Bruce Campbell, who played Ash Williams in the “Evil Dead” film franchise, hosts his traveling “Last Fan Standing” game show at Yokota Air Base, Japan, on Oct. 23, 2025. (Jeremy Stillwagner/Stars and Stripes)
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — Horror film fans and action series buffs recently packed this base’s Officers’ Club for an hourlong appearance by “Evil Dead” star Bruce Campbell, who brought his long-running trivia show “Last Fan Standing.”
The show pits audience members against one another in a pop culture trivia competition. Participants answer questions on their mobile devices, covering topics that include movies, TV shows and video games. The four highest-scoring players are then brought up on stage to finish the game.
The event was part of an Armed Forces Entertainment tour that took Campbell and co-host and co-creator Steve Sellery, a marketing professional from Greenville, S.C., to five U.S. military bases in Japan, including two on Okinawa.
Army Capt. Steven Spencer, a foreign area officer studying at the Japanese Command and General Staff College in Tokyo, won the grand prize at Yokota on Thursday — a certificate of useless knowledge.
“I thought it was a great experience and super fun,” he told Stars and Stripes after the event. “Being up there onstage with the lights in your eyes in front of everybody is a completely different experience from doing it on your phone.”
"Evil Dead" star Bruce Campbell explains the rules for the final round of the "Last Fan Standing" game show at Yokota Air Base, Japan, Oct. 23, 2025. (Jeremy Stillwagner/Stars and Stripes)
Campbell is best known for portraying Ash Williams in the “Evil Dead” film franchise. He has been visiting service members since 2009, when he and fellow actor Jeffrey Donovan toured bases in Iraq while promoting their series “Burn Notice.”
“We believe that those that are serving are both heroic and the reason our country is able to endure, and this is a way for us to personally thank them,” Campbell told Stars and Stripes at the Officers’ Club ahead of the show.
He and Sellery have toured with “Last Fan Standing” through Armed Forces Entertainment for 13 years. They hope to one day host a show aboard an aircraft carrier.
Throughout the Yokota show, Campbell kept the mood light with jokes, personal anecdotes and fun facts about his career.
One story involved an injury he suffered while filming “Army of Darkness,” the third installment in the “Evil Dead” franchise. While filming a stunt, he got a cut on his face that required stitches. Campbell said the makeup department did such a good job that the doctor couldn’t tell his real injury from all the fake cuts.
Sellery said “Last Fan Standing” can provide a welcome break from the stresses of military life.
"Last Fan Standing" co-hosts Bruce Campbell, far left, and Steve Sellery, far right, introduce the finalists during an edition of their traveling game show at Yokota Air Base, Japan, Oct. 23, 2025. (Jeremy Stillwagner/Stars and Stripes)
A previous tour brought the pair to Camp Casey in South Korea, where an interaction with a soldier reminded Sellery why they host these shows for troops.
“There was a guy there that said it was the first time he laughed in several months,” Sellery said. “That’s why we do it.”
When “Last Fan Standing” ended at Yokota, Campbell and Sellery took questions from the audience. Campbell discussed his past roles and projects and offered creative advice.
“I really enjoyed the Q&A at the very end,” Spencer said. “I think that any time you take people from the audience and allow them to interact with you on a more personal level is the best. I thought both Bruce and Steve were fantastic.”
