SQUAWKING DEAD: [PANELS] The Camp (May, 2023): The Funny Females of Fear & The Reapers

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Originally Recorded: 2023.05.27-28

Rachael & Sherrandy sit down with the ladies from (more than just) Fear The Walking Dead! We find out things like Mo Collins' porn name and, for someone who was on a horse a lot, Colby Minifie only had 45 minutes of horse training! So let's get a little philosophical (fart)?

Ethan McDowell & Robert Hayes played two members of The Reapers on The Walking Dead: Ira Washington & Paul Wells, respectively. Along with telling us stories from their time on set of #TWD, they offered up perspective on their characters' storylines and even had the opportunity to take us to space (current projects).

If you enjoyed these panels and love what we're doing, we invite you to join one of our membership tiers on either Ko-fi or Patreon! Along with a plethora of perks, you'll receive instant access to extended bonus content taken just after our panel with Ethan & Robert (The Reapers): our friend and fellow #TWDFamily member, Felicia Wray, sung a face-melting rendition of Highway to Hell by AC DC!

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*Mo Collins (Sarah Rabinowitz* on FearTWD):**
*Colby Minifie (Virginia/Ginny* on FearTWD):**
*Ethan McDowell (Ira Washington* on TWD):**
*Robert Hayes (Paul Wells* on TWD):**

David Cameo:
Rachael Burt:
Sherrandy Swift:
Bridget Mason-Gray:

🎖SURVIVORS TIER MEMBERS and Camera Angle Contributors:

Takeerah:
Linda Peck Athens:
Hanako (Fandom Hybrid):

INTRODUCTION

I've been attending The Camp since its inaugural run on Memorial Day (U.S.) of 2019 when it was initially called Camp Marimac Charity Bash. From the very start, two things were true: regardless of it's beginnings being shrouded in a lot of he-said-she-saids, the fact remains that it immediately became the more intimate alternative to an overwhelming (at the time) Walker Stalker Con. Attendees felt more comfortable getting to know one another - gathering bar stools and make room on benches for #TWDFamily they never met. Although The Walking Dead fanbase continues to dwindle with every passing day, those who remain are eager to make connections with one another and The Camp is a perfect microcosm that represents this effect as well as its catalyst.

I'll admit that there are days where I don't think we are where we should be, in terms of our podcast's growth; however, every time I come home from The Camp (especially the last one - Memorial Day Weekend, 2023), I'm have clarity on and am consoled by the knowledge that we are exactly where we are meant to be. Did I manage to greet every single attendee? No, I don't think so, but at least most folks that attended this year are at least aware that we exist. More than that, we've made perhaps twice as many friends than we originally had at the last two events. Furthermore, before attending the last event, I was considering bowing out of it entirely to put my energy into further developing the show and finding new and exciting avenues of outreach. After attending, it's hard to imagine missing out on precious moments with folks whom I would consider family.

To crystalize this point into a particular moment, 🎖SURVIVORS TIER member, Aliza Jones, reached out to Kirk Manley ahead of time to commission a comic book style cover of all four SQUAWKING DEAD hosts in time to reveal it to us at The Camp.

It's an incredible rendition that accurately, yet subtly captures our personalities. You, too, can grab a copy of not only this print, but have it emblazed on any number of swag in our merch store.

This, after donating a whole bunch of clothes and time to Camp Cares: a charity event that was held just before the weekend's festivities to assist with the greater Atlanta area's impoverished community by giving them haircuts, food, clothes, and access to bathrooms and showers.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that we're ride-or-die when it comes to The Camp and perhaps you should be, too! On top of that, we owe a ton of gratitude towards them for allowing us to moderate our very first (we hope, of many) set of panels:

FUNNY FEMALES OF FEAR

The ladies throw back the curtain while dancing to Guns N' Roses Welcome to the Jungle, starting off the panel with an incredible amount of energy!
Praise is exchanged, all around, from the outset: not only between Mo Collins & Colby Minifie, but they take time out to thank Rachael & Sherrandy for being the most supportive and giving fans: Colby, in particular, grabbing a moment to relay to the audience the two special videos the pair arranged for both her birthday and when Virginia was killed off on the show.
As Colby tries to own the praise Mo gives her for the work she did on the show, Mo continues to tell her how incredibly she nailed her first appearance on the show, having very little horseback training! Not to mention how little the horses cared for the fake corpses and was told to put on a Western Accent, last minute.
But now it's Mo's turn as Colby tells the audience how well Mo managed to learn how to drive a semi-trailer truck, along with backing it up and hitting her mark. There's debate about whether it's harder to hit one's mark on horseback or driving an 18-wheeler, but that gives Mo an opening to launch into a funny, yet terrifying story about how she speedily drove around she and a bunch of her castmates in Althea Szewczyk-Przygocki's MRAP... while attempting to hit her mark, which was a bush (among many bush).
Linda stands up to ask Mo what her porn name would be (first name = street you grew up on; last name = first pet): Hershey Emerson. Laughter breaks out (just picture it) and Sherrandy suggests Hershey and Alfred Bunion (Sherrandy's stripper name) team up.
Rachael finally asks a question about what it was like to film Ginny's line-up, since both of them were in that scene. Colby tells the audience what was most memorable to her: the work that went into antagonizing our protagonists and that it took three, harrowing night shoots to film this single 5-minute scene. Lest she forgets (because, how can she), she describes accidentally injuring Karen David (who played Grace Mukherjee) while attempting to throw her into the getaway car.
Speaking of Karen, she and Mo bonded over the toll those night shoots took on her knees, to the point where she was pleading with Executive Producer/Director, Michael Satrazemis. In the end, she showed the audience the alternative choice she made to staying on her knees, hilariously recounting the way she was whispering her relief to Karen whilst laying on her side.
Sherrandy asks the pair what their favorite lines were on the show, considering both their characters' quizzical quips. Colby takes a long route just to punt the question question to Mo, explaining that there were many instances where the writers would regularly hand her many lines containing alliteration, which was not only difficult to do (some lines getting cut) but hard to remember. Though Mo explains that the go-to for Sarah Rabinowitz would be, "Shit on a [insert thing here]," with Sherrandy's help she recalls her favorite line (she tells Jim Brauer), "A Class-A asshole who fills every room with a philosophical fart."
As the panel starts to wrap-up, an audience member asks how it feels to see Fear The Walking Dead come to a close, which touches on a complaint we've had throughout the first half of the show's 8th season, Where is Sarah? ...to which Mo explains - in her own professional, philosophical-farty way - that she and her character were let go.
Hanako (showrunner/host of Fandom Hybrid podcast) praises Mo on her incredible performance in Breathe With Me (FearTWD 7x04). An emotional Mo explains to the audience the personal connection that story has and the way it mirrors her relationship with colleague Darryl Mitchell (AKA Wendell). What makes it even more emotional for everyone is how we'll never know what happened to Sarah and Wendell.
Takeerah begs Colby not to downplay her contribution to The Walking Dead Universe: when Virginia came on to the scene, she couldn't wait for her to go, but when her time came to an end, she was sad to see her go.
After thanking Mo & Colby for spending time with us, all 4 stage members dance their way off the stage: Who runs the world? Girls!

THE REAPERS

Ethan McDowell & Robert Hayes open the curtain, pumped up by Welcome to the Jungle by Guns N' Roses (again, but it works). They both express how awesome it's been to attend The Camp two events in a row: how it feels like home. Dave takes a moment to blow Robert's spot about he & his mom's charitable endeavors, after raising money during our TWDU Trivia Charity Battle on behalf of Foster Care to Success, thwarted heavily by the vast knowledge of is fellow contestants.
Bridget asks what backstory there might've been or what stories they told themselves in order to inhabit their characters. Ethan divulges that they never got the whole story and would receive their scripts before filming, but wardrobe really helped! Robert proclaims that it's so much better to be a bad guy, even though (the nice guy that he is) he felt the need to apologize to his castmates when the director yelled cut.
Dave probes further to ask whether he was rooting for Paul Wells' survival: of course he was, but broke-even - with Ethan chiming in as well - knowing he went out like a champ... even though Maggie Rhee & Negan cheated. Felicia Wray yells out that she hated that Wells was taken out.
Ethan riffs on the Season 11 midseason finale, where Wells bites it, saying that he wasn't in those scenes, but just imagined funny scenarios where his character, Ira Washington, exits a bathroom and notices that the locks to the doors have been changed and the place is wrecked.
At one point, because their scripts come in last minute, Ethan thought Washington was actually going to live... but Maggie had different plans. On the day of filming, because the camera captures the scene from different angles, while the camera was on Lauren Cohan, Ethan would run away, zig-zagging to avoid her shots, but while the camera was on him, Lauren would break character by picking up one of the big guns, shouting pew-pew-pew.
To cap it off, Robert tells everyone how, even though the cast and crew mean serious business on the surface, he says what anyone that's been on The Walking Dead has ever said: as soon as they yell "cut", they're the nicest, goofiest, most funny cast of actors to work with... you're family. Ethan describes an interaction he witnessed between Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Norman Reedus, where Jeff mock-punches Norman in the shoulder while Norman is intensely reading the script. Norman, now annoyed, asks what he's doing and Jeff says that they were his love punches (Ethan doing a decent impression of JDM).
Dave switches gears to discuss what the boys are currently working on, namely Ethan on Space Command & Robert on (Star Trek) Axanar. What's great about both these projects, outside of the fact that both actors have dealt with zombies and now they've been chosen to go to space, is that both projects contain many Star Trek veterans. Robert adds that he has tremendous gratitude to the people that helped get him here: people who, much like a starship, did their part to keep his career moving.
We turn the mic over to the audience to ask questions and, of course, the first question is why Pope marked Maggie. First off, Robert resents that Pope sent his character out alone to deal with walkers, all the while proclaiming how much he loves his men. Ethan explains that Pope was obsessed that his men (who were spared from/baptized through God's fire) were thwarted by anyone and, until she was put down, she was a threat that remained that wasn't wiped out. Dave says it was a larger scale Randall Culver situation.
Takeerah tells the boys that she'll never cheer-on their deaths ever again. Even though she couldn't wait for them to die, initially, by the end it was totally abrupt.
Felicia asks whether the actors who played The Reapers got together and created more of a backstory for themselves, guided by Ritchie Coster (who played Pope), and whether they would be interested in reprising their roles in a Tales of The Walking Dead backstory episode. Ethan explains that all actors who played The Reapers met on the same day of filming and, sweet boys that they were, they were really just getting to know one another, so all they had to go on was their first attack and how formidable and relentless they were.
Another audience member asks whether Washington would've still gone after her had he not been killed. Ethan jokes that he would've been gardening and taking in sunsets: but, really, his character would've continued to go after her... aided by Robert egging him on to do so, after Wells' demise. Fortitudo Salutis.
Robert lays out the 24 hours leading up to filming his big death scene, the time within which he got the hiccups up until the moment the director yelled action. It was great to hear him go through his feelings, at the time, but also reflecting on what the cause was: less about being nervous and more about how much being in this fictional universe personally means to him.
Bridget asks the question we thought we wouldn't have time for: Was The Reapers arc meant to be longer? What would it have looked like had the show given them more time to flesh out the story? Ethan reiterates that the reason why they would receive their scripts near the day of filming is because of how secretive they are of the overall story - which meant they intentiuonally had no idea where it could've gone. But what they do know is that it was great to have an actor as incredible as Ritchie Coster to inform them on who they were, along the way. Ethan does say that maybe they would've gone to The Hilltop, but nothing else comes to mind. Robert affirms the desire to reprise his role in a Tales of TWD episode: show, don't tell.
The episode abruptly ends there, with a round of applause for Ethan and Robert, but what you don't see is Felicia getting pulled on stage to reprise her aural performance for many of the actors who missed it, the night before. She absolutely nailed AC DC's Highway to Hell and if you want to check it out, join one of our membership tiers on either Ko-fi or Patreon!