BLAST FROM THE PAST
Toronto Comicon pulls from the past with a swath of ’90s icons
Jaleel White is happy to relive his Urkel days at Toronto Comicon this weekend,
It’s a well-worn trope: the former child actor disavowing the role that made him or her famous, but don’t go looking for Jaleel White to dump on Urkel, the nerd who made White a pop-culture phenomenon on 1990s sitcom Family Matters.
“I think to be known for anything that’s positive, that brought smiles to people’s faces in this day and age is a privilege,” White said by phone ahead of his weekend appearance at Toronto Comicon.
Besides, “I had a blast,” he added.
Family Matters isn’t the only thing that will draw White’s admirers to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre Friday to Sunday.
He says his convention fans are a mix of those who know him as Steve Urkel and those who enjoyed his work voicing the lead character in ’90s cartoon Sonic the Hedgehog.
“Sonic fans are very specific,” White said. “They know everything about it. They know all the episodes, the people who voice the characters. I’m proud to say I’m one of their favourite voices.”
White, who’s 43, isn’t the only guest bringing a ’90s blast from the past to the convention floor.
Others include Emma Caulfield, Anya on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Susan on Beverly
Hills, 90210; and John De Lancie and Corbin Bernsen, Q and Q2 on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Ron Perlman, the original Hellboy, is also scheduled to attend and White said he’s one of the people whose fan lineups tend to be “ridiculous.”
“People that come from sci-fi backgrounds, their lines are just crazy,” White said, calling it “humbling.”
“He’s such a cool dude,” White added.
“I get to go have drinks with him back at the hotel. That part is kind of special for me.”
White said he has a healthy respect for the nostalgia that fuels events like Toronto Comicon.
“Nostalgia’s never going to lose its importance with human beings. Things we enjoy during similar points in our development and childhood always take us back to a happy place in (our) mind.”
But not all those who attend conventions are looking that far back.
Take Family Matters. All nine seasons of the series, which ran from 1989-98, are now available on Hulu in the U.S., which means a new generation of viewers are taking in Urkel’s geeky fashion choices, catchphrases and bad dancing.
“I pretty much have an audience now of kids as low as 6 and 7 all the way to adults that are 60 and 70,” White said.
He’s proud of the sitcom’s longevity. It lasted 215 episodes and is credited with being the third-longest running TV series with a predominantly Black cast, behind Tyler Perry’s House
of Payne and The Jeffersons. “I would take half that number (of episodes) now with the same creative freedom and I’d probably be double the happy,” White said.
“That character would have never survived anybody’s development process. One of the producers, Michael Warren, he told me if we had gone to ABC and said, ‘I want to make a show about a genius Black kid who loves chess and is obsessed with the girl next door,’ they would say, ‘Close the door and don’t ever let them back in.’ ”
Time didn’t stop, of course, when Urkel hung up his sus- penders. White has kept busy with everything from guest spots on a raft of TV series to playing a former child star in a show he created ( Fake It Til You Make It) to being the sidekick on another TV comedy ( Me, Myself and I) to a part in the Oscar-winning movie Dreamgirls, and that’s just a sampling.
Recently, he became Urkel again — or at least his voice — for Scooby Doo and Guess Who?, a new version of the animated series about a mystery-solving dog that boasts guest actors such as Ricky Gervais, Mark Hamill and Kenan Thompson. Toronto Comicon runs Friday to Sunday at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, 255 Front St. W. See comicontoronto.com for information.