Tony said he's not usually comfortable doing these kinds of events, although he does love us/his fans. But he wanted to do it for these guys (the Lucky actors). I think everyone of us knew just how "lucky" we were to be there.
When Greg congratulated Tony on his Emmy win the night before, Tony told him he did a great comatose performance. He explained how he thought of all three Lucky's during those scenes which he submitted on his emmy reel.
He talked about how he and Genie gave Jonathan his first guitar one year as a birthday present. The first song he played was Don't Fence Me In and that memory, along with flashing on each of the 3 Lucky's, gave the emotional jolt to those scenes. He always wanted to sing the song onscreen with Jonathan, but they never did.
It was his idea to sing it to a comatose Lucky. Tony feels these shows were his best work.
Tony had high praise for each of the young actors. He called Jonathan his favorite film star, was proud of Jacob's upcoming Broadway role in Beauty and the Beast and very pleased that Greg was engaged to a beautiful "Dutch" actress. Tony joked that they were going to be honeymooning in his apartment, said he had the cameras set up. The audience roared with laughter, as Greg made it clear he wasn't keen on that.
Greg was the moderator and he had the stack of questions from the fans, but there wasn't time to ask more than a handful. When he asked JJ what the best advice was that he got from Tony, JJ automatically included Genie in his answer. He talked about how Tony and Genie parented him as an actor, moreso Tony as he got older, since he was a man.
Tony told all the actors that they should trust their instincts. I think it was JJ who said that he was doing something and TPTB called down and said he should do it another way. Tony advised him with a wink to do it how he wanted to do it. JJ feels Tony's presence on every job he has.
Jacob talked about how Tony advised him to stay in the pocket, stay in the moment. He said that Tony once grabbed his shirt and smacked him and he stayed in that scene! Tony said the scene worked by showing where the boundaries were between father and son.
Greg related how he was introduced to Tony and Tony said, "so you're the new Lucky?" Then he left not long after for a vacation. Greg asked when he was coming back and he said, "3 1/2 months." Lots of laughter.
Tony said you have to learn to walk, be true to yourself and let it come into the character. He said every actor is an individual and unique and brought something different to the character of Lucky. He told them to find what was unique and be their own creation.
Tony said everyone was missing JJ's Lucky, but he told JY that he had to find his own Lucky. He said we're your parents, we'll love you anyway. He said to remember you're a Spencer, not a Jackson! Tony also told JY that it's only natural that sometimes Mom and Dad don't get along.
Greg asked Tony about being an iconic actor. LOL, at first he read it as ironic Tony talked about Gloria and how she wanted to underplay the soap part and overplay the opera. She believed the audience should be led, not followed. She said you have to surprise the audience, not do focus groups and find out what couple the audience wants and go with that couple. He said that's the way they do it now. He said when they did force Gloria to do a focus group, she'd force a smile and count the hours until it was over.
They were asked about their most embarrassing moments. Tony talked about how he used to like to do his bed scenes in the nude. He said it was common courtesy to ask the ladies first. He said, "of course, Genie wasn't onboard for that. She said, No F'ing way!! We all laughed!! He said she was the smartest one. Then he told a story about how Emma Samms said whatever you like. Tony said he was a method actor. The audience was laughing the whole time Tony was talking about this. He said one time they were in bed and the phone rang and he didn't know what to do. Emma said go for it and he did. He said there was gales of laughter from the crew and other actors and he never got nude again!
JJ said he learned from "Dad's" mistake and couldn't top that. JJ then told the story about how he was wearing a wet suit when they did a swamp scene. He said he had to use the "restroom" and there wasn't time to take it all off. The wardrobe lady suggested cutting a hole in the wet suit.
Greg's most embarrassing moment was walking into a door at Kelly's. He was in pain, but no one realized it, they were all laughing. Finally, they got him an ice pack. He got something like $700, because they put it on a funniest moment show on tv.
Jacob talked about wanting to kiss for real, said he figured that was a benefit of being an actor. Tony said that he used to do real kissing, but after awhile, he realized that a stage kiss looks better on tv. No strands of saliva, etc. As you can imagine, the audience was really laughing a lot again.
JJ said he doesn't enjoy kissing onscreen, especially after he got married. Tony thought he had his first kiss onscreen with Elizabeth, but he said there was one day when he was filming Camp Nowhere that he had to kiss a lot of girls. Tony laughed, because JJ sounded like it was way too much kissing.
All the Lucky's talked about if Becky gave them the talk about not kissing for real. I think they all said she did.
Jacob said he's engaged too. He started singing a line of a song at one point. I think it was .........The Love Boat........Exciting and New. Tony said that Jacob has a good CD. Jacob talked about how unfortunately it came out on 9-11. When he took the role on AMC, Jacob told the Executive Producer, Julie Carruthers, that he wanted to be able to pursue a Broadway career. When he was finally offered a role in Beauty and the Beast, he asked her if he could take it, and she kept her word and gave him the time to do it.
JJ said he was 23 and was on GH for 5 1/2 years. He's married to Lisa and has a son, Caleb, who's 3 and a daughter, Adora, who's 1. He said it's exhausting being a dad and yes, he does change diapers. Either Tony or Jacob called him a poopyhead. Naturally that got some laughs. JJ's brother and other members from his band, as well as his wife, were in the back of the room. They invited Lisa onstage. She told the story of how she and JJ met backstage at the Emmys one year when Jonathan won. She was impressed that he thanked Jesus and she told him she appreciated what he said. Lisa said there's a light in JJ's eyes. She said he's really kind and sincere.
Greg asked JJ about his band touring. He mentioned Vancouver and when Krista cheered, he looked right at her and smiled. That was so cute. Tony said that JJ takes on a totally different personality when he performs his music. He said you must see him, and Greg said he definitely wants to see him next time.
Tony recalled how he first met JJ in Rochester at a restaurant. He said JJ came over to him and introduced himself and he looked Tony right in the eyes. He said it's like he's looking into your soul. He said after he met JJ, he said to himself, this is going to be good. Another cool thing was that Tony remembered that JJ was with someone else at the restaurant. He didn't think it was his mother, and JJ said it was probably his tutor.
Tony talked about how acting was new for JJ when he started as Lucky, but Jacob came into the role after being on another show (Jacob said The Bold and The Beautiful). Tony said he already had some acting chops/experience. He said Jacob had a certain wounded soul quality that he really loved, because he has that too. He said that Jacob grew very fast in the role.
Tony said that Greg is the oldest actor playing Lucky, very sweet, open, a loving soul and he's fearless. Tony said that he's (Tony's) more reclusive, not a politician or meet and greet person. Tony said that Greg has fathered him. It's hard for him to do this kind of event, but he can lean on Greg.
Someone asked about Amsterdam and he seemed happiest talking about that. He talked about how in 1983, he didn't just leave the show, he fled. He couldn't separate his personal life from his career the first time around. He came back when he needed money, but when he returned he decided he'd make it work. He said now when we don't see Luke, it's because he's in Amsterdam. He gets 21 weeks off a year. He considered making Scotland (I think he said his people/family were from there) or Denmark his second home, but it was just too cold there. When he found Amsterdam, he realized, that was the place he wanted to be. He likes the cold weather. He talked about the best places to go in Amsterdam (The Anne Frank House, museums, etc.), but he said the best thing to do is to walk all over and just get lost in Amsterdam.
Someone asked about nicknames and he said he definitely likes to make up nicknames. He said, "These are my cowboys!"
They all moved to the back of the room at one point, so the people sitting back there could take photos of all of them together. Couldn't hear everything they said back there, but I heard Tony say, you know why we call him Lucky, because he has Laura's hair. (Nice to hear another Laura mention.)
At the end, they were going to take one more audience question. Tony told someone in the front that he'd take her question, but they went with someone in the back. Tony said to her, don't worry, I'll get your question too and he made sure he did. I think it was the nickname question.
One of the questions was from Jennifer Lopez. Tony quipped, Jennifer Lopez is here?
Tony said he didn't want to be a father and didn't want to play one on tv. Talked about having no alimony to pay and all the money is his. He said he's selfish, yet you could see how much he's given to each of these actors. He said they're "my three sons" ( said he feels like Fred Mac Murray) and he loves them all and he got tearful. He'll never have kids; he loves these guys. He was so warm and sweet to all of them and to the audience!
When it was time to take pictures, they didn't want people to get autographs too, they wanted to move things along, but we saw Tony get down on the floor to give one lady an autograph on a special picture she brought.
He and JJ even stopped to give some fans autographs on their way out.
We were big fans of Tony's when we walked in, but by the end, we couldn't have admired him more. I think sometimes we misinterpret his comments in magazines because we can't see his warm smile or hear him laughing, but he was totally relaxed and sincere throughout and it was such a joy to attend this event with Tony and all the Lucky's.
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Tony said he's not usually comfortable doing these kinds of events, although he does love us/his fans. But he wanted to do it for these guys (the Lucky actors). I think everyone of us knew just how "lucky" we were to be there.
He talked about how he and Genie gave Jonathan his first guitar one year as a birthday present. The first song he played was Don't Fence Me In and that memory, along with flashing on each of the 3 Lucky's, gave the emotional jolt to those scenes. He always wanted to sing the song onscreen with Jonathan, but they never did.
It was his idea to sing it to a comatose Lucky. Tony feels these shows were his best work.
Tony had high praise for each of the young actors. He called Jonathan his favorite film star, was proud of Jacob's upcoming Broadway role in Beauty and the Beast and very pleased that Greg was 
engaged to a beautiful "Dutch" actress. Tony joked that they were going to be honeymooning in his apartment, said he had the cameras set up. The audience roared with laughter, as Greg made it clear he wasn't keen on that. 
He talked about how Tony and Genie parented him as an actor, moreso Tony as he got older, since he was a man. 
Tony advised him with a wink to do it how he wanted to do it. JJ feels Tony's presence on every job he has.
Tony said the scene worked by showing where the boundaries were between father and son.
Tony said everyone was missing JJ's Lucky, but he told JY that he had to find his own Lucky. He said we're your parents, we'll love you anyway. 
She believed the audience should be led, not followed. She said you have to surprise the audience, not do focus groups and find out what couple the audience wants and go with that couple. He said that's the way they do it now. He said when they did force Gloria to do a focus group, she'd force a smile and count the hours until it was over.
Greg's most embarrassing moment was walking into a door at Kelly's. He was in pain, but no one realized it, they were all laughing. Finally, they got him an ice pack. He got something like $700, because they put it on a funniest moment show on tv.
Jacob talked about wanting to kiss for real, said he figured that was a benefit of being an actor. Tony said that he used to do real kissing, but after awhile, he realized that a stage kiss looks better on tv. No strands of saliva, etc. As you can imagine, the audience was really laughing a lot again.
JJ said he doesn't enjoy kissing onscreen, especially after he got married. Tony thought he had his first kiss onscreen with Elizabeth, but he said there was one day when he was filming Camp Nowhere that he had to kiss a lot of girls. Tony laughed, because JJ sounded like it was way too much kissing.
She told the story of how she and JJ met backstage at the Emmys one year when Jonathan won. She was impressed that he thanked Jesus and she told him she appreciated what he said. Lisa said there's a light in JJ's eyes. She said he's really kind and sincere.
Tony talked about how acting was new for JJ when he started as Lucky, but Jacob came into the role after being on another show (Jacob said The Bold and The Beautiful). Tony said he already had some acting chops/experience. He said Jacob had a certain wounded soul quality that he really loved, because he has that too. He said that Jacob grew very fast in the role.
Someone asked about Amsterdam and he seemed happiest talking about that. He talked about how in 1983, he didn't just leave the show, he fled. He couldn't separate his personal life from his career the first time around. He came back when he needed money, but when he returned he decided he'd make it work. He said now when we don't see Luke, it's because he's in Amsterdam. He gets 21 weeks off a year. He considered making Scotland (I think he said his people/family were from there) or Denmark his second home, but it was just too cold there. When he found Amsterdam, he realized, that was the place he wanted to be. He likes the cold weather. He talked about the best places to go in Amsterdam (The Anne Frank House, museums, etc.), but he said the best thing to do is to walk all over and just get lost in Amsterdam. 
At the end, they were going to take one more audience question. Tony told someone in the front that he'd take her question, but they went with someone in the back. Tony said to her, don't worry, I'll get your question too and he made sure he did. I think it was the nickname question.
He and JJ even stopped to give some fans autographs on their way out.