At the height of *NSYNC’s popularity, it’s likely those of the geek persuasion probably didn’t have a sense of kinship with the boy band’s ravenous fanbase. But forget the screaming fans–a geek was embedded among the chart-topping pop hit makers in the form of Joey Fatone!
(And let’s face it, he probably wasn’t the only one–looking at you, Timberlake.)
Fatone was one of many celebrity guests to attend Rhode Island Comic Con 2017 and was nice enough to chat with AiPT! in the minutes leading up to Day 2 November 11. What followed was a great conversation about, what else, but Superman, geeking out and hot dogs!
What’d you expect us to talk about, *NSYNC?
AiPT!: What do you enjoy about coming to events like Rhode Island Comic Con?
Joey Fatone: You know what, it’s a combination of a lot of different things. One, I haven’t been to Rhode Island in a while. Two, it’s fun to do comic cons because you get to go and, obviously, get a chance to meet fans and people you maybe haven’t seen in a while since I haven’t been touring with *NSYNC, obviously, and people remember me from so many different things, which is pretty interesting. Obviously, the money doesn’t suck, so it’s not too bad…
AiPT: Haha!
Fatone: It’s fun to do. It’s weird because it’s a combination of everything and it’s a fun thing to do to be out here and just say thanks to your fans. A lot of of these celebrities aren’t in Rhode Island all the time, so it’s a good chance to do that–plus, I buy a bunch of shit.
AiPT: Well, I was just going to ask that. Are you a comic reader or collector?
Joey Fatone: Yeah–Superman. I collect stuff, so it’s itching me right now not having gone over there yet, but hopefully at some point I’ll get over there and, yeah, I will probably buy some stuff.
AiPT: Do you keep up with any comic series?
Joey Fatone: Uh, I don’t keep up that much as far as reading, I just collect. I collect a lot of Superman stuff, a lot of Star Wars stuff. Obviously, I have two girls, so either it’s Harry Potter or Pokemon. So I’m always trying to look for stuff like that too.
AiPT: What are you currently looking forward to in the geek world?
Joey Fatone: Well, the best part about being here is I get to see a lot of people from my childhood. I mean, you have half the people from Revenge of the Nerds, which is frickin’ awesome. It’s kind of things like that I actually enjoy doing, because I used to come to these conventions when I was younger. There’s one called Spooky Empire in Orlando I used to go to–I still do–it’s kind of a horror convention. Then I just started doing these and got asked to be part of it and do a signing. It’s good. It takes a person to definitely do these things. Some celebrities either enjoy it or don’t.
AiPT: Finally, when you’re not at events like this, what are you working on?
Joey Fatone: I opened up a hot dog place called Fat One’s–it’s in Orlando, Florida.
AiPT: Are you from Florida?
Joey Fatone: Originally from New York, but I’ve been living in Florida now, gosh, since I was 13. So I’ve been there forever. And I started hosting a show for Impractical Jokers called Impractical Jokers: After Party, and that’s a show that we’ve done 13 episodes for so far and now we’re signing on to do another 27, which is great.
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