One of the
figures in this image is producer Toshifumi Yoshida of Viz Video. The other
is a plastic figure of the late Dean Martin. Both have a reputation of
spending time in bars, and both were on hand for the Ohayocon celebrity
roast on the convention's opening night. The roast raised money for the
American Cancer Society. This site promised to keep the roast write-up
clean, so we won't go into details on things such as the "flaming Trish"
joke that popped up during the proceedings. And there's no way we could
reproduce Yoshida's alleged comments about cigars. We can mention that
the first story told about the producer came from costumer Dave Zyn, who
said that Toshi got jealous of his sister once and tried to squash her
by covering her in cushions and jumping up and down on her. "Where the
hell did you get that from?" said an amazed Yoshida, something that happened
several times during the roast.
The video
company combination came when David Williams of AD Vision took the podium,
with a tale which was supposed to be about the first time he met Yoshida
at an unnamed California convention. "We saw somebody on the floor, crawling,
looking up and saying `I can not find my hotel room.' [My friend] looked
down and said, `I'd like you to meet Toshi.'" When Yoshida said that wasn't
quite true, Williams joked that "Since Toshi has spent a good three-quarters
of his life passed out, he won't remember anyhow...I like looking at his
work because that means more sales for my stuff, because nobody will be
watching his." Williams decided to demonstrate good video production to
Yoshida by giving him DVD's of his Dirty Pair dubs.
The most
effective shot came from California superfan Alex Alvarez, who has a long
memory. Recalling the time in the mid-90's when Viz was part of the "J.A.I.L.E.D."
anti-piracy group of video companies, Alvarez presented to the roast a
Ranma 1/2 audio CD autographed by Toshida...a SM disc. "We didn't know
about SM CD's back then," Toshi protested. Another costumer, Mark Mandolia,
added "I've been there from the beginning, finding him crawling on the
floor in compromising circumstances...he was the person who the fans knew
could match him up with something that would put them on the same floor."
When Yoshida replied to Mandolia, "Didn't I share a bed with you at that
convention?" Mandolia came back, "But we were separated by certain
people."
Steve Bennett
of I.C. Entertainment, the first Ohayocon roast victim, stayed home for
this event but sent along a drawing to celebrate the event. Scott Frazier,
who was the subject of the 2002 roast (and wore an elegant black dress
in 2003), said of Yoshida, "He's a modest man with much to be modest about...he's
always looking around for a company who would pay him what he's worth,
which would break the minimum wage laws...he fell down the stairs with
a full gallon of bourbon but he didn't spill a drop - he kept his mouth
closed." Frazier ended his comments by saying that Yoshida looked like
"King Chicken" from Duckman. In response, Yoshida said "The American
Cancer Society thanks you - I was hoping it was going to be AA but I couldn't
find a sponsor."
One of the
figures in this image is producer Toshifumi Yoshida of Viz Video. The other
is a plastic figure of the late Dean Martin. Both have a reputation of
spending time in bars, and both were on hand for the Ohayocon celebrity
roast on the convention's opening night. The roast raised money for the
American Cancer Society. This site promised to keep the roast write-up
clean, so we won't go into details on things such as the "flaming Trish"
joke that popped up during the proceedings. And there's no way we could
reproduce Yoshida's alleged comments about cigars. We can mention that
the first story told about the producer came from costumer Dave Zyn, who
said that Toshi got jealous of his sister once and tried to squash her
by covering her in cushions and jumping up and down on her. "Where the
hell did you get that from?" said an amazed Yoshida, something that happened
several times during the roast.
The video
company combination came when David Williams of AD Vision took the podium,
with a tale which was supposed to be about the first time he met Yoshida
at an unnamed California convention. "We saw somebody on the floor, crawling,
looking up and saying `I can not find my hotel room.' [My friend] looked
down and said, `I'd like you to meet Toshi.'" When Yoshida said that wasn't
quite true, Williams joked that "Since Toshi has spent a good three-quarters
of his life passed out, he won't remember anyhow...I like looking at his
work because that means more sales for my stuff, because nobody will be
watching his." Williams decided to demonstrate good video production to
Yoshida by giving him DVD's of his Dirty Pair dubs.
The most
effective shot came from California superfan Alex Alvarez, who has a long
memory. Recalling the time in the mid-90's when Viz was part of the "J.A.I.L.E.D."
anti-piracy group of video companies, Alvarez presented to the roast a
Ranma 1/2 audio CD autographed by Toshida...a SM disc. "We didn't know
about SM CD's back then," Toshi protested. Another costumer, Mark Mandolia,
added "I've been there from the beginning, finding him crawling on the
floor in compromising circumstances...he was the person who the fans knew
could match him up with something that would put them on the same floor."
When Yoshida replied to Mandolia, "Didn't I share a bed with you at that
convention?" Mandolia came back, "But we were separated by certain
people."
Steve Bennett
of I.C. Entertainment, the first Ohayocon roast victim, stayed home for
this event but sent along a drawing to celebrate the event. Scott Frazier,
who was the subject of the 2002 roast (and wore an elegant black dress
in 2003), said of Yoshida, "He's a modest man with much to be modest about...he's
always looking around for a company who would pay him what he's worth,
which would break the minimum wage laws...he fell down the stairs with
a full gallon of bourbon but he didn't spill a drop - he kept his mouth
closed." Frazier ended his comments by saying that Yoshida looked like
"King Chicken" from Duckman. In response, Yoshida said "The American
Cancer Society thanks you - I was hoping it was going to be AA but I couldn't
find a sponsor."
