Words cannot sufficiently communicate how meaningful the show “Psych” (2006-2014, plus three movies… or even four, prayer hands emoji) is to me and my family. It’s the show that ran in the background of my childhood and that I really fell in love with in 2020 during a full rewatch with my parents, particularly my mom. The show stars James Roday Rodriguez as Shawn Spencer and Dulé Hill as Burton Guster, best friends who run a psychic detective agency— where the clairvoyance is fake, the investigation is real and the silliness is foundational. “Psych” formed the core of my sense of humor and my connection to my parents’ generation of media, and I was lucky enough to pull up last Saturday to its “Psychodelphia” convention. It was, as a Shawn Spencer constrained by the PG guidelines of a 2000s-TV network would say, freaking awesome.
I accomplished all I set out to, plus some bonuses. I made “convention friends” before I even got off the elevator; everyone at the con was wildly friendly and on occasion even gave me free, Psych-related stuff. I left with a pocketful of stickers, charms and keychains for zero dollars. The four panels were joyful and genuinely fun— each had a dedicated theme and featured a selection of the actors present, freeing up those not on stage for their photo-op/meet-and-greet/autograph-session obligations. Curt Smith was there, appearing one time for the first panel of the day (“Our Love of the ’80s & the Sexy Mystique of Curt Smith”) and then leaving, I guess. Bro got roped into appearing on like five episodes of a show 10 years ago, became good friends with one of the lead actors, made bank attending an hour of a convention for said show he had five appearances on and then peaced out back to, presumably, preparing for his upcoming tour from which he will make some more bank. Good for him.
During the “Curt Smith” panel, the audience was regaled with stories about the making of “Psych,” and Roday’s and show creator Steve Franks’s love of the ’80s that contributed to it. Smith admitted that, despite being a pillar of ’80s culture, he does not actually know what Roday and Franks are referencing half the time— he was, in his words, “busy in the ’80s,” with the majority of his time occupied by being an international rock star. Forgivable, I suppose.
At one point, Smith recounted filming an episode in Vancouver and going out with the cast for karaoke. Smith, a noted karaoke hater, was convinced to do a karaoke rendition of “Everybody Wants to Rule the World,” and not a single person in that karaoke bar noticed. “Psych” producer Chris Henze was prompted by an audience member to ask Smith why everybody wants to rule the world in the first place; Smith replied, after some hedging, “I’ve really thought about this a lot, and I’ve come to the conclusion that… I just don’t know.”
Franks complimented Smith on his comedic timing and instinct when delivering his role (a wholly tortured version of himself) in “Psych,” going so far as to inquire as to why the chart-topping musician doesn’t hold more acting credits. Smith, with his quintessential dry delivery, replied, “I have a job, Steve.”
The next panel was headlined by Jazmyn Simon, who is quite possibly the most beautiful woman in the world. She was accompanied by Dulé Hill, who is her husband in real life and on-screen in “Psych.” Though titled “A Conversation with Jazmyn Simon, Plus One” and ostensibly centered around Simon and her various relationships with Hill, the panel ended up covering a range of topics, from parenthood to “The Wonder Years” (which Hill and Simon both appeared on) to Hill’s stage work and favorite nicknames for Gus on “Psych” (“Sillypants Jackson” took the gold) and Simon’s relationships with the fanbase and other members of the “Psych” cast. I spent most of the panel enthralled by how cool Simon was, if I’m being honest; I took very few notes.
Due to hullabaloo surrounding my photo-op, I missed about half of the third panel of the day, which featured Timothy Omundson, Kurt Fuller and Corbin Bernsen as the “Men of the SBPD,” moderated by Kirsten Nelson (who played police chief Karen Vick). The portion I did catch was suitably funny. Fuller had the audience in stitches describing the filming of a season four episode revolving around a murder disguised as a shark attack, the first and most significant time he made Omundson break during filming. As Fuller’s character, Woody the Coroner, drew the murder weapon on the corpse (long story), Omundson couldn’t keep it together, and it took them “20 minutes” just to get “two lines out.”
Omundson, who experienced a devastating stroke in 2017 that left him “wobbly on his feet” both physically and metaphorically when it came to reentering the world of acting, remains a fan-favorite and duly delighted audience members with his humor and striking presence. When a fan expressed her gratitude that Omundson is still on this Earth at all, much less continuing to contribute his iconic acting to “Psych,” Omundson, with characteristic deadpan, interrupted to ask, “Why, what happened?”
Bernsen portrayed Henry Spencer, Shawn’s father, on the show and took advantage of his time on stage to commit to the bit. He answered most of the questions I heard with jokes or lore-dumps that he made up on the spot, at one point detailing an improvised family tree for the Spencers (complete with a grandfather named Herman) to explain how Henry could afford a house on the beach with a cop’s salary.
The fourth and final panel of the day was objectively hilarious in both conception and execution. “The Ones That Got Away” featured Roday, costar Maggie Lawson (“Juliet O’Hara,” detective and Shawn’s eventual wife on the show), Rachael Leigh Cook and Néstor Carbonell, who played Shawn’s and Juliet’s temporary love interests in seasons four and five.
One recollection from the cast on stage concerned the production of “Mr. Yin Presents…,” the season four finale directed by Roday that forced Shawn to choose between saving longtime crush Juliet (Lawson) and then-girlfriend Abigail (Cook) in a Hitchcock-themed soirée. As the actors discussed their various predicaments—Lawson tied to a clocktower and Cook tied under an ocean pier with the tide rapidly rising—it was revealed that Cook filmed in a heated water tank, whereas Lawson was legitimately tied to a clocktower. There were safety mats and redundancies, of course, but, as Roday recalled it, laughing, “I don’t think you could do it this way now, but back then… we just hauled a crane up to the top of a clocktower and strapped her in.” But Lawson was very brave, and in Roday’s own words, they really had no choice: “You can’t do a sh***y Hitchcock tribute. You gotta pull out all the stops.”
My photo-op with Roday was between panels two and three. The ops themselves were a little disorganized, with just one photographer at the event, but the cast members in attendance were most definitely victims of the higgledy-piggledy more than I. Photo-ops were scheduled back-to-back, each time-frame given a mere 15 minutes at most; considering the several hundred people who stepped forward when Roday’s photo-ops were called and the fact that my own op, scheduled for 3 p.m., took place at 3:45, I fear they did not keep to schedule.
While the actual time I spent meeting Roday and taking the photo was brief, it was really nice, because he was really nice. Despite half a dozen convention employees trying to push fans through as fast as possible, he took the time to shake my hand and thank me for coming out; immediately following the photo, he paid attention while I quickly told him how much I appreciate him and his work (specifically “Pushing Dead” (2016), in which he starred, but of course “Psych” as well), and told me how much he appreciated that before I was ushered on my way. All of the cast members were incredibly genuine in all of their interactions with fans, both one-on-one and from the stage. I bought an autograph of Hill’s day-of, feeling sad I couldn’t afford his and Roday’s “duo” op at the time I acquired my tickets, and Hill was kind (and humorous) enough to draw himself into my Roday photograph alongside his signature.
In short, though the show ended 11 years ago and movies come out sporadically, I remain as staunch a “Psych” fan as I have been since childhood, with perhaps a reinforced faith in this cast and their authenticity on-screen and off. I was vaguely worried about “meeting my heroes,” but I have to say, if your heroes are anything like these incredible people, I cannot recommend meeting them enough. I eagerly await Peacock’s green lighting of the fourth movie.
