I’ve thus far done quite a bit of complaining about the celebrities at the Wizard World Comic Con in Chicago whom I got the chance to meet on August 11, 2012. When it was Joey Lawrence’s chance to meet me, I only had one complaint really. He was too bronze. That is to say, I was okay with paying the $40 autograph fee (which although high, was at least in the correct stratosphere), and I was very happy that this included a free photo with him, but it just didn’t look like the Joey Lawrence whom I used to know.
The shaggy-headed kid who had starred in Diff’rent Strokes, Silver Spoons, and then went on as a regular in Gimme a Break! was no more. The kid whose pre-pubescent voice brought the lead character of Oliver to life in the Disney animated classic Oliver and Company was nowhere to be found. Even the flowing locks of hair that he had once he became a teen heartthrob in TV shows like American Dreams, Blossom, and Brotherly Love had been unceremoniously discarded. (I’ve never actually seen any of the shows mentioned in the last sentence.) What was left was a well-cut, creamy-skinned, very tan man, with a disturbingly short haircut and a healthy dose of muscle cleavage.
To be honest, I couldn’t care less how he looked. And although he was merely polite when I mentioned how I had just recently seen him and his brothers at Disneyland, (“Yeah, that was a good time”), he was nonetheless polite. So I guess I really have no complaint. He just didn’t seem like Joey Lawrence to me. And the photos that he offered were all recent head shots, so there was no Little Joey Donovan, no animated Oliver cat…just this older good-looking tan man named Joey Lawrence. I guess that’s not really a complaint, just a disappointment.
I had been disappointed before by Joey when he didn’t show up to a Hollywood Show last year, so I was very glad to get another chance at meeting him when he came to the Comic Con. In summation, my only advice to him is: if you’re not going to look like Joey Lawrence anymore, at least have some pictures to remind us of who you were. Other than that, keep up the good work. And the stellar tan.
Celebrities of the 2012 Chicago Wizard World Comic Con will continue…
It was fun to see him in the 6th season of “Californication.”
Peter
May 12th, 2013