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When you’re attending a convention, it’s important to be prepared. Make sure you’ve planned out your schedule, packed snacks, and budgeted properly.

Oh, and try to pack more than one pair of socks. Forgetting socks during a convention is not pleasant, just ask Critical Role’s Sam Riegel. The voice actor went to Emerald City Comic Con 2026 with only one pair of socks, which forced him to get creative. By the time he came onstage for Sunday’s Critical Role spotlight panel, things were getting a bit smelly. Needless to say, his Critical Role castmates gave him a hard time.

“He forgot to pack any socks. That was pretty great,” Taliesin Jaffe says. “He’s been wearing the same socks for I don’t know how many days, so he turned them inside out like that’s going to help,” Ashley Johnson adds.

Sam blushed as his foot hygiene became the topic of conversation. “He literally said, I forgot all socks,” Jaffe continues. “He also worked out in them,” Johnson says.  

The cast reminded Sam that Travis Willingham had offered to give him some extra socks, but he had declined. “We offered to lend you socks,” Jaffe reminds Sam.

“I will take them,” Riegel says as if he was surrendering. “I’m too proud to ask, but my feet really stink right now.”

It was at that moment that Ashley Johnson offered to do something brave (and chaotic). “Wait, I want a whiff,” Johnson says. And so, in front of an audience of Critical Role fans, Ashley Johnson sniffed Sam Riegel’s three-day-old socks (that he had worked out in). “You know what, it’s not as bad as it could be. There’s a little bit of a corn chip smell,” Johnson says.

Only at a Critical Role panel.

Watch the official Critical Role: Adventures in Exandria panel from Seattle's Emerald City Comic Con 2026 here:

With two animated series on Prime Video, Campaign 4 in full swing, and so much more Exandrian lore to come, Critical Role is showing no signs of slowing down. That's why the adventuring party at Popverse are here to bring you everything we can from those nerdy-ass voice actors & Bo., including:

• Critical Role's Campaign 4 characters ranked
• How to watch Critical Role in order
• Ways for you to relive the Critical Role panel from ECCC '26
• Taliesin Jaffe on playing Mollymauk Tealeaf for Campaign 2 vs. playing him for Prime Video
• Matt Mercer's homebrew warrior class (created originally for Vin Diesel)

...and much, much more. Roll initiative, player. Magic awaits.