Last month, from August 9th-12th, I had the pleasure of attending LeakyCon, a Harry Potter fan conference in Chicago, Illinois. People from literally around the world came to the Windy City just to take part in this wonderful con that was born out of one of the most magical fandoms ever.

While I was there, in between taking in all the formal and informal programming that the con had to offer, I got to sit down with a few of the guests for some interviews. Now, while there were some cast members from the movies and other people directly involved in the making of the movie were in attendance, there were also other guests from all walks of entertainment. For example, just take a look at these two interviews that I recorded exclusively for ScienceFiction.com and The Pretentious Film Majors.

My first interviewee found fame on the internet after his video ‘The Mysterious Ticking Noise’ went viral in 2007. His name is Neil Cicierega and he created the Potter Puppet Pals. Check out the whole interview below where we talk about what inspired him to use puppets, what it was like going on tour with wizard rock band Harry and the Potters, and what he thought of the actual cast from the films wanting to recreate his video:

The second interview is with a few really cool guys from a little TV show on Fox called ‘Glee’. Whether you know them collectively as The Warblers or 36TD, individually they are Curt Mega, Riker Lynch, Titus Makin Jr., and Dominic Barnes. But the big question is what exactly they’re doing at a Harry Potter con. Well, like I mentioned in my overview of LeakyCon, the focus of this convention wasn’t just limited to the Harry Potter fandom, but many, many other ones as well such as ‘Doctor Who’, ‘The Avengers’, ‘The Hunger Games’, ‘Star Wars’, Starkid, and even ‘Glee’. So, in our chat, the five of us discussed what tied them to the Potterverse and why there’s a crossover of fans. Check out the full interview below:

I had a great time interviewing all of these guys and just being at LeakyCon this year. If you’d like more information on how you can go next year in Portland or London, check out LeakyCon.com!