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Nardwuar

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Nardwuar

Nardwuar the Human Serviette (born John Ruskin, July 5, 1968) is a Canadian celebrity interviewer and musician from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.[1] He is the lead singer and keyboardist for The Evaporators and plays in Thee Goblins.

He legally changed his name in 1986, and argues that "no one refers to Iggy Pop as 'James Osterberg'". When asked to explain his name, Nardwuar once quipped "Nardwuar equals dumb silly name, like Sting; Human means human, as in Human Fly; and Serviette is something you can't get in the U.S. because down there they're called napkins."

In 2005, he contributed to the UNICEF benefit song, "Do They Know It's Hallowe'en?" He has an honours bachelor's degree in history from the University of British Columbia and wrote his honours thesis on the Kennedy assassination. In July 1999, Nardwuar suffered a cerebral hemorrhage (aborting his planned ambush interview of Courtney Love), but recovered after surgery.

Radio

Nardwuar got his start in media at the University of British Columbia radio station CITR 101.9 FM in Vancouver. His show has been running every Friday afternoon (3:30-5:00 p.m. Pacific) since October 1987. The program features a mix of eclectic music, along with interviews and commentary.

He also sometimes appears as a guest host and interviewer on CBC Radio 3.

Interviews

Nardwuar's interviews are frequently shown on MuchMusic's Going Coastal, or printed in Chart. Nardwuar's favourite targets appear to be musical celebrities, but he'll interview almost anyone famous.[2]

His interview style can be quite grating and confusing to those who have had no prior experience with him. A typical interview will begin with "Who are you?", followed by "From?" if the subject doesn't volunteer their affiliations. The interview will always end with "Keep on rockin' in the free world", and the "doot doola doot doo..." of "Shave and a Haircut", to which the interviewee must respond with the final "doot doo!" before Nardwuar will let them go. Skinhead Rob replied "Fuck You"!

Due to his upfront and esoteric style he has been attacked verbally, physically threatened, and intimidated by people such as Sebastian Bach of Skid Row (who stole Nardwuar's tuque); the band Quiet Riot (who chased Nardwuar and crew down the street); and Dave Rowntree of Blur. Alice Cooper, Harlan Ellison, Beck and others have hung up on him.[3] Snoop Dogg has repeatedly stolen various items from Nardwuar, including a Redd Foxx doll and Richard Pryor and Blowfly records[4], although Snoop claims to be 'taking' the objects in question rather than stealing them. Chris Fehn of Slipknot wouldn't talk during an interview and left during the interview after having enough of Nardwuar.

Nardwuar's unorthodox approach often ends up in bizarre scenarios. He once received Lemmy's answering machine message when Lemmy was not made aware of the interview time by his publicist. Guerrilla journalism or not, Nardwuar's style is very much based on taking the piss out of his subject. Some of his subjects recognise it and successfully manage to reverse the scenario on him, especially Iggy Pop, David Cross and Weird Al Yankovic. Some misinterpreting his hijinx as intentionally disrespectful, particularly Henry Rollins and pornographer Al Goldstein.

More often the experience confuses the celebrities. Members of GWAR tried not to laugh while in character. Jello Biafra was impressed with his guerrilla interview style. Others who have appreciated Nardwuar's interview include Kelly Rowland, Marilyn Manson, Franz Ferdinand, Ron Jeremy and Michael Moore.

Nardwuar does extensive research on the interviewee to confuse, scare or impress them; often bringing up minutia about band members' pasts that they have a hard time recalling, until he coaches them along. Frequently, he will also attempt to make connections, no matter how obscure, between the person or subject at question and Canada. A tribute to his research skills, while interviewing Josh Homme, he produced a grade school class photo of Homme mid interview, who remained blasé yet clearly impressed.

Political interviews

Nardwuar has also been known to be a "guerrilla journalist," often sneaking in to press conferences under the guise of a more normal reporter, to confront political leaders or other non-musical celebrities with surreal questions. He has asked Mikhail Gorbachev which world leader had the biggest pants, and Crispin Glover whether he sleeps in a coffin full of tar.[3] On another occasion, faith healer Ernest Angley told Nardwuar that "God will strike you down" for persistently asking if there was a cure for the summertime blues.

In November 1997, he cut off all his hair and was able to sneak into an APEC conference to ask Jean Chrétien if he supported the pepper spraying of protesters outside. Chrétien responded with a line that has become well known in Canada: "For me, pepper, I put it on my plate."[5]

In June 2004, Nardwuar convinced an amused Paul Martin, former prime minister of Canada to play a quick game of the Hasbro game "Hip Flip" while he was on the campaign trail.[6] After Martin won the election, Nardwuar commented on the great predictive power of the "Hip Flip," because neither of the other two other candidates had performed the act. On a campaign trip to Vancouver in December 2005, Nardwuar concluded an interview with New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton - who, in their first encounter, had taken the instructions to the game and said he would practice for their next encounter - with a successful, coordinated, swinging of their hips. Current Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper is the only major candidate from the 2004 election who has never performed a successful "Hip Flip" with Nardwuar.

See also

References

  1. ^ Doug Ward, "Trudeau rolled by Human Serviette", Vancouver Sun, November 17, 1993. p. A1
  2. ^ "I pretty much will interview anyone but here's who i have talked to" - Nardwuar
  3. ^ a b Chris Dafoe, "It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a punk-rock attack" The Globe and Mail, April 23, 1998, p. C1 Cite error: The named reference "dafoe" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  4. ^ Michael Barclay (2007). "" Timeline: Nardwuar the Human Serviette - Almost Famous"". Exclaim! Magazine. Retrieved 2007-11-28. {{cite web}}: horizontal tab character in |title= at position 4 (help)
  5. ^ Kerry Gold, "Who is Nardwuar: He's obnoxious, persistent, clever & curious", Vancouver Sun, Apr 23, 1998, p. C1
  6. ^ Nardwuar vs. Paul Martin 2004
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