Up next in 10
Cobra Kai Q&A: Martin Kove, Mary Mouser, Tanner Buchanan & Dallas Dupree Young (Big Texas Comic Con)
Oct 22, 2025
Recorded live at Big Texas Comic Con (San Antonio, TX) in the Hemisfair Ballroom: Martin Kove (John Kreese), Mary Mouser (Samantha LaRusso), Tanner Buchanan (Robby Keene) and Dallas Dupree Young (Kenny Payne) sit down with fans to talk casting, stunts, and why the Karate Kid legacy still hits across generations.
Highlights
00:58 Introductions
02:50 Young Fans Loving Karate Kid & Cobra Kai
04:40 Cobra Kai's Success
06:50 Mary Mouser on carrying on the Legacy of Karate Kid
11:40 Robby Keene on being in the Karate Kid Universe
16:00 Martin Kove on his character arch.
21:25 Dallas Dupree Young on what he misses most about Cobra Kai
29:00 Moderator Talks about Ralph Macchio
31:00 Martin Kove on what he misses most about Cobra Kai
34:04 Advice for a young dance and actor
35:50 Tanner on the possibility of a movie
37:20 Favorite fight from the show
38:50 Cast's favorite 80's song
41:20 Most physically demanding scene
42:28 What other character would you be?
43:15 What would happen to your character in an animated series
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
going to bring up the cast of Cobra Kai versus Mr. Martin
0:05
[Applause]
0:26
State and a special guest with her
0:32
We also give the lady a special introduction, too. Right. This is Lady Charlotte. Everyone Lady Charlotte
0:42
bring him up to the stage. Welcome to our
0:51
squeeze. Somebody can sit there if you want. Give a little space if you want. I'm going to sit right here. Yeah, I'm going to sit right here. Yeah, I'm good.
0:58
First of all, welcome to San Antonio. Welcome. Welcome. Thank you. I always ask everybody, is this Charles first time? Start off with you. First
1:03
time here. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead. Yeah. You've been You've been here
1:09
before, right, San Antonio? A few times. Yeah. You You've done a few cons here, right? Five years ago.
1:14
Oh, yeah. Five years ago. There you go. Five years ago.
1:20
Yeah. Yeah. You What about you, Dallas? I've been here a few times. I'm from Houston, Texas. So, we got a local
1:28
Hey, right now it's go Spurs.
1:35
Mary, your first time? This is my first time. Not my first time in Texas, but San Antonio. Yeah. Well, and Lady,
1:40
obviously, for your first time. Oh, no. She's a world traveler. It's her first time in San Antonio.
1:45
Awesome. Awesome. Well, how's the city treating you? The city's been great so far. It's been such a great experience and I've been
1:52
loving the Comic-Con so far. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Treat San treating out well. Yeah. Yeah, it's everybody's been so wonderful. It's been I I don't know
1:59
the little warmer than I was expecting for October, but that's okay. Um it's
2:06
very sunny and beautiful. Yeah, for us native San Antonio, we're already putting our jackets around this time. Yeah, we think this is too cold
2:12
already. Uh but nevertheless, again, welcome to San Antonio. Welcome to Big Taxis Con. I'm glad y'all are here to
2:18
take part with us in this very, very fun Cobra Kai panel. As a matter of fact,
2:23
fellas and ladies and gentlemen, there's a lot of fans here. This one fan here, she said she got everything signed from
2:30
y'all. Like, literally, show show what you have. Look at this. She has all y'all.
2:37
Look at that. I love that. That's awesome. Awesome. And then this young lady here, look what
2:42
she has. She says she picked up that. Hello. Good to see you.
2:47
Let's start with Martin. Martin, when you see young fans, as you've been with the franchise since day one, and you see
2:55
how it still connects with younger fans, what does that mean for you, the little Karate Kid in Cobra Kai universe?
3:01
Well, I think it's it's really exciting that
3:07
the parents have passed on the classic experience of watching Karate Kid,
3:14
right? You know, it it really validates what a good movie can do because parents
3:19
would pass it on to their children. They would just rave about it because they were teenagers when they saw it back in
3:24
1984. It was good enough to pass down the information to the kids. And
3:30
sometimes, I mean, I believe that parents would see the children watching
3:36
Cobraai, whether they were 12 or 15 or 18, didn't matter, and they'd say, "Would you like to see what we grew up
3:44
on it. It's the same actors. Yeah. And then all of a sudden they show you they show them Karate Kid one, two,
3:51
three. The kids like it and then the family the adults go back and watch the
3:56
series to see it's good too. Sure. And it is. Yeah. Cuz the writing is good. So then you get
4:02
a family event and everybody is watching Cobra, you know, 40 years after 1984,
4:09
right? You know. Yeah. So it makes you feel like you're part of something with a really classy
4:14
writing. Otherwise, it wouldn't work. Yeah. Right. It definitely wouldn't work. If the writing wasn't there in
4:20
Cobra Kai, didn't matter how good Karate Kid was. Yeah. And what's pretty cool about Cobra
4:26
Kai was that it started out as a YouTube show and that's where it started from and then it just gained so much
4:32
popularity that it just grew into this. Now, were you I guess none of y'all were
4:38
surprised that that was going to happen, right? throw you down. Were you surprised that Cobra Kai just took off the way it did?
4:45
I felt like as soon as I moved to Netflix, I knew like, oh, everything was definitely going to change. Uh, so my
4:50
first season was the first year that or the second year was on Netflix cuz it came out uh they posted all three
4:55
seasons, right? Three seasons so far. And then I came in season four. Uh, I had already knew about Cobra Kai. I've
5:00
been familiar with that. Never checked out the series yet. But then as soon as it came to Netflix, I binge watched the entire show and then two weeks later
5:07
found out that I got the role. And then to see myself on Netflix was so different and I was like, "This is
5:13
actually insane. Definitely changed my life for the better." Um, but no, I feel like this show really deserved it cuz
5:18
the three seasons even before I got it, I mean, it was just incredible ensemble and uh I'm so glad that everybody was
5:24
really enjoying it. All right, so so tell us about the audition. How did that go for you? Okay, so the audition was uh December of
5:30
2020. I'll never forget it. Uh, I just sending in another self tape, right? And I'm just like, okay, this is incredible
5:36
because I see two cast me two cast members on the breakdown. Said Ralph Majio and William Zapman. I'm like,
5:41
word. Oh, wait a minute. Hold on. That's I know exactly what it is. Okay. So, I did the audition and uh a few weeks
5:47
later they came back. I was like, "Okay, we want to do a call back." And we did it on Zoom because obviously it was right in the mix of co right
5:53
and uh it was about 10 people on that Zoom and I did a few different scenes from Kenny showing the different
5:59
emotions of his entire heart from season 4 and then as soon as I finished it about a week later I found out that I
6:06
got the role and it was perfect cuz I was already in Atlanta filming another project and then I went right from that
6:11
project the next day right into Cobra Kai and then I met Tanner that first day when we were training and uh well I was
6:17
training he just came to BB Um, yeah, that was my first time. Awesome. And then when you got the news,
6:22
I bet you were just like, "Wait, what?" I was I was like, "There's no way." Like, "This is incredible." You know, I
6:28
I mean, I grew up watching it. So, being a part of a show like this was now
6:34
he grew up watching him. I didn't mean by I didn't mean nothing by that. Well, you know, for you, you
6:40
your character carries on the Laruso theme, you know, Sam Laruso, you know, you you know, what was that like for you
6:47
trying to still carry that, I guess, that vibe, that family legacy that the
6:53
original movies that he was on carried on to today? Um, I mean, I was very honored, um, felt
6:59
very lucky to get to be a Laruso, especially with Ralph as the, you know, the helm of that ship. you welcomed me
7:07
in with open arms. And um Courtney who Courtney Hangler who uh played Amanda
7:12
Laruso was also she's so funny. She's so um and she's like that in real life too. Like off she's so witty. She's so quick.
7:20
Um Griffin I love to tease him. So everybody has to agree to never tell him I said so. But he's really talented and
7:26
a very cool kid. So, we felt like this little unit, especially when we started the show and I hadn't, my character
7:33
didn't hadn't bridged into karate in the show yet. Um, she had had her stint of karate as a kid and then had quit. And
7:40
so, in my mind, I was like, "Oh man, I'm never going to get to do any karate on this show. That sucks, but I at least I get to be able to do Russo." And, you
7:46
know, we have these little family scenes and and it felt real. And it still does. That's the cool part is like we, you
7:52
know, we're so lucky to work with talented but also such kind and and
7:58
honestly just good people um that they, you know, we've all stayed a part of each other's lives um through that. And
8:04
I have forcibly wedged my way into Ralph's family life and they rather
8:10
maybe hopefully affectionately have called me a mouse geo. Um but you know,
8:16
I I was honored. I was nervous. Um, I took it very seriously, but uh, they
8:22
made it easy to have a lot of fun wi with, you know, being a part of that legacy. Also, Brandy Heler when uh, you
8:27
know, she came in as, uh, my grandma and the show. It's like, it's weird to think
8:33
about in a way still, but um, I was nervous. I was excited. I was way more nervous when they put me in a karate
8:38
team the first time where I was like, "Oh, now I really can't mess it up." Like, now I really can't. I've got to be a Laruso, a proper Laruso. Um, but but I
8:48
felt completely embraced the whole time, which was awesome. And um, and I just
8:53
it's such a fun group of people. Like it's impossible to have a bad day on that set. We all genuinely loved each
8:59
other that much, which made it easy even on the not so easy days. Did you ever take an audition for Sam or
9:06
or how did that happen? Yeah, I I uh Well, so technic I slept through my first audition. Um, and I
9:12
have been rather honest about Oh, yeah, I did. I tell us about that. I didn't remember that I had said
9:18
audition and um which by the way like I'm kind of really absurd about my
9:24
scheduling. So I'm shocked that I completely missed that but I did. And
9:30
had I not been reminded um wouldn't have even clocked it. But luckily I was
9:35
reminded called my agent. I was like oh my god please please please you know will they still see me? And they were
9:40
like well you know we'll call we'll check. And they called me back. They were like, "Well, they're seeing Miguel's tomorrow, but they they're willing to still see you." I was like,
9:46
"Okay, cool." And I went in and so I was the only Samantha. So, I had no idea who I kind of was like puff against. I
9:51
didn't know like what else they were thinking of for the role of Sam because I wasn't seeing anybody else in the waiting room with me. Um, and then by
9:58
the time I got to the the final casting call, uh, which up to this point, by the way, I have never seen a karate kid
10:04
film. I I have since had words with my parents that was, in my opinion, unfair
10:10
to me. But I had some kind of rental skills there. I knew
10:15
um but but no I I had never seen you know I didn't know what I guess I was getting myself into fully and then went
10:22
to the final casting call. There was down to three possible Samantha. So I saw the other two there and I was like
10:27
okay like okay I think we all kind of have the same spot. I feel like we're you know all in the same realm like age
10:34
wise you know look. I was like okay this maybe this could work. Hopefully they're looking for somebody like me. Um, and
10:39
then I got to go in and meet Ralph for the first time. And I was super nervous. And when I get nervous, I'm a talker, so
10:46
I word vomited all over everybody. And there it was. And I could see Ralph's face just kind of like,
10:52
okay. Um, but he was he went with it. He he took it in stride. And um, half of
10:57
that chemistry read was really them just sitting me and Ralph next to each other and watching us interact and see whether
11:02
or not we had chemistry. Um, whether or not we could be father and daughter. where he immediately started teasing me about, you know, I was like, "Oh, I'm
11:08
originally from Arkansas." He's teasing me about Arkansas, you know, he's like, "Oh, you're married Queen of Arkansas." And like the song and which he still to
11:14
this day nicknamed me. Um, but yeah, I uh I I felt like just super lucky
11:21
because again, I technically that might not have worked out in my favor. So, I you know, I think the stars aligned and
11:27
all in all the right way and I'm very grateful that I've gotten to be here. That's just so wild how one little drop in like the pond could have caused so
11:33
much ripple effect, you know, if they didn't give you that thing. But I'm glad I'm glad it worked out. So happy it worked out. Yeah. Tanner, what was it
11:40
like for you entering this universe, this Cobra Kai Karate Kid universe? Did the weight of it ever hit you at one
11:46
point? You're like, "Oh, wait a minute. This is this is Cobra Kai. This is Karate Kid." Um, yeah.
11:54
So, I'm mesmerized by these kaleidoscope lights. You guys can't see them, but I'm staring. I just Anyway, um yeah, I I
12:03
think when I was auditioning, got the job, it didn't really hit me at all because I kind of just I was like, "Ah,
12:09
sure. It's another job. I need work." Um so, but I think it really hit me. It
12:16
wasn't my first day, but I've said it a couple days or a couple days couple times today. Um,
12:23
first time I was with Ralph uh, one of my first days on set
12:29
uh, was the montage in season one where I'm doing all this stuff automation.
12:36
Um, and when I got there that day, I realized I didn't know what the correct way to do wax on, wax off was,
12:44
you know, and it's like and I was like, man, I I guess well well I guess I'll
12:49
and then it clicked in me. I guess, oh, I guess I'll ask the karate kid
12:56
who can show me how to do wax on, wax off correctly, so that way I'm doing it in the scene.
13:01
Um, and he was super nice about it. But I think that's kind of like when it hit me. I was like, "Oh, this is
13:07
something that's everybody like everybody in the entire world knows." Yeah. Um, and then I was like, "Oh, this is I
13:14
completely forgot it. This isn't just another job. I got I got to fight that. We expectations.
13:20
Yeah. Right. Right. Right. Right. Was there a moment like when you were maybe not working out on set just out
13:25
and about, you know, you start to recognize, hey, wait a minute, wait. Hey, hold on here. It was It wasn't until it was during co
13:34
Oh, yeah. Cuz after I moved over to Netflix, that's when kind of the entire world
13:39
kind of started noticing it. And um I didn't go out much during CO. I kind of
13:45
mostly stayed in. Um but what the what the weird one was is when I did start
13:50
going out and I was wearing a mask, everybody would start clocking me and I didn't know what was happening and they
13:56
would all come up and ask about ask about the co pie. And I was like, "How did you It was then and they were like, "Oh,
14:02
it's your eyes. It's your eyes. It's your eyes. Your eyes." Um, so I didn't really I mean we were
14:09
three seasons in and I hadn't really gotten recognized. It was kind of an odd thing for it.
14:15
Sure. It's that kind of it wasn't kind of an overnight thing where just one day
14:21
it was non-existent and all a sudden it just boom takes off. What was it? What was it like putting on
14:27
that geek for that first time? Oh, in season one. Yeah. Um, I had not a clue what I was
14:33
doing. I I don't think I was I was nervous. I was too focused on trying to
14:39
figure out if I was going to do the fighting correctly. I was so worried about hurting somebody. Even in um the
14:46
last episode of season one, our stunt coordinator at the time, all the
14:51
montagey stuff, he'd come up every take and he go, "You have to like you
14:57
have to look like you're actually hitting them." I'm like, I don't want to hit them. And he's like, well, then you have to put more power into it and pull
15:04
it back or tap them a little bit more cuz you're not even touching them right now. Like, at least like just do a
15:09
little contact. Yeah. Make some contact. And I'm like, I can't. I don't want to hurt them. I don't want to. But he's like, you're not
15:15
going to hurt them. Don't worry. I'm like, oh, okay. Thanks. Just go for it. So, it was more nervousness really than,
15:22
you know, than feeling good about myself. Exactly. Yeah. as you again fans love
15:28
the action. Fans love the fight sequences, you know, and you got to deliver. And there probably was a lot on you to deliver. And they're telling you,
15:36
hey, deliver, you know. I was going to say now in the season six, it feels a lot more natural. Um,
15:43
it's a lot more fun because we got a little bit more money. So, our geese are a little bit nicer, a little
15:48
bit snappier, and a lot more fun. Now you want to like put more power behind it because you think
15:54
he's the kind of snaps and fake and it's Yeah, that's a lot more awesome. I want to go back to to Martin
15:59
here. Um, you know, John Crease iconic villain, you know, until today. Did you like his
16:08
arc, how it began to how it ended? Do you think it was appropriate for him,
16:13
John Greece, to see the way he exited? Yeah, I mean, I prefer that.
16:19
I mean, I've talked about this before so many times. I I wanted them to write the
16:26
character upon the onset of signing on after Ralph and Billy. And I said, "If
16:33
you write him vulnerably, if you write him with some colors and an arc and we
16:38
end up with a redemption at the end, I'm really interested in doing the show."
16:43
And they agreed. The three writers agreed and you know they were really
16:49
zeroed in on they kept telling me to give you an idea of how the impressions
16:55
of the characters. It was kind of absurd. My kids were doing a podcast and they were the guests on the podcast and
17:03
ultimately they confessed that because I was told I was going to be in season one
17:09
and episode 10. I was going to be very upset about that that I wanted to be the
17:15
fifth episode this episode and they thought I was going to get real angry and punch him out. They really thought
17:22
that and I said it's totally absurd and actor and they confessed that they
17:28
were very nervous about offering that and that they were afraid I was going to
17:35
be very upset and lose my temper. Yeah. I thought, "Wow, you're really into the character."
17:41
It's a testament to you. You're bringing out that character. But that was like three years later on my kids podcast. They were guests and
17:48
they confessed to that. I thought it was totally absurd. Yeah. But that's how much they cared. And I
17:53
like the fact that they kept their promise. And season six is my favorite. Why? Why is it your favorite?
17:59
Because I guess because, you know, it showed the vulnerability of the character that I'd
18:05
been searching for for so long. And it was always I never thought he was a a villain. I always thought he was a mis
18:12
misunderstood character, you know. And I I like playing Paul really, you know.
18:18
Sometimes I cry at supermarket over things, you know. You know, I mean, I like playing those kind of characters. I
18:24
don't like I played enough tough guys in so many movies that I like playing the
18:29
vom. I really enjoy it. What we did in season six, crying in each other's arms.
18:35
I remember redeeming myself and that to me was the best thing in all six years
18:42
doing the show. That's awesome. Hey, show of hands here if you all believe John Crease was misunderstood.
18:48
Show of hands. Look at that. There you go. Thank you. Thank you. Because we all
18:53
know Terry Silver was There you go.
18:58
The The thing about Terry Silver was that Terry Silver was written into Karate Kid 3. because the whole script
19:07
was written by John Priest doing training Mike Barnes, training uh Ralph
19:14
and I couldn't do it because I got a TV series. So there wasn't any way the script was written for me by Robin
19:21
Cayman. I couldn't do it and they didn't want a chance at me shooting on
19:26
weekends. So the bottom line is they brought in a new character called Terry Soul and he's supposed to be a friend.
19:34
So bottom line was he did everything I was supposed to do in the karate three and then 35 years later they bring him
19:42
back. So there wouldn't have even been a Terry Silver. There could be this other
19:48
villain which I kind of got annoyed at. But there wouldn't be Terry Silver had I
19:55
been available 30 35 years earlier to do 423.
20:00
So it's kind of you know all comes around a circle. It's kind of like so many ripple effects we may actually
20:06
talked about. You know, she slept through the audition, you know, the first one, then now you you know, you can be it be it then birth silver, the
20:13
character of Silva. So, how it works and we all Billy Ralph and I used to say, why are we bringing in so many
20:19
young people in the show? Why are they bringing in so many young people? And because we thought, I mean, we're so so
20:26
egocentric. We thought Cop was about us, three of us.
20:31
And and and And we talked about that all the time. And the most brilliant thing was to
20:37
bring in like people like the three of them because they had identities of their own and they had problems of their
20:43
own. And you know, I mean, the scenes we had together were really fun. They're
20:49
not too frequent, but we had some good scenes together. You know, Mary and I never had a lot of, you know, scenes
20:55
together. I just Vinnia loved watching her fight. She and Tori fought like
21:01
strong queens of, you know, Flash Gordon. I mean, they were up there, you know, and so it all evolved into the
21:09
positive where originally we kept saying, why are they bringing in these, you know, 16 year olds? Why are they
21:14
bringing in these kids? It's about us. Yeah, they love Well, you know, the baton was passed to you guys. Um, what
21:23
what do you I'll start with you. What do you miss most about? What do I miss most about
21:28
sitting right here? Yeah. Yeah, they're right. Look who's next to you. You got three people next to you and lady.
21:33
Oh, and lady together. Okay. Not see I I had something now I got to really think. Um Okay. So, no. Honestly, it's like uh
21:42
it's it's really the just the camaraderie that we had as a family. Uh especially like season six. I think the best part about it.
21:49
Good answer. That's all I say. Good answer. Good answer. Yeah. And and and again, season 6, Mark brought up season
21:55
6. Now you're bringing up season six. Yeah. No, season six. I mean, it was the first time that all of us got to be on
22:01
the same stage at the same time. Uh especially while we were all on the Yagi dough together. Like the whole chicken
22:06
fighting and the, you know, trying to get the flags. Like that was all of us on the set at the same time. So we got
22:12
to experience just that family atmosphere where we were all together cracking jokes all the time, dancing,
22:17
enjoying just our time because we knew that it was going to be the last one, you know? Yeah. So everything kind of just hit a
22:22
little bit differently. Um, and it was just an incredible experience to uh end it that way. So no, it was it was
22:28
something that I'll never forget and I miss it for sure. I think yeah, right next to
22:35
definitely not Dallas. Um, no, but actually no, I think I I would also say
22:41
I mean it's the people we we all talk about this though. It was our our cast was incredible and our crew was
22:47
outstanding. We had um you know we actually filmed a show in Atlanta, Georgia, not in Los Angeles, California,
22:54
which um hopefully we convincingly faked that maybe we convinced some of you.
22:59
Did they do that? Did they download that? Okay. But uh but yeah, we uh we had just the
23:05
most incredible people working on our show that were all um it honestly we all
23:11
had such a blast and I will never forget a single one of the the days that we got to share together. It was not an easy It
23:17
was um It wasn't simple, I should say. It It was easy because we had each other. It was easy because we love what
23:23
we were doing. And everybody there, though, had to be just as committed as everybody else. There couldn't be, you
23:29
know, any cog in the machine that wasn't pulling its its weight. And we all had
23:36
to to want to power through those really long days. And you know, we were honored, I think, to be able to do as
23:44
much of the stunt work as we were able to do, but that was because we had a team that wanted to support us being
23:49
able to do that. So, they spent the time training us and preparing our bodies to be able to handle hours and hours of
23:54
stunt days. But in order for those days to happen, you need, you know, every single person has to be on the same team
24:00
and working for the same thing. So, it really was, it's camaraderie is a good word for it. It was such a um such a
24:07
connective experience and such a like it literally felt like we all had these
24:12
like one extremely long day for three months together and then we'd come out of it and you know blinking your way out
24:18
of the casino being like what was that experience that I just had? But um but
24:23
it was it was hard work but it was completely worth it. So, I miss um I
24:29
miss that that sense that no matter who I was sitting next to or who I was having lunch with or or who I was having
24:35
a conversation with that we were all on the same page and on the same team to working together to create something
24:41
that we all felt, you know, in the best way possible. um the positive burden of
24:48
knowing that it mattered to a lot of people, knowing that you guys would show up for us, being here, getting to meet
24:54
you guys, getting to know getting to hear your stories and how The Karate Kid and how Cobra Kai has impacted so many
25:00
lives. We carried that with us on set every day and knowing that the importance of every small decision
25:06
mattered. It mattered if you could see in the deep background of a shot that somebody was wearing shoes on the mat
25:12
when you weren't supposed to. it mattered to us that you know and of course at the end of the day we're all
25:17
human and so there's plenty of slip ups and flubs and things that we learned as we went but um there is this sense of
25:24
like pride and companionship and passion for the same goal that I feel like we
25:31
all went home at the end of the night spent but like happy to be there and excited to like show up the next day at
25:37
3:00 in the morning and start it all over again. Not. Yeah, he's shaking his head like no.
25:43
Yeah, you would be fighting from like 6:00 in the morning and then we'd be
25:48
done with fighting by 2 p.m. and then we had to do the rest of the scenes until 9 10:00. We'd have like an hour and a half
25:55
drive back home. And then like I would do the thing right there was season 4 the tournament that
26:02
was like everybody would go home. I would literally get home in my car, turn it off, and fall asleep in my car in the
26:09
garage for 2 hours, and then I'd wake back up and then I'd go upstairs, take a shower, make a coffee, get back in my
26:14
car, go back to Saturday. Like, it was like for, you know, massive. Yeah, that was just darn.
26:21
And you miss And you miss that. Funny enough. Yeah, I do. That's the thing. I do. Like, it sounds
26:26
crazy. We sound like we're like Stockholm syndrome a little bit, but I swear it was like the best experience.
26:32
Like it was again it comes back to the people the like I think if any of us hadn't shown up with a smile on our face
26:38
the next day it wouldn't have been easy to get through those really tough everybody was doing that because they
26:44
wanted you know we wanted it to be be what it be what it was we yeah we didn't nobody wanted to settle for just okay everybody wanted to
26:51
deliver the what what our 110% could be that's what we wanted to show up with
26:56
and I think we all felt that and that is such a um luxury in this industry
27:03
because we didn't really have the time. We didn't really have the budget. We didn't really have a lot of the things
27:08
that it would have taken to make what I hope we delivered on. You know, we were doing that with
27:14
blood, sweat, and tears. That was grit that we were bringing to make that thing happen. Um, but it is such a a special
27:21
experience that I don't think a lot of people may maybe ever get to experience in your career or if you do, it's, you know, it's something very memorable and
27:27
special and oneoff. And I am so grateful that I got to experience it and live in that world for this many years and for
27:34
this amount of my life and, you know, that we wouldn't have it if it weren't for the the magic that was created
27:39
before us that we got to step into the world of. Um, so yeah, I I it sounds crazy to say it, but I do miss it. I
27:46
miss every every bit of those sleepless nights. Okay. All right. Just a few seconds. It'll be you guys to ask some questions.
27:51
If you have a question, want to start lining up on this side of the aisle. I'll get you all in just a few more
27:57
minutes. I'll give youall some time to start getting a nice long queue for questions here.
28:05
No, no, no. You can come back. No, you can come back. No, no, no. T, you're good. You're good. Ladies like
28:10
Oh, by the way, I'm sorry. Congratulations, by the way. I'm so sorry. Congratulations on
28:17
[Applause] I had it on my note because when I saw
28:22
the ring Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I got to watch that. Um but no no I I think y'all did a wonderful job. You know, obviously
28:28
the fan here, but if it was empty, that'd be not a good sign, but it's a good sign. You know, they're here. They're they they definitely love it. By
28:35
the way, quick story. So, Big Texas Comic- Con had a Cobra Guy panel. I
28:41
think it was last year. It was unless you're a coach with all the lame people. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I remember it
28:47
was here before. Thank you. Thank you. So, funny story. So, we didn't have enough seats. So, it was back when Mark
28:55
when Mark you sits there. That's usually my seat. So, we sat I sat there then one by one every like snug like
29:02
Yeah. So, I said, you know, and and Jolo was next here close to me. I said off off
29:12
So he goes, "No." He goes, "No, I'm not going to take your seat down. Everybody's here. Watch it." He goes,
29:18
"Sit right here." And I go, "No, I'm not going to do that.
29:23
I'm not going to do that." So I ended up sitting on the edge here next to him. So there's video.
29:31
By the way, did you also hear that story about the fan that professed her love for Rob Macho for like 10 minutes straight?
29:36
I remember audio. Yeah. There's there's audio and video
29:42
where it was a fan cube and she came up and she made it very clear. She did not have a question. She goes, "I'm just
29:48
here to talk to Ralph and profess my love for for him." So she stood at that
29:53
mic for about good 8 10 minutes just over and over. You don't understand. I
30:00
have a crush on you. You know, and he's beat red. Oh, of course. So he sent me so humble. Like
30:07
he's standing in the middle of the stage here and he's he's just flabbergasted, right? And I'm going to reenact the rest
30:12
of the cast there. They're seeing him getting red. All of them leap out of their seats with
30:17
their their cameras recording it. Yeah. Yeah. All right. I'm about to send a text as
30:22
soon as we get out of here. I'll be like, I need video. I think somebody here has video of it. They were showing me of it. But what's
30:28
that? It's on YouTube. It's on YouTube. You would have You
30:33
would just be laughing. He he afterwards he just stunned. He's like
30:39
he had no words. He had no words. He's so sweet but like people expect him to be like I don't know this like movie
30:46
Star Trek and he's not. He's like a normal guy. He's like a nice he's like a dad. He's like this. He's so sweet. He's
30:51
so and he is awesome and he is cool and he has that cool energy about him. But you can you can crack that shell and you
30:57
see he's just like nobody look at me like just let me do it. Absolutely. No, I I I didn't get
31:02
Martin's answer to this one. But what do you miss most about the Cobra Kai karate kid world?
31:09
I miss the camaraderie. Yeah, I miss that. I mean, I bought a steam tent because
31:18
steam tent. Really? Yeah. Thoroughly cold. Yeah. And you know, you want to look better, you wake up sheets and get done.
31:27
There's only so much makeup. There's only so much makeup can do, you know, and you're working really hard. You're
31:32
working late hours. to getting up early. Everything was overdone. We had too many
31:39
scenes to do in a period of time. But it's last season, you want to do it well. So I would get into this steam
31:45
tent, this tent that I bought, and I would do 20 minutes, 30 minutes every day. And then we'd go to the set and I I
31:53
would go to the set with makeup lady who lived in the same building. And uh still I didn't look good.
32:01
You know, you say to yourself, finally, you just give way to the work. Yeah.
32:06
So I I kind of like feel, you know, it's not going to be like I can go to the gym and work out for an hour and a half and
32:12
then come on the set and look appropriate. The bottom line was you gave way to the work the hell with how
32:19
you looked because the work was well written
32:24
and the scenarios were great and uh we shot 12 degree weather when we were
32:32
making that Korean when Ralph was directing in the beginning of season 6
32:37
it was in in uh Atlanta it was 12 degrees you couldn't even close your
32:43
hand but you got to make it look like 60° Korea. So if you can't wait to I miss that. I
32:50
miss the the intensity and the love that I had for the people and the scenario
32:57
that seemed to mean so much to so many people out there. We meant a lot to a
33:05
lot of people. And until you get that feedback from these people at ComicCon
33:10
or just in general, you don't know how good and how much life you brought
33:18
into some of the people's world. I never heard that during Captain Lacy.
33:23
I've done five other series. I've never heard that kind of thing. I never heard
33:29
from Rambo. I never heard it from God knows whatever that I've done it, but
33:34
from Cobra Kai, it really affected a lot of people in a very positive way.
33:39
Awesome. And that's what she I missed that. Awesome. That's great. That's great.
33:45
That's great.
33:51
By the way, she told me that guy actually inspired her to start doing karate.
33:56
That's awesome. Yeah. All right, question time. Who's up first? Hello, I'm Devotion. I'm from San
34:03
Antonio. Um, I asked this at the last Corai panel last year. Is this where you
34:09
confess your love for Robio? Okay. Oh, you saw all that, right? Yes, I did.
34:16
We all saw that. But, um, my question is I am a dancer
34:22
and an actor. So, I just want like is there any advice that y'all can give to me like while being a dancer and an
34:30
actor? Dancer. Um,
34:39
it's hard. I mean, I say the same thing over and over to people that ask for advice, which is this entertain the
34:45
entertainment industry in general is just really, really, really hard to be a part of because you get so many nos
34:52
and you get get so aggravated with yourself and you always go, you know, what am I doing wrong? Am I not practicing enough? Am I not doing this?
34:59
I'm not doing that. And and a lot of times it just comes down to patience and just not giving up. Because if you love
35:05
it enough, you just keep going. Honestly, just just keep writing that way because there's a bunch of ups and
35:11
downs throughout this industry. Even even like now the industry is a little odd. There's a bunch of things going on
35:18
but nothing at all. Um and you know we're still we did Cobra Kai for you
35:25
know sevenish years and I'm still looking for a job right now. you know,
35:30
uh, you know, being on Cobra Kai, like it's helped, but I still I'm still out there trying to find my next job, you
35:37
know, and as long as I'm persistent with it, cuz it's what I love to do, that's that's all that matters,
35:43
right? Good question. Yes, ma'am. Go ahead.
35:50
Hi, my name is Al. Um, so my question here is for Tanner. So, I just want to
35:55
know cuz I know at the end of season 6 that you and Tori um get like this job
36:03
offering or whatever and then like some people were saying that there's going to be a movie or TV show. And I just want
36:10
to know if it's still happening or anything if it's like about you and Tori. We're finding out y'all's journey
36:16
together with this new job. Um well,
36:22
you never know. Um I you know the writers and the creators
36:27
of the show they've they have all kinds of ideas that they would like to you know bring to the table that include
36:33
every single character within the universe. Um whether or not those happen
36:38
is is not kind of uh up to us or up to them. It's whether or not the networks
36:45
want to pick it up and want to make shows or movies still regarding you know our universe. But um not that I know of
36:53
at the moment, but maybe someday I would be honored to come back to play Robbie
36:58
at any point in time. So any anytime they want to go and do that, I'd be right there any second.
37:05
Yeah. Right. That's what the the fans should
37:11
uh some sort of online petition. Bring them back. Yeah. Yes, sir. Uh your question.
37:18
I just wanted to uh ask uh the group up there, what was your favorite fight
37:23
throughout the entire six seasons of the show? Who wants to take that one? Want to take that, Dennis?
37:28
I'll start it off. Uh okay. Favorite fight for me? Um I believe it was season 4, episode
37:35
either nine or 10 whenever I went up against Tannon um in the battle destroyed.
37:41
Literal butt kicked when I got my butt kick. I just every time I see that picture I'm like it's
37:47
ingrained in my mind. Literally got your Yeah, literally literally. Um yeah, that definitely has to be my my favorite. You
37:54
know, the first time I got to really have a real fight sequence with uh Tanner in front of the whole crowd and
37:59
everything. I felt that energy and I remember being 14. I was so nervous cuz I was like I wanted to do it right. I
38:04
remember there were so many times in practice I was moving so quickly and they were like they were like stand.
38:13
And then uh yeah. Yeah. So, I learned I learned so much from that fight. So, that has to be my favorite. Cool. What about you, Tener? Your
38:18
favorite fight? Me? Um, fighting Dallas, right? Yeah, of course.
38:24
Yeah. Literally kicking his butt. Yeah. Um, I still I like the I like the tag
38:31
team fight. I like the Miyagio Cobraai fight in season 6, episode 9. That was
38:37
the last time that all the Miyagio and the Cobra Kai got to fight each other and fight with each other. It's just
38:43
it's just a cool fight. Yeah. All right. All right. Good question. Thank you.
38:51
One of my favorite things about Kai is all the 80s music that comes from Johnny. Do y'all have a favorite song
38:57
that came from 80s? Oh, favorite song. I'm sorry about you, Martin. What's your favorite 80s song?
39:04
You know, there was a video that he directed, but it wasn't in the 80s. It
39:09
was um um Sweep the Leg and that was a it was a video that he
39:17
Johnny made called Sweep the Leg. But we did it I think we we did it.
39:24
Yeah, we did it before Cobra and um but my favorite song of the 80s I
39:30
mean it was a great song that I'd like to put to my western that I'm developing. It's called One of the
39:36
Living by Tina Turner and Tina Turner did it for Beyond Mad Max Beyond
39:43
Thunderdome and it was written for that movie but it was never used and it's
39:49
incredible. So if you all just listen to it one you can just easily find it on the phone. It's called One of the Living
39:57
sung by Tina Turner and nobody would know about it but it's it's a disco song
40:03
but it fits into hoof beatats and you know pictures of the west and all and
40:08
awesome. It's wonderful. Awesome. What about you guys? Favorite 80s song maybe weird.
40:14
That's Billy G. Oh, Billy Jean. That's a good one. I think I just want to have fun, right? Slumber
40:21
party scene. Yeah. What What would Lady's favorite song? Lady's favorite song is a lullabi right
40:27
now. Out cold. I'm pretty sure she got coffee on me on the couch and she's like, I'm just going to have a nap.
40:33
Okay, good stuff. Tanner, you want to take a shot or n? I grew up on 60s,7s, and 80s music, so I
40:40
can't really kind of like pick a favorite to be honest. Cuz if you grew one, you should feel.
40:49
Yeah, by Michael Jackson. Yeah, I really don't have a favorite.
40:55
You're You're more of a You're more of a metal guy, right? You like metal like and uh well uh
41:02
quite right. Yeah, I like uh ACD's Hane Killer by Judas Priest.
41:07
All right, good one. That's a good one.
41:13
Okay, just a heads up for those online. We're going to have to do rapid fire because we're running out of time. So ask your question and then we'll just
41:19
keep it moving. All right, thank you. Go ahead, man. My question is what was the most physically demanding scene to film out
41:24
of every scene? What was your one more time? What was the most physically demanding
41:29
scene? Oh, physically demanding. Quite easy scene to film through any season. You want to take that, Dallas or
41:36
season two Warner was a Any of the Warers are hard because you're just you're fighting for like 3 minutes and
41:42
you're it's just a lot. I would say the season five fight in the uh in the flagship Kai dojo. Um, we
41:51
originally filmed that as a wer and it was so complex that it couldn't end up being shown as a wer. They had all these
41:57
things they wanted to do all these special shots of different things. Well, they ended up cutting it up and
42:03
doing different shots cuz they they wanted to not miss, you know, any of the tiny beats that were happening. But
42:09
yeah, we filmed like what was it like 11 takes of it as a wer and it was like 5 minutes of straight just fighting. It
42:16
was a tiny room, so you could be seen in every frame of the fight happening. And so there was like there was not a minute
42:22
to breathe. You were fighting somebody at all. Out of time. All right. All right. Uh, next question.
42:27
Hi, I'm Zoe. I'm from Amarillo, Texas. And I wanted to um ask if you could be any other character in Cobra Kai, who
42:33
would you be? Any other character? Any other character, would you be? Well, I will probably be Tori.
42:45
Good answer. Good. That's good. Yeah, that's a good choice. Yes.
42:50
Have to be Hawk. Yeah.
42:55
Uh oh gosh. Um I don't know. I think I might have had a
43:00
lot of fun being being uh Patrick Lewis's character from this last season. Being uh Axeling.
43:07
Being Axel. That would have been really fun. Uh I would have been chosen.
43:12
Oh, good choice. Yeah. Yes, sir. Hey there. Uh, president of new agent way
43:18
singer Jeff Guy. And, uh, if you were to do an animated sequel to Cobra Kai, what
43:23
how would you what would you guys do with your characters? If we were doing an animated animated,
43:29
I think we just all have to be anime characters. I Well, I think most importantly, every kick that any of us would perform would
43:35
be flying. Like we have we would be the flying sidekick. It would be all the things that we can't pull off in real
43:40
life filming would be for sure an animation choice.
43:46
No, Samantha would be single story. I think she needs some some some
43:51
college years. All right, next question. Hey yo, what's up? Um, what's y'all's favorite karate movement of all time?
43:57
Favorite karate move of all time? I'd say the tornado kick. Tornado kick.
44:03
Yeah, that's right. Yes, sir. My I was uh the Shoil 5 kata was part of
44:10
my uh black belt test and that holds a very near and dear place in my heart. So I would say that you do when you crawl
44:17
on the wall when I Oh just like when I run up the wall. Yeah. I love when you run
44:22
like in in juvie. Well, several times. Yeah, I guess so. It's true. I don't know.
44:28
Do we have a name for that? Run up the wall. Yeah, I like Tanner goes up the wall.
44:34
Yeah, fly just flies up the wall and walks back down again and kicks you on
44:39
the way down. He's done it many times. I always thought it was I tried to do it. I broke my neck all the time.
44:46
But but I always love that move cuz it's not a kind of move you learn from
44:51
somebody else. It's kind of move you do, you create it by yourself.
44:57
Just try things, see if it works. It's very much of a dance move incorporating the violence of
45:05
our martial arts. Great. Awesome. Awesome. All right.
45:11
Yes, sir. Hi. Uh, my name is coincidentally Sam,
45:16
and my question is, uh, what's y'all's go-to process for getting into character?
45:22
Music. Yeah. I I would say music as well, but
45:28
for Samantha, it's also just like sitting down and hanging out with Ralph for five minutes and I'm like, "Oh,
45:33
yeah, that's right." You know, I don't know. He has great wisdoms and also just is a little bit intimidating still in
45:40
the kindest way possible. It reminds me to check in and be a little
45:45
music's really good for me as well. Um, taking time just to like realize what the character was going through in the
45:50
prior scenes as well. Uh, cuz you know, you mix and match with scenes. You never know, sometimes you might do a scene
45:56
later on in the show and you got to kind of figure out, okay, this happened in the script before the character's going through this. Okay, step into his shoes
46:03
and then deliver. So, that's what I think about. All right, good one. All right, we got to rapid fire now, guys. So, we're running out of time.
46:09
Hello, my name is Dan and my question is um for each one of your characters, there is an aspect of a bully, either
46:14
being the bully or being bullied. How did you take that or the choices that you made for your characters? Somebody just want to answer that question and
46:20
then we I would argue I'll give the what I think is maybe hopefully a brief helpful answer is that um in my opinion I think
46:28
we all took turns being both the bully and the bullied and I think the the thing that uh I at least took away from
46:34
that and I think a lot of us did is that um first of all perspective matters and you know the the perspective of the
46:40
person who's on the other side of that conversation is going to be able to say whether you're the good guy or the bad guy. Um, and I think the most important
46:48
lesson in all of that is to sit back, listen, and uh, your ego is is never as
46:54
valuable as the emotions of the person that you're having the conversation with. And strike first. Strike hard.
46:59
All right. And the final question of the of the panel right here. My question is for what was your relationship like with Ralph Macho in
47:06
real life? Well, Ralph is, you know, he's
47:12
he's very much about, you know, Ralph knows every word from the Godfather. Ralph broke, he worked with Kopla, you
47:19
know, and and we have a big background, a larger background in film than I do
47:25
with Phillis. Um, and you know, we're always doing imitations. We have a very
47:30
good cinematic relationship in regard to quotes and histories because he comes
47:35
he's closer to my age and you know we both love the same kind of films.
47:41
Um it's it's it's really terrific. Uh he directed us and he let me go. I got so
47:51
angry in one take at 12 degrees that I blurted the lines out with such banner.
47:56
It was all wrong. But I did it because I was so cold. And he let me go through the whole scene.
48:03
And then he says, "Man, Marty, do it for me the way you would do it." So I did it
48:09
one time and it was brilliant. And he said, "I knew you do it like that
48:16
because he understood us. There's nothing better than an actor directing
48:22
other actors." I think especially a man you've worked with for six years, it's
48:28
just uh it's a very good relationship artistically and that's what dominated
48:33
our social relationship as well. All right, good answer. Thank you so much. Hey, listen. If you did not get it, go ahead. Yes, please. Please go
48:40
ahead. [Applause]
48:46
If you did not get a uh question in, not a problem because you're going to be open right soon as we're done here.
48:51
Yeah. So go down to their tables, get in line, give yourself a selfie, photo of the works, right? You guys do everything
48:57
off. They're all weekend. They're there all weekend. Yeah. And you know, we can't we can't let you go without giving you a Ghost versus Ghost sunglasses there cuz you know,
49:06
[Applause] trouble with
49:11
[Music] [Applause] Hey, I'm out here. I appreciate y'all.
49:20
Heat.
49:27
[Applause] [Music] [Applause]
49:33
Heat.
#Film & TV Industry
#Expos & Conventions
#TV Shows & Programs