Chris Hardwick
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (July 2011) |
| Chris Hardwick | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Birth name | Christopher Ryan Hardwick |
| Born | November 23, 1971 Louisville, Kentucky, USA |
| Medium | Stand-up, music, television, film, podcasting |
| Nationality | American |
| Years active | 1991–present |
| Genres | Observational comedy, sarcasm, musical comedy |
| Subject(s) | Human behavior, self-deprecation, pop culture, nerd culture |
| Partner(s) | Jacinda Barrett (1995) Janet Varney (2004-present) |
| Notable works and roles | Hard 'n Phirm Host of Singled Out Host of Wired Science Host of Web Soup Host of The Nerdist Podcast Otis in the Back at the Barnyard series Host of Talking Dead Host of BBC America's Ministry of Laughs |
| Website | http://www.nerdist.com/ |
Christopher Ryan "Chris" Hardwick (born November 23, 1971) is an American stand-up comedian, emcee, actor, writer, musician, podcaster, television personality, and voice artist. He is best known for performing with Mike Phirman in Hard 'n Phirm, hosting Singled Out, Wired Science, Web Soup, and The Nerdist Podcast, and the current voice of Otis in Back at the Barnyard. In 2011 he began doing intros and outros for a new BBC America Britcom block, and hosting a live half-hour talk show on the AMC network, Talking Dead.
Early life
Hardwick was born in Louisville, Kentucky, the son of former professional bowler Billy Hardwick and Sharon Hills, a real estate agent in Pasadena, California.[1] He was named after American sportscaster Chris Schenkel.[2] He has a brother named Peter who is a convicted serial killer. He grew up in Tennessee, attending St. Benedict at Auburndale K-12 School, then attended Regis Jesuit High School in Colorado, and then Loyola High School for his senior year.[3]
Hardwick studied philosophy at UCLA, where he was a member of the Chi Phi Fraternity during his freshman year.[3][4] Hardwick was roommates with Wil Wheaton for some time.[5][6] They met at a showing of Arachnophobia in Burbank, California.[5]
Career
Hardwick was a DJ on influential Los Angeles radio station KROQ-FM during the mid-1990s.[3] In the fall of 1998, he starred in the UPN comedy Guys Like Us; the show aired 12 episodes before it was cancelled in January 1999.
He appeared in Rob Zombie's horror films House of 1000 Corpses and Halloween 2.[3] He also made a small appearance in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. In 2010 he was featured in the film The Mother of Invention. Hardwick was in episodes of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Married... with Children,[3] Boy Meets World[3] and Zoey 101. He was also a guest commentator on VH1's I Love the 90s series which aired in 2005.[3]
He appeared as a television host on hip hop group Little Brother's 2005 album The Minstrel Show.
Hardwick plays the melodica, notably as part of Hard 'n Phirm.[7]
Currently, Hardwick is a contributing writer for Wired magazine (since 2007), writes for Web Soup and Back at the Barnyard,[3] and makes regular appearances on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and Chelsea Lately. As part what Hardwick calls his "nerd media empire", he runs Nerdist Theater, an entertainment space at Meltdown Comics in Los Angeles.[8]
He entered into an equity partnership with GeekChicDaily in June 2011[9] to form Nerdist Industries.[10]
In February 2012, GeekChicDaily fully merged with Nerdist Industries and became Nerdist News with Hardwick operating as Chief Creative Officer.[11]
On July 10, 2012, Nerdist Industries was acquired by Legendary Entertainment. Chris was given the title of co-president of Legendary's digital business.[12]
Voiceover work
Hardwick voiced Alexander Hamilton in The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd and Otis in the Barnyard series (the character was originally voiced by actor Kevin James in the movie Barnyard: The Original Party Animals). He also provided the voice for Green Arrow/Oliver Queen on The Batman and was the voice of Glowface in The X's.[citation needed]. Hardwick also did voice work for The Minstrel Show from the rap group Little Brother and narrated the introduction video for the flash game George Plimpton's Video Falconry. His most recent voice is Sokka in The Legend of Korra series.
Hosting
In 1993, Hardwick hosted the game show Trashed.[13]
Hardwick was first known as the host of MTV's Singled Out. While working on Singled Out, he met Jacinda Barrett, to whom he was engaged but never married. Later, he hosted the syndicated dating show Shipmates. As of October 2007[update], he has been hosting Wired Science on PBS, writing for Wired, and works as a reviewer on Attack of the Show's "Gadget Pr0n".
On June 7, 2009, he became the host of G4's Web Soup, a spinoff of E!'s The Soup. Hardwick had previously guest hosted The Soup's predecessor, Talk Soup.[14]
Since February 2010, he has been producing the "Nerdist" podcast, which he hosts with Jonah Ray and Matt Mira.[15] The podcast was named one of 2010's best by The A.V. Club[16] and one of the 10 best comedy podcasts by Rolling Stone.[17]
In May 2011, Hardwick signed a deal with BBC America to host a pilot of a panel talk show for the network based on the podcast. The deal also included Hardwick doing intros and outros for BBC America's new Saturday night Ministry of Laughs comedy block of Britcoms.[18]
Hardwick also hosted the 2011 SXSW Interactive Awards show in Austin, Texas.
In 2011, Hardwick began hosting Talking Dead, a live half-hour talk show companion series to AMC's hit series The Walking Dead. Hardwick interviews celebrity fans of The Walking Dead as well as members of its cast and crew, interacts with the studio audience, re-airs clips of the episode, plays games with and polls the viewers via the Internet, and offers exclusive clips of the next episode. Talking Dead was renewed by AMC for a second season and will return when Walking Dead begins its third season in October 2012.
On December 24, 2011, BBC America aired The Nerdist: The Year in Review, a comedy special hosted by Hardwick. Celebrity guests included David Tennant and Simon Pegg with Hardwick in London; and Nathan Fillion, Wil Wheaton, and Weird Al Yankovic in Los Angeles. In August 2012 Hardwick hosted a special episode of The Nerdist on BBC America to "debate" the effects of time and space with other friends and celebrity nerds. The episode was really an effort to promote the network's upcoming September 1 seventh-season premiere of its series Doctor Who.
Stand-up comedy
Hardwick is also a stand-up comedian and performs with Mike Phirman in the music comedy duo Hard 'n Phirm, whose half-hour comedy special Comedy Central Presents: Hard 'n Phirm premiered in January 2008.[19]
In 2004, Comedy Central used some of his material for an animated series called Shorties Watchin' Shorties.[20]
In 2007, both his solo standup and duo act were featured on the comedy compilation CD Comedy Death Ray. Hard 'n Phirm completed several songs for the 2009 Rob Zombie animated movie The Haunted World of El Superbeasto. Hardwick has announced plans to do a live stand-up album from his 2009 tour. He has toured as a featured comedian for Joel McHale. [citation needed]
In 2010, Hardwick appeared as a stand-up comic on John Oliver's New York Stand Up Show twice.[citation needed] In the same year, Hardwick performed on the Comedy Central show The Benson Interruption (starring Doug Benson).
On July 19, 2011, Hardwick performed for troops from the 124th Air Support Operations Squadron at Idaho's Sawtooth National Forest.
On February 17, 2012, Chris Hardwick filmed ''Mandroid'', his first one hour stand-up special for Comedy Central in New York City. Jonah Ray was his unaired opener.[21] The special aired on Comedy Central on 11/10/12; extended and uncensored DVD, CD, and digital versions will be available in early 2013.[22]
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Courting Courtney | Tim | |
| 1998 | Art House | Weston Craig | |
| 2002 | Jane White Is Sick & Twisted | Burger | |
| 2003 | House of 1000 Corpses | Jerry Goldsmith | |
| 2003 | Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines | Engineer | |
| 2004 | Spectres | Sam Phillips | |
| 2004 | Johnson Family Vacation | Arson investigator | |
| 2005 | The Life Coach | Milos | |
| 2008 | Chop Socky Chooks | Chuckie Chan | Voice only |
| 2009 | The Mother of Invention | Drake Wooderson | |
| 2009 | Halloween II | David Newman | |
| 2010 | Lego: The Adventures of Clutch Powers | Bones | Voice only |
| 2011 | Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close | Estate sale organizer | |
| 2012 | The Legend of Korra | Sokka | Voice only |
References
- ^ Silberman, Stephen M. (September 30, 1996). In Their Own Prime Time. People
- ^ Chris Hardwick (20 October 2008), Technology's Gutterball, vol. 16–11, Wired magazine, retrieved 2010-08-12
- ^ a b c d e f g h Nerdist Podcast 90
- ^ Schools for Chris Hardwick, search for "Chris Hardwick's Schools"
- ^ a b Nerdist Podcast 63 with Wil Wheaton, 8 minute mark
- ^ Wheaton, Wil (2 September 2001). "WIL WHEATON dot NET: 1.5: Nimrod's Son". Retrieved 4 April 2011.
- ^
- "Twitter / Chris Hardwick: Goodbye, current Melodica! ..." Twitter. 9 December 2009. Retrieved 28 August 2011.
- "News Brief-KZSC Laugh Riot". May 9–15, 2005. Retrieved 28 August 2011.
- "The long and short of it for Hard 'N' Phirm". Aspen Times. 11 February 2005. Retrieved 28 August 2011.
- ^
- Leijon, Erik (July 28, 2011). "The dean of dweebs: Chris Hardwick fine-tunes his nerd-dar at Just for Laughs". Montreal Mirror. Retrieved November 15, 2011.
- "Chris Hardwick Reveals Details of BBC America Deal, How Nerdist Podcast Will Be Adapted For TV". The Hollywood Reporter. May 25, 2011. Retrieved November 15, 2011.
- "The NerdMelt Origin Story". NerdMelt. Retrieved November 15, 2011.
- ^ Finke, Nikki. "Nerds And Geeks Unite In MultiPlatform Deal". Deadline. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
- ^ Graser, Marc (6 June 2011). "Nerdist, GeekChic team up". Variety. Retrieved 15 September 2011.
- ^ Hardwick, Chris. "Nerd is the Word". The Nerdist. Retrieved 27 February 2012.
- ^ "Legendary Entertainment Acquires Nerdist Industries". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
{{cite web}}:|first=missing|last=(help) - ^ Talking to The Nerdist's Chris Hardwick, January 2012
- ^ G4 Picks Up Web Soup, nerdist.com, May 2009
- ^ Hardwick, Chris (February 8, 2010). "The Nerdist Podcast: Now A Thing!". nerdist.com.
- ^ "The Best Podcasts of 2010". The A.V. Club. December 29, 2010.
- ^ Berkowitz, Joe (April 6, 2011). "The 10 Best Comedy Podcasts of the Moment". Rolling Stone. Retrieved April 17, 2011.
- ^ Wicks, Kevin. "Chris Hardwick to Host 'Ministry of Laughs' and 'Nerdist' Pilot for BBC America". bbcamerica.com. Retrieved 24 May 2011.
- ^ "Tonight: Hard 'N Phirm's Comedy Central Presents Special | Insider Blog | Comedy Central's Insider". CCInsider.ComedyCentral.com. 2008-01-25. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
- ^ comedycentral.com
- ^ The Nerdist Podcast & http://skirballcenter.nyu.edu/
- ^ http://www.comedycentral.com/press/press_releases/2012/102212-chris-hardwick-mandroid.jhtml
External links
- American stand-up comedians
- American writers
- American musicians
- American podcasters
- American television personalities
- American voice actors
- 1971 births
- Actors from Kentucky
- American comedy musicians
- American film actors
- American game show hosts
- American television actors
- American television writers
- Melodica players
- Living people
- People from Louisville, Kentucky
- University of California, Los Angeles alumni