Oh my glob! Jeremy Shada is in town as a special guest in the AsiaPOP Comicon Manila 2015 happening this weekend.
The teen actor is best known for being the fun, high-energy voice of Finn the Human in Pendleton Ward's highly-acclaimed animated television series 'Adventure Time,' which has gained a cult following from kids of all ages, all around the world. Cartoon Network's multi-award-winning global hit set in the Land of Ooo follows many crazy, silly, and magical adventures of a human boy and his dog best friend Jake.
Jeremy is also in Manila along with his pop punk band Make Out Monday, where he does vocals and bass (he is also joined by his brother Zack Shada and friends Seth Renken, John Spicer, and Logan Charles). Both Jeremy and his band have scheduled autograph signing sessions and photo-ops this weekend at the AsiaPOP Comicon Manila, and Make Out Monday has performances scheduled on both Saturday and Sunday evening.
Know more about the human behind Finn The Human in this exclusive interview with Jeremy Shada:
Question: We were talking earlier about how we know people both young and old that are just so in love with Adventure Time… Kids from 9 to 90! What do you think is the show's appeal, why does it have so much fans from all age groups?
Jeremy Shada: Yeah. Actually, there's a lot of reasons. One, the animation and the art style is just so colorful and vibrant, that even the little kids that might not really understand what's going on exactly, just by looking at it, it's really pretty to look at. Other than that, the humor applies to literally anyone, it's really funny. The older ones, anyone in the family, the reason why anyone would watch it–is that there is humor that's kind of over the head, and there's themes and storylines that are actually really meaningful and serious as well. There's a lot in there for everyone. And you know, there's probably reasons that we have a pretty big college-age audience… [laughs]
Yeah. There are a lot of stories and plot lines that are pretty crazy or just silly, and there's some heartwarming stuff, too.
Yeah, I know! There is.
Like when Jake becomes a dad? I really liked that.
Yeah! Exactly, that one's super cool.
What have been your favorite storylines in the series so far?
I actually love when Jake became a dad, that one's pretty funny. I also like all the stuff with Finn and Flame Princess–that whole storyline was awesome. I loved that. And then also, the stuff where Finn loses his arm–I really loved that and him going through episodes where he literally just only had one arm. It's crazy stuff like that, how we're actually able to do that and other crazy story arcs. I love that.
How about favorite characters, aside from your own?
Besides Finn? I'd say either Ice King or Lumpy Space Princess. Yeah, LSP. 'Oh my glob!'
Is it true that there's an Adventure Time movie in the works?
Yes! Yeah. I don't really know much about it. But they announced it earlier this year, and I guess the producers of The LEGO Movie are making it. And the creator of Adventure Time, Pendleton Ward, he's writing it. So right now they are just going through a kind of, the rough outline of the script, the story on where they want to go with the movie. That's about all that I know at this point. I don't know when it's coming out, it's going to take a while, they're at the very beginning stages. Technically, I don't even know if I'm gonna be in it! I hope so, I imagine so. So yeah. But they have announced it. It will be pretty epic, I'm pretty sure.
What about upcoming projects for you, what's been keeping you busy these days, aside from Adventure Time?
Yes, besides Adventure Time, we're almost done with season seven. We got picked up for season eight. We have the movie coming up… I have stuff with the band, Make Out Monday. We have our debut EP up on iTunes. If you're in Manila for the AsiaPOP Comicon, you guys will be the first ones to get the limited edition of that, we're giving it to the fans here. And then next year, I think touring with the band, and there's Adventure Time. I think next year we're gonna try recording our first full album. That is the plan. And then some on-camera stuff, live action stuff in the works as well. I can't really talk much about it right now but look out for that!
I heard the boys from All Time Low are Adventure Time fans and you guys are all friends. How did you connect with them?
Yeah! Basically they're huge Adventure Time fans, and I think somebody contacted us about them wanting to have me over at their podcast 'Full Frontal,' and so they had me on the podcast and they asked me a lot about Adventure Time stuff. But because I'm in a band as well, obviously they were interested in music and so they played a couple of the tracks in the podcast. They also invited us out to their show at the Palladium in LA, and so we went out to meet them and we had VIP tickets to see their concert, it was fantastic. And then we had backstage passes so we went backstage and we met with the guys and just started hanging out with them. And that was just awesome, we hit it off, they're super awesome guys. And throughout that, I think possibly next year we might be doing some shows with them. Hopefully. That'd be really cool.
Let's talk about your own adventures. Are you an adventurous person? Traveling, sports…?
Yes, traveling. I travel a lot! A lot of it is work-related stuff, that's kind of how I travel–if I was paying for all of my travel, that'd be really expensive. [laughs] But yeah, I love traveling, it's been something I've been doing a lot more the past two years because of Adventure Time. I mean, I don't get to usually see a whole lot of the actual place that I'm in, because I'm working, but I try to get some time, especially when I'm overseas like here in Manila, much different from the US. I travel alot, I travel like… if you round it out for the whole year that's probably about once a month, at least. I fly a lot, I'm on the plane a lot.
And yesterday, you got to see some tigers in Subic…
Yes! They said it's gonna take an hour and a half, it took me three hours. [laughs] So it was like three hours then we got there. We did the whole safari thing and they were like, "How many chickens do you want to buy?" "What are they for?" and so they had all these dead chickens which were the meat basically, to feed the tigers. And the tigers come up close to the jeep that's all caged in metal bars. They come up and you feed them through the little holes and you get to see them right there. One of the tigers jumped up on top of the jeep, and he was just sitting up there. They're beautiful creatures, it was fantastic.
How about with food — are you adventurous with food?
Not as much as I should be? I'm actually super way too simplistic with food, honestly. I am. I'm like the plainest person. Like I'll get a hamburger and it's just meat and bun. Like literally. And so I'm here and I've been trying a little stuff. But I haven't had the… I don't know what it is. It's the embryo?
Balut?
Balut. I have not.
Are you going to?
I don't know! [laughs] Oh gosh. I'm like, eeeerm, I'm probably going to end up having that. Like I have to. But no, I'm not too adventurous. For me it's all like… Meat. Steak. Good to go! I love steak. There's certain food groups that I'm very very into and I have a lot of. I'm forcing myself to try, I've been picky for so long. Expand my food horizons a little bit, you know?
You're here for the AsiaPOP Comicon and you'll be meeting a lot of fans and Adventure Time geeks and all that. How about you — have you ever fanboyed or geeked out on other shows and stuff like that?
Oh yeah. Definitely. I'm a fan of a lot of things, actually. Anything that's superhero related–all, I've seen.
Marvel?
Oh gosh. Yeah. Marvel and DC. Both. I'm a fanboy of all superheroes, and Star Wars, and many, many more things. Like Walking Dead, the whole Marvel universe, the whole DC universe, and all the TV shows and stuff. Everything from Walking Dead to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. to Daredevil to Arrow… Also I was a big Hannibal fan, I watched Breaking Bad, Downton Abbey… lots of stuff. I'm a fan of cinema stuff in general, too. I watch a lot of films. My peers technically, but I get pretty starstruck by a lot of people but not to the extent that I geek out. I like, hold it all in, but inside I'm freaking out. But on the outside I'm like, "Oh hello, nice to meet you, I really appreciate your work," but inside I'm like, "Oh my gosh!"
How about costumes? Like doing cosplay, are you into that stuff too?
You know, I think it ruined it for me–going to comicons? 'Cause when I was younger, for Halloween, that's the only time when I would put on a costume. And you know, sometimes I'd have okay ones, most of the time I'd like forget it was Halloween until the day of, and like throw in one of the worst costumes from my closet. But then once I started going to comicons and seeing all the professional cosplayers and the stuff that they've made… I'm like wow, I suck at making costumes! [laughs] Mine are awful! Mine literally are! That's why it kinda ruined it for me, 'cause like I can never make something that good. They're so skilled. And so whenever I see those and go on Halloween parties I'm like, this just does not match up at all, I go below the line… So, no. [laughs] If I did, I'd actually want to do… I'd find someone to help me really make an actual good costume. If I make it by myself? One, I don't have the time. And two, I do not have the skill to do all the artisan makeup and all that stuff. But I love what other people do and I love seeing all the different stuff they make. I think that's fantastic.
What can the fans look forward to in the upcoming season of Adventure Time?
There's one thing I know. We're doing like an eight part Marceline mini-series. And I think the way they'll stretch it is gonna be like over the course of a week you'll have an episode. Marceline is like a vampire related mini series, I can't say anything more than that, but it's gonna be pretty sick. So I'm excited for that. The cool thing for me is we have her occasionally, but you know, it was like an eight week period that she was there, and I love Olivia [Olson] who plays Marceline. It was super cool to have her more often for that time. It's honestly one of the coolest things we've done so far in the show. The mini-series is just awesome. I think it's called The Stakes. It's just like part one, part two, part three… all the way until part eight. It's just awesome. It's one long story, so you can watch it like one long episode. It's super cool.
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Jeremy's appearance at the AsiaPOP Comicon Manila 2015 will be on Sunday September 20, 2015 at 12:30pm at the World Trade Center, Pasay. There will also be a jamming session with his band Make Out Monday on Saturday, September 19, 2015 at 6:30pm. APCC Manila tickets are available at P500 (one-day pass), P800 (two-day pass), and P1,000 (three-day pass).
Watch Adventure Time weekdays at 5:15pm on Cartoon Network. Cartoon Network is available on SKYCable Channel 43, SKYCable HD Channel 178, Cignal Channel 35, Cignal HD Channel 110, Destiny Cable (Digital) Channel 43, Destiny Cable (Analog) Channel 51, Cable Link Channel 26, and Dream Satellite Channel 15.
