Plenty of Pokémon fans crammed into a panel at New York Comic Con this Friday. But they weren’t there for a Pokémon panel—at least not ostensibly. They were present for Balls: The Monster Catchin’ Musical Comedy. Definitely not licensed by Nintendo or the Pokémon Company, the show is a fair use spoof of the iconic franchise. It’s also a wildly chaotic good time.
But it does have some surprising cred. Professor Oak voice actor Stuart Zagnit stars in the stage show, which performs at Caveat in New York City. It has recently enjoyed several sold out performances. And that’s easy to imagine, as it caught a standing room only crowd for the NYCC panel.
Veronica Taylor, who isn’t normally in the stage show but is the original voice of Ash Ketchum, joined the panel as well. The cast of Balls performed the opening number of the musical before sitting down to chat with Taylor about looking back on the phenomenon that started it all. “I’m still 10!” Taylor joked. “None of us ever age, because you never see our faces.” Pokémon will soon celebrate its 30th anniversary in February.
“More generations are discovering the show all over again,” Zagnit...
