Adult Swim Fans Remember George Lowe’s Live-Action Acts of Awesomeness
George Lowe may have left this mortal world, but the tales of Space Ghost’s adventures are immortal. After all, the superhero himself has been dead since before we were born.
Yesterday morning, the Adult Swim community learned the solemn news that Lowe, 67, the founding voice of adult animated comedy on Cartoon Network, had passed away following a long illness. Lowe’s performance as the titular character on the animated, surrealist, scripted talk show Space Ghost Coast to Coast changed the course of TV history and has brought joy to bizarro cartoon fans for over three decades, but it was Lowe’s in-real-life commitment to the Space Ghost character and his warm embrace of the Space Ghost community that made him a living yet always-dead legend to his friends, fans and contemporaries.
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As the animation world mourns one of its most important and influential voices, those who were lucky enough to meet Lowe in person or see him don an actual Space Ghost costume and hop on C-SPAN for a hilarious publicity stunt celebrated how Lowe didn’t just play the intergalactic, deceased superhero-turned-talk-show-host — he lived Space Ghost.
Lowe’s enthusiasm for the Space Ghost character and willingness to slip out of the sound booth and into some spandex for a bit, a special, a promo or even just a convention appearance were big reasons why the Space Ghost Coast to Coast fandom feels like something more cultural and profound than just a bunch of adults who like a cartoon about an undead, superpowered, sociopathic Johnny Carson.
In a Reddit thread about Lowe's passing, Space Ghost Coast to Coast fans shared their own stories about run-ins with the real-life superhero, with the top commenter writing, “I had the pleasure of meeting George nearly 20 years ago. He hit on my wife and spilled coffee on my autograph. It was hilarious.”
Another fan had a more personal experience with Lowe and his loveliness, adding, “He was my neighbor :(. I always loved running into him on walks. Him and his dog were so sweet. The first time I thought he was just some old man with a crazy voice like space ghost. I was a huge fan and didn’t even know I had met him until I ran into him again and just asked, ‘Hey, are you space ghost?’ He went, ‘Ah my semi fame precedes me.’”
“This is a sad one. I remember seeing him at Dragon Con, and they always put him in the most remote, hidden rooms for his panel,” one more Space Ghost fan recalled. “It was always worth it to find whatever oubliette they threw him in because he was hilarious to see, and very nice to anyone that searched him out.”
Throughout the online Space Ghost fandom, stories about Lowe’s approachability and affection for the greater Space Ghost family paint the picture of an artist who loved and lived his work, and his absence weighs heavy on everyone who would rather hunt down and destroy a family of fire ants than spend another second talking to Conan O'Brien.
