Carrie Fisher Panel
Events
Carrie Fisher’s panel was a last-minute addition to the panel schedule on Saturday. It was only scheduled for half an hour, which means after all the people sat down we had about 20 minutes with Fisher on stage. Once on stage, Fisher requested a Coca-cola from the audience, it seemed like a joke until someone rushed to the stage, can in hand. Fisher is the kind of Coke drinker when you ask if Pepsi is okay, will look disappointed and request something else. The first person to bring a can to the stage learned this the hard way, but there was a savior in the audience. He ran up with a can of the good stuff and earned a sweet kiss from Fisher, which naturally got a huge roar from the audience. Once Fisher got settled, she talked a bit about how her mother enrolled her in a chorus group and that’s how her career started. She didn’t get far into her story before her dog, Gary, was brought on stage, which was another distraction—an adorable distraction, but it cut into her stage time even more. The only other question the moderator got in was whether she had any idea how huge Star Wars was going to be—the most stereotypical question that always has the same answer: “No, we didn’t know what a hit it was going to be,” said Fisher. She was at least hilarious for the short time we had her, but the time spent in line for a 15 minute panel was a bit of a wash.