DJ Qualls at Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo, April 2023

For anyone who attends a comic and entertainment convention where DJ Qualls is present, it’s sure to be a great time.

While he doesn’t consider himself a seasoned convention guest, he understands the importance of providing a unique experience. His panels at Creation Entertainment’s Supernatural-themed conventions have involved “The World’s Shittiest Game Show”, where anyone who asks him a question has to guess a number between one and 125 and whoever gets closest to his number wins a prize. Prizes have ranged from handfuls of vitamin C and half-used pads of sticky notes to mini bottles of hotel shampoo.

“It’s one of my favorite things to do in the world,” he said. “It just came to me. I’m like ‘what’s the shittiest game show I can possibly think of?’ It’s guess a number - actually the shittiest game show would be guess which hand this is in but that would be impossible with that many people.”

Recently he decided to upgrade his prizes from whatever he could find in his bag to his latest obsession: tea cups and saucers. He admitted during his panel at the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo with fellow Supernatural actors Alaina Huffman and Mark Sheppard that he had spent the last four weeks “chain vaping and buying 18th century Chinese porcelain.” In an interview with Qualls after the panel, he said that he buys them at auction and finds everything about the 18th century fascinating.

“I overbought them so I’m going to give them away; I bought them to the point where it makes me look a little nuts,” he joked. “So actually I still have the shittiest game show but make the prize a little less shitty.”

When he isn’t handing out his own keepsakes, he is receiving them from fans. His most memorable comes from Huntsville, Ala. where a fan presented him a homemade box with his name written in wooden bubble letters. Inside was a brass Chinese lion protection statue that was also clearly “a giant brass dildo”.

“That really is my defining moment,” he said. “Somebody saw that and thought of me.”

In 2023, Qualls is signed on for all of Creation Entertainment’s “The Road So Far… The Road Ahead” Tour as the official host for Friday Night Karaoke. He is requiring costumes for each show and will be announcing a theme via his Twitter.

He loves the effort and dedication that convention goers make to creating costumes of their favorite characters. One that stands out to him was an attendee at a Germany convention that was dressed as a cup of noodles.

“I like weirdness but weirdness just for the sake of being weird,” he said. “Austin and Portland self-identify as weird, which I think is pretentious and stupid. People who are weird can’t help it; it’s painful and alienating but it certainly is fascinating.”

Getting to be a part of a show like Supernatural introduced Qualls to people from all over the world. He likes to think of his appearances at conventions as mini vacations, filled with friends, acquaintances, and most importantly, family.

“I really realized when we were filming… that this was temporary,” he said during the panel. “It can never happen again and the idea of being present and really enjoying things… we get to be together 15/20 times a year but for how long? So really every time that we’re together it’s like ‘I’m going to savor this. I’m going to know that this is a family and really appreciate it.’”