ConnectiCon 2014: “I’m Batman” Panel with Diedrich Bader

July 15, 2014

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Hanna Lafferty ’16 / Emertainment Monthly Books Section Editor

Tori DeYeso ’16 / Emertainment Monthly Videographer

This Saturday, ConnectiCon 2014 hosted a panel for Batman: The Brave and The Bold’s Diedrich Bader. Bader is known for his roles in Office Space,The Drew Carey Show, The Zeta Project, and most recently JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time. His love of acting started at a young age when his family moved to France and he began watching Charlie Chaplin in silent films. When asked whether he preferred voice acting to live action, he answered, “Totally!” Bader finds the atmosphere in voiceovers a lot less “egocentric.” “I was surrounded by so much talent” during BBB, he said.

Diedrich Bader speaking at his ConnectiCon 2014 press junket.

It was not until Bader moved to America that he discovered Adam West’s Batman and grew to love the character. When he auditioned for the role in BBB, he became very invested in the character and Batman’s backstory. Bader defines The Brave and the Bold’s Batman as his “point blank” favorite role. Working with Adam West and Julie Newmar on BBB was a great experience. Bader said that it was easy to bond with other Batman actors like West and Batman: The Animated Series’ Kevin Conroy was easy because of the way each actor carries the character’s story with them. In his press junket, Bader called his inspiration for BBB’s Batman a “poor Kevin impression, with Adam West and Shanter inflections.” While BBB is very humorous, the (bruce meets Joe chill) episode was a very intense, difficult process. “I started crying during the session…you know, just continuing to prove that I’m actually Batman,” he joked.

While Bader had to voice Batman to discover that “he is a beautiful character,” Bader’s son is a large comic book fan and for “his dad to be Batman is pretty cool.” “His walls are covered in covers from the original Brave and the Bold comic covers,” said Bader in the press junket. During the panel, he confessed that when it comes to his comedic roles he has “Tourette’s for jokes.” However, he said, “for Batman, it’s difficult to improv.” Bader is always surprised when fans will quote his lines, since most of the ones that he is known for are entirely ad-libbed. “I had no idea I was such a good writer,” he added.

For Bader’s favorite superhero team-up in BBB, Bader enjoyed John DiMaggio’s Aquaman. James Tucker (producer of BBB) made him really great,” and DiMaggio is “a lot of fun to work with…also, Aquaman!” Bader felt “very proud of the show…Tucker is the real deal.” When BBB ended, Bader felt upset because it didn’t feel like they had finished the show, though he was grateful for the extra half-season they had. As for the growing popularity of superhero culture, Bader believes that superhero stories show that regardless of a person’s backstory, “you can save the downtrodden.” Check out Emertainment’s “I’m Batman” video for more highlights of the panel!