It’s Saturday, 1:32 pm. As I took my bold step forward and cleared my throat, his attention was directed elsewhere, but after waiting in line for an hour and meeting other fellow Mario fans, I was more ready than ever. In that moment, I was excited as Mario when he smells Peach baking a cake, or Luigi during the ‘Year of Luigi’. I began grinning from ear to ear, and as I spoke up, saying, “my friend, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you!” he turned his gaze towards me and locked eyes, and soon grew a smile as warm as a fire flower. I gratefully reached out my hand, and soon Charles Martinet gently shook my hand, a soft handshake that truly projected his mellow and kind spirit.
Although I’ve narrated this entire interaction thus far as if I were meeting some A-list celebrity, sincerely- it just felt like catching up with a friend I have known all my life… Or at least the man behind the voice I’ve known nearly as long as my parent’s.
My Conversations with Charles Martinet
As I stood at Charles Martinet’s booth at Orlando’s Collect-a-Con, I quickly opened up to Charles about how excited I was to meet him, and how when I was younger, my mind was blown away when I watched a video of him performing Mario’s voice on Youtube for a fan, and I knew someday I’d have to meet him! He seemed flattered, but had probably heard that before many times, so I knew it was time to pull something out somebody else couldn’t quite replicate.
I soon announced to him, “Sir- I have a present for you!”, which seemed to instantly grab his attention! From the folder in my hand, I pulled out two pieces of art, and placed them on the table, which he then slipped on his glasses to grab a view of them. I pointed to my digital drawing of Cat Mario (now printed out), which I explained I drew on my iPad and had a lot of fun experimenting with new art techniques. I then pointed out my other piece of art, much more messy and hand-drawn, which I explained I drew when I was 4 years old. It depicted Luigi in a ghost mansion, and I noted I loved the haunting mystery of the Luigi Mansion series when I was younger.
Charles took an instant fondness to the art, and took a nice glance at both pieces, sharing “I still draw like this today!” as he lifted the Luigi Mansion art with a chuckle. I shared with him my personal story that Mario was the first character I ever drew, how I became obsessed with drawing him over and over again, and how one time I drew him all the way from my house and to Disney so “practice would make perfect”. I added “because of Mario however, I am now an artist, and because of how much I drew him, my art style and characters are seriously cartoonish and Mario-ish.” With a proud smile I added, “I aim to do great things with my art skills.”
He found this obsession I had when I was younger rather funny, and my art to be very impressive, so impressive in fact- he grabbed the attention of his manager, busy selling Mario merchandise a table over, and began speaking just loud enough for her and everyone close in line to hear, “Look, this is what his art looked like when he was four,” he called out lifting the Luigi art, then added, “and now this is what his art looks like now!” now lifting the Cat Mario art. The manager found the pieces to be very cute as her face lit up, and a few friends I had made in line smiled, as I had previously showed them the art I was going to give to him, and smiled like proud parents!“Now this is what progress looks like! Yes, now this is what progress looks like…” He laughed as he put the pieces of art down on the table. It’s true, Charles now owns my very own Mario artwork.
I then followed up by handing him a letter with a super mushroom sticker keeping the flap down, as I told him it was fanmail I wrote for him, where inside I shared some fun and unique ways Mario has influenced my life. He stated with pleased grin, a pleased grin just like I had when Wii Rainbow Road was chosen as the last course for the Booster Course, saying, “that is very kind of you, I’ll make sure to read it later today.”
The Photo Opp
He then asked whether I’d like to get a photo with him now, to which I responded with an instant yes! I handed my phone over to the nice lady standing in line taking photos for all us Mario fans (true MVP btw, God bless that lady), and I went over and posed with Charles behind his booth as we grabbed a few epic photos! We posed for a variety of photos as he narrated with his Mario voice, saying lines such as “Yippie, Wahoo, Let’s-a-go!”, the three iconic lines of Mr. Gaming himself. These simple moments, although probably repetitive for him, were so exhilarating for me, as I felt near tears in my eyes just because of how charming it was to hear Mario’s voice in person.
I’m in no way a freak for celebrities or actors, but Charles is the voice behind the one character that genuinely made me an artist, writer, and so animated, so I was so very thankful in these moments.
Bit much?
As the lady put down the phone and gave us the thumbs-up, I asked Charles if I could give him a hug before he sat back down, which he seemed a bit surprised by, but seemed more than willing to, so I then gave him a big warmly embrace as he said in his joyful italian tone, “Thank you-a so much!”, and in that little split-second, it was as if I were hugging Super Mario himself.
“Signed by Mario, Luigi, and Charles”
As I returned to the front of the booth to grab my belongings, he noticed my copy of Mario Kart Wii was sitting on the table, and took the initiative to sign the copy for me for free, despite me not paying for a signing! He asked for my name, which I answered was “Caleb”. He began signing in red sharpie as if ‘Mario’ were signing the copy, alongside a written ‘Wahoo!’, and then in green he signed as ‘Luigi’, with ‘Help!’ written out, referencing in the photo Luigi is being pushed aside by Mario in their invisible karts on the box art! He also signed his own name in blue on the bottom, and added “Your da super star! Your pals,” where Maio, Luigi, and Charles were written below.
As he signed this, taking his delicate time, I shared with him how Mario Kart Wii was my first video game, and how it brought my dad, sister, uncle, and I together, and how my very first memories playing video games were with my family as we raced across the game’s 32 tracks! I shared how the magic and subtext storytelling of Super Mario Galaxy is my favorite among all video games I’ve played, and how it has inspired me to create fictional worlds as well, and how I aim to become a published writer! I also shared his career starting off as an actor is inspiring to me as I too am an actor at my local theater, and aim to do great things with my skills, and yes- even how everyone at my theater knows I’m the biggest Mario nerd and always do his voice when asked.
I also added many of these friends I gathered to come see the ‘Super Mario Bros. Movie‘ with me in theaters days after it came out, and we had a group of 40+ friends show up ready for the film! I mentioned how I quite literally got out of my seat when I heard your Mario voice cameo come from the italian playing at the arcade, which he belly laughed at the mention of, saying “that’s very kind of you Caleb”.
Level Complete!
He found all these tidbits of stories seemingly charming to hear, and I could tell he was genuinely listening. After I shared all these stories however, with a fluffy-warm voice he stated, “Well, it’s been a pleasure meeting you Caleb, you’re a very bright and kind young man. Thank you for stopping by today.” With the most grateful smile I believe I’ve ever given, I nodded my head, chuckling, “It’s been my pleasure sir!”, and I reached out my hand one more time as we exchanged shakes. Somehow from my tongue slipped “Love you man, thank you,” but then I purposely stated, “God bless you brother”. He seemed as if he hadn’t heard both of those from a fan before due to his temporary freeze, but still seemed grateful after he processed what I said and waved goodbye with a cheery smile. As I walked out of line, I turned back around and took one more good look at him, thankful for what just happened.
As I took a seat in a corner of the building alongside a bunch of other resting attendees, I stared at my signed copy of Mario Kart Wii, absolutely shook. The first game that led me down this lifelong Mario obsession was now signed by Mario, Luigi, and yes, Charles. I felt the most grateful happiness I’ve ever had for meeting someone. It truly didn’t feel like meeting a celebrity, it felt like meeting a life-long friend. Now, is that delusional- you may ask? To that I say, no. I’ve known Super Mario longer than most people in my life, and that simple character has inspired so much creativity in my life. For that, I’m eternally grateful.
After the wonderful meetup, I continued throughout the day going from Pokémon booth to booth, but the interaction kept replaying in my mind, and I kept sharing my story of meeting Charles with every person wearing something Mario related that walked by. Very often I’d go out of my way to walk by the meet-and-greet booths just to get a quick glance at Charles and make sure I actually saw him for real!
“Let’s-a-go have-a some more fun!” -Super Mario
One of my favorite quotes is from 2017’s ‘The Greatest Showman’, where P.T. Barnum (Hugh Jackman) is questioned how he feels that everything he sells is ‘fake’. P.T. responds, saying, “Do these smiles seem fake? It doesn’t matter where they come from. The joy is real.” The Super Mario series continues to innovate and remain bursting full of creativity, something I long to do as a creator as well. Mario’s voice caused me to go bouncing off the walls as a kid, where I copy his voice and pretend to be him. You could argue Charles is popular because of a fictional character as a negative thing, but yet his voice was enough to lighten up a teenager, clearly with some mental difficulties, glow up with joy when he heard Charles speaking as Mario and Luigi, causing the boy to become overwhelmingly excited, and bringing his mother to tears.
Fiction will forever hold abounding power, because characters and stories surpass the limitations of reality, and have the power to inspire, change, and bring together thousands for the better; and as for Mario, billions. The true beauty of covering pop culture is seeing the positive impact it makes on others. So yes, I truly met Mr. Gaming, the icon of Nintendo, everyone’s favorite plumber, Super Mario.
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