in California, was in 2016. I went to Anime Expo because my friends tricked me into going. What happened was that they have a comedy competition called the Late Comedy Showdown. I accidentally joined, and I accidentally won. From there I made friends, and they said: “Go to Anime Los Angeles.” So, I went to Anime Los Angeles, and the first day I saw someone getting pulled out by a stretcher from the Rachetson. [Transcriber’s Note: This was apparently a nickname for the then-Radisson hotel rented out by Anime Los Angeles for congoers to stay and party at all hours.] But from there, what happened was I then took a class about how to do panels from a guy named Victor Frost. I won that class, and next year I was able to do more panels, and I just kinda snowballed from there. I think the greatest number of panels I’ve ever done was 18 in 2019 for ALA. A-to-J: Wow! That’s a lot of panels. Lemar: It was a few. A-to-J: [Laughs] Do you have any advice for someone who wants to get into doing panels at conventions? Lemar: Yeah, if you want to do something for panels for conventions and stuff like that, here’s my greatest advice: 1. Do a panel on something you have some form of passion about. Most of my panels are on karaoke and comedy and stuff like that. Just make a panel about something and just be passionate about it. 2. Try and tailor it, kind of like for the theme of the convention. Not just sports or isekai, but if it’s an anime convention, make it about anime or Japanese, comic book stuff like that. 3. Be professional. That’s the last thing a lot of people forget. When you do a panel, you are presenting something for a con which is a company, and they want to make sure what you do is of quality and not going to make people feel bad. So always stay professional. Be on time. Ask the right questions. Be grateful and humble because everyone here is mostly volunteers, right? So, that’s the thing. A-to-J: I actually volunteer at a lot of conventions. I can definitely say that being professional is important. Lemar: Yeah, be nice to the volunteers, dude. They’re here because they have a passion. First thing, if you’re treating people who work for you like shit, you’re a bad person. Don’t treat the volunteers who are also twelve hours sleep deprived like shit because your badge didn’t get here fast enough, or you couldn’t touch the one cosplayer that said: “Please don’t touch me.” You’re an asshole! Be nice to volunteers! A-to-J: Yeah, it’s just a simple thing. Lemar: Yeah. A-to-J: Going off all the kinds of panels you do, what’s your favorite type of panel to run, and what kind of energy do you bring to your panels? Lemar: My bread and butter for panels, the ones I love the most, are interactive panels. Something where the audience or other people get to do something. Rather, they’re building it or singing or acting or performing or actively learning something other than the history of stuff. I really enjoy those the most so for all the panels I do, I like to have some sort of interactive stuff. Like I do one panel on karaoke which I have people do a little bit of singing so they can figure out what their vocal range is. And then we play music, we move around, we stretch around stuff like that. There’s a place for interview and talking head panels and stuff like that, but I bet people like to break it up and physically do something while they’re here. A-to-J: Yeah, I understand. My favorite kinds of panels are game shows. Like, you do Family Feud, and I do Um, Anime & Anime Connect. Lemar: Oh, yeah. I love my game shows because they’re always randomly wild. A-to-J: Yeah. Actually, you bring a very great energy as host from what I’ve seen of Family Feud [at San Diego Anime Con]. In addition to cons, you’ve done a lot of Tabletop RPG (TTRPG) adjacent work. If you were a TTRPG character, what kind of stats would you have? Lemar: [Slaps table and picks up his phone] Give me one second. I know this is not planned in the interview but I actually did this to myself a few days ago. I actually have myself in DNDBeyond. Give me a second. Hold on. Because I was looking at myself and I was like: “Okay, Lemar. What would you be if you were a legit D&D character?” A-to-J: [Laughs] Lemar: “With the respect of, you’re a human and you’re a superpower." Okay.
A-to-J: Could you send us that afterwards please? [Transcriber's Note: Can be viewed above & on-screen the video version!] I was like: “Okay. I’m going to make the stats for this as he’s saying them and edit them in but oh, he’s already done it for me.” Thank you! Lemar: I’ve already done it. I got my Saving Throws. Did I set my spells? I think I set my spells? Guidance, Spare the Dying? I gotta make myself a Bard. I don’t know why I have Command and Cure Wounds. I can’t heal shit. I dropped out of Boy Scouts. I have one badge and it says: “You showed up.” A-to-J: So you can’t be a Ranger either? Lemar: [Laughs] No! I hate nature. I work with computers for a living. Don’t put me outside. I’ll die immediately. [One minute of laughter later] A-to-J: Obviously, there are a lot of big RPGs like your D&Ds, Pathfinders and Worlds of Darkness. Are there any smaller or lesser-known RPGs that you like to play? Lemar: Oh my god. Yeah. Actually, this weekend, I’m on an actual play for a TTRPG called Fabula Ultima... Fab... Fabu... Fabula Ultima? Yes, that's it. A-to-J: The JRPG [Japanese Roleplaying Game] inspired one? Lemar: It is a JRPG-inspired RPG that is... The people who make it are going to be mad I say this, but it is Cortex-adjacent [Referring to the Cortex family of TTRPGs] where you use a plethora of dice not just your D20s [twenty-sided dice] primarily for your different stats, and try to beat a number and stuff like that. That’s a lot of fun, and then, I can’t think of ‘em, but I’m really starting to enjoy one-pager TTRPGs. There’s one Reindeer Games or something like that... A-to-J: Oh, the Christmas one? Lemar: Yeah! A-to-J: I’ve been trying to run that for a while. Lemar: And there’s one more I have to mention because I love this idea so much. It’s still in beta. It’s not out yet, but there’s a TTRPG called Jukebox and it is a karaoke-based DM-less TTRPG where basically you and four friends make a musical live based on songs you’re singing, and the success and failures is based on pulling cards from a deck. It is the greatest thing I’ve ever heard of. I have been playing it by myself. I’ve been waiting for four of my friends to be nerdy enough to do this shit for me but that’s what I’ve really been looking into and stuff like that. Because, I met the creator at a different con about it. Karaoke TTRPG? Yeah, give it to me! This is mine. This is mine now! And so, that’s another one I’ve been looking into. Yeah, World of Darkness, D&D that’s [sic] the big ones that everyone’s playing. A-to-J: You DM as well as play, correct? Lemar: I also Dungeon Master as well as play. I’ve been doing that for a while now. A-to-J: What are some of the differences you’ve encountered especially on your end? Because, I’m sure you play very differently than you DM. Lemar: Yes. So, DMing vs Playing. When you’re a player, you’re a brat. You’re just a big brat and you say: “I wanna do this!” and your Dungeon Master saysL “You can’t do this!” and you go: “But, I wanna roll for it!” and then the dice decides who really does it. And also, it’s a pure enjoyment. Being a player is so much fun because you can sit back and you can enjoy, and you can watch it play out and stuff like that, and you are going with no expectations except for what’s in front of you. As a Dungeon Master, you are a tough sub really because they’re telling you everything you’re supposed to do. Dungeon Masters always have plans that will never happen, right? So when I’m Dungeon Mastering, I know what’s supposed to start [things], what’s supposed to happen in the middle, and how I’m supposed to get to the end. When I first started, I was like: “Oh, they’re going to do this. Then, they’re going to do that. They’re going to do this. Then, they’re going to do that.” And my players go: “Go fuck yourself! I’m not gonna do any of that!” and I have to figure out how to get there. So, you really have to be good with improv and stuff like that, but with DMing, your fun, it’s edging, right? With players, your fun is a long stretch out because everything is new for you. As a Dungeon Master, you know what’s supposed to happen, but you’re waiting for all the things to line up perfectly to get to that big explosion moment, and that’s what we live for. The time-to-time is still fun, you’re [improvising] and stuff like that but, you’re really just trying to keep a sinking ship afloat until you can blow the ship up. A-to-J: [J.D.] Yeah, I DM for our channel’s campaign right now. You’re perfectly describing how Manuel and some of the other ones play. I don’t mean to get too much into self-promotion but in our most recent episode [Manuel] and one of the other players were basically plotting to kill two NPCs’ parents just so they could take over. A-to-J: [Manuel] It sounds funny out of context, but yeah. Lemar: Out of context? In context, it makes sense? A-to-J: [Manuel] It’s funny because it leads me to the next question perfectly. I’ll admit I’m that player sometimes. You know, THAT Player, and I’m sure you’ve experienced THAT Player in your own campaigns. Everyone has THAT Player if you’ve DMed. You have any horror stories of things like that that have happened to you? Lemar: Oh god! Well, here’s the thing. I like causing emotional damage. Let me think about it because there’s a lot of... Ooooh! [slams hands on table] So I made a campaign, which I’m still writing out so other people can play called The Dice is Right in which I made basically a game master dungeon, right? So, you play different games and stuff like that. We had one player that was like the Shadowheart [a companion from the video game Baldur’s Gate III]. “Me! I’m the special character. It’s all about me!” It was driving me crazy because they would go on these five-minute monologues that had nothing to do with what was going on. I was like: “Okay,” and I let them do it for like two episodes, and at some point I was like: “Here’s the next game: You have five words to accomplish what you want to do. If you go over five words, you will take 1d6 [one roll of a six-sided die] damage for every word above what you did.” [Everyone Laughs] Lemar: And so it was great because I had a quiet person at the table who was apprehensive, having fun, but apprehensive, and they had to do stuff. And the one who would not shut the [pops lip] up almost died because they could not not monologue. That’s what I did. You just gotta... You gotta... The hard thing is to make sure that everyone at the table is having fun, but also make sure you just snip them in the bud a little bit, and then keep them going. If you’re having a problem with a player, kill ‘em. Kill ‘em. Kill them with their own actions, right? Just like I did. If you won’t stop talking, I’ll do something to make you stop talking. [Laughter] A-to-J: Sorry. It was that and you talked about having to plan for player shenanigans which is my other campaign that I run not for A-to-J. Sometimes, I have plans but recently, it’s just been: Here’s the setup. Here’s how it’s probably going to end. Player shenanigans somewhere in the middle. Lemar: So many people get worried about DMing because they put DMs on a pedestal which we belong there, but still, the hardest thing is if you’re nervous about improv or “saying something wrong”. Because that’s the thing that a lot of new players and DMs get is that there is technically nothing that is wrong in the world. Even in established lore and stuff like that in Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder, where we have things like Kingmaker [a Pathfinder adventure path that was also turned into a video game] and the Feywilds. You can still say: “I’m from Cleveland.” No one’s going to say you’re wrong. I used a Luxodon [elephant person] in the Feywilds. Do they belong there? No, but I still did that. Once you’ve realized that there’s no such thing as something intrinsically wrong with your character, or as a Dungeon Master, you are lore. The Dungeon Master is the lore. I don’t care what happens. It's actually not in the book. We used to say this all the time but one of the first rules of D&D is that this book is a guide. It’s not in there but it’s true. You can technically play any TTRPG and say: “Fuck the rules!” as long as you all agree to what is happening there. As long as everyone’s having fun, and says what your words are, that’s fine. So you are canon. A-to-J: I think that’s a great way to look at that. Making sure that the rules don’t get in the way of the fun and the story. Lemar: With that said, I do wanna say I loved the new Dungeon & Dragons movie [Honor Among Thieves], but as a Rules Lawyer, it drove me in-fucking-sane. I have no idea what level that Druid [Doric] is, but it’s not any level that should be in this game. How many Wild Shapes did you do in five minutes? You can fly, swim, and crawl? Okay. That’s a level 12 Druid here. I don’t know why you’re having difficulty doing anything. You’re an owlbear? Okay. You’re full of shit. [Transcriber’s Note: Going by her official character sheet, she’s probably level 16 with a special form of Wild Shape called Change Shape that allows her to transform into an owlbear in addition to the normal forms five times per day rather than the usual two.] A-to-J: It’s just a reflavored bear. Lemar: Baldur’s Gate [III] really reformed my idea of owlbears, because I’m playing a Druid in Baldur’s Gate right now and I’m trying to make a bear group right now. So, it’s me, Halsin, my Druid is three points in Ranger so I have a bear companion, and he also turns into a bear so there’s four bears [Laughter] in the party just walking around, and Shadowheart to keep us alive. A-to-J: I’m just imagining the Sir Barrington story about that bear with really high Deception and the one guy who saw through it. Lemar: I saw a TikTok of a guy who was like: “I’m down. Oh, you fall out of Wild Shape? No, I’m just a bear. What? Yeah, I’m just a bear. You’ve just been following us as a bear this whole time? Yeah.” [Laughter] That’s amazing. A-to-J: Well, circling back since we’re going to wrap up in a second, back to panels and conventions and what not, out of curiosity is there any panel that you have not done that you hope to do one day? Like, as panelists, I think we all have those panels on the backburner. Lemar: Oh god! Yeah, I’m going through my rolodex of panels. Because, what I’m trying to do... What I want to do is more panels. My goal is: I want to do a track of panels, right? So, I have two panels about karaoke. One’s about the history, one’s vocal performance, and I want to do one that’s like actual physical performances at some point. But what I’m really trying to do is make guests at these cons do Hollywood Squares or Family Feud. I’m trying to do that stuff, and what else do I have? It’s all game shows right now. Oh, I want to do a lip-syncing competition at some point. But yeah, that’s what I’m trying to do. Everything else has kinda came true. I can’t believe I got Make Weebs Laugh. It’s a “Try Not to Laugh” challenge. That’s all it is. It’s one of the better panels I do at this con. It’s always fuckin’ full room of people just trying to make people laugh and it’s hilarious. A-to-J: What are some of your plans after ALA? What else you got lined up? Lemar: So, after ALA, I have a bit of a lull actually. The next one I’m slated to do is... I’m running karaoke and doing some comedy at a convention called TsumiCon in Vegas, and then I might return to Las Vegas for Lvl Up Expo to do comedy, and I’m desperately trying to get them to allow me to do karaoke for them. Other than that, this year I’m trying to slow down. I did 13 cons last year, some of them out of state, and I need to calm the fuck down. [Laughs] ‘Cuz I’m tired. But, those are the ones slated so far, and if you want to see everything I’m doing, follow me @LemarTheConGuy on Instagram, Twitch, Twitter, Bluesky, Hive... Uhh... TikTok, Facebook [Looks at his hands and gestures exasperatedly] A-to-J: Anywhere! Closing words, last closing message. Lemar: Last closing message: Whatever you do in life, you have about 75 years, only about 65 of them as your own mobile life, so do some shit and have fun, and if someone tells you: “You can’t do it!” Fuck ‘em! A-to-J: [Laughs] That’s very good advice. Thank you so much for the interview. Lemar: Hell yeah! We'd like to thank Lemar Harris for the interview and we strongly encourage everyone to check him out via the link below. As always, keep an eye out for more from Lemar in the future! Also, special thanks to Anime Los Angeles for this opportunity! For More Information on Lemar Harris: https://linktr.ee/LemarTheConGuy The above interview was conducted by Jeffery Kelly and Manuel Figueroa. Video, transcription, and editing by Jeffery Kelly. |
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