- Nardwuar the Human Serviette
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Nardwuar the Human Serviette 
Nardwuar in 2005Background information Birth name John Ruskin Born July 5, 1968 Origin Vancouver, BC, Canada Genres Garage Punk Occupations Media personality Instruments Keyboards Years active 1986-present Labels Nardwuar Records
Alternative TentaclesAssociated acts The Evaporators
Thee GoblinsWebsite www.nardwuar.com 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'".[2] 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."[3]
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.[disambiguation needed
] In July 1999, Nardwuar suffered a cerebral hemorrhage (aborting his planned ambush interview of Courtney Love), but recovered after surgery.[4]Contents
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[5] (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.
Nardwuar started his own weekly program on freeform radio station WFMU in 2009.
Interviews
Nardwuar's interviews are frequently shown on MuchMusic's Going Coastal, or printed in Chart. Although Nardwuar's favourite targets are music artists, he has stated that he will interview any celebrity.[6]
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 his or her affiliations. The interview will always end with "Keep on rockin' in the free world", and the "doot doota loot doo..." of "Shave and a Haircut", to which the interviewee must respond with the final "doot doo!" before Nardwuar will let them go. A somewhat common reply has been "Fuck you!".[7] Other notable replies have been "Help Me" (Tom Morello), "You're nuts" (Glenn Danzig), "You're bizarre" (Jeff Hanneman of Slayer), "Ka-Boom" (Jello Biafra), "Mmm-hmm" (Jack White), "Massive Death" (King Coffey of the Butthole Surfers), "Um bye" (Faris Badwan of The Horrors), "Bang-Bang" (Ice-T), "Katmandu" (Daniel Johnston), "Keep taking the pills" (Peter Murphy), and "Bukkake" (Hodgy Beats of OFWGKTA).
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, Travis Barker, Harlan Ellison, Alina Hussain, Beck and others have hung up on him or been verbally combative in interviews.[8] Chris Fehn of Slipknot and Kid Cudi have both left midway through an interview.
Nardwuar's unorthodox approach often ends up in bizarre scenarios. Some of his subjects recognize Nardwuar's eccentric style and successfully manage to reverse the scenario on him, especially Iggy Pop, David Cross and "Weird Al" Yankovic. Some interpret his hijinks 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, but became noticeably angered in a 2000 interview when Nardwuar began to cajole Biafra about Biafra's lawsuit against former Dead Kennedys band mates.[9] Others who have appreciated Nardwuar's interview include Tech N9ne, Katy Perry, Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Snoop Dogg, Kelly Rowland, Marilyn Manson, Michael Moore, Franz Ferdinand, The Cribs, Ron Jeremy, The Mars Volta, N.E.R.D., NOFX, The Drums, Lil Wayne, OFWGKTA, Yelawolf, Josh Homme, Currensy, Drake, J.Cole, Skinhead Rob, Lil B, Mac Miller, and Rhys Webb of The Horrors who described the interview style as "an ever unwinding ball of string".
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. During an interview with Pharrell Williams from N.E.R.D., Nardwuar pulled out a vinyl 1992 record featuring the very first recorded track by Pharrell, causing him to pause and state "This is one of the most impressive interviews I've ever experienced in my life. Seriously."[10]
Interviews with non-musicians
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,[11] and Crispin Glover whether he owns a coffin full of tar.[8] On another occasion, Nardwuar persistently asked faith healer Ernest Angley if there was a cure for "the Summertime Blues", to which Angley angrily replied, "Oh I wish you would shut up, man. You know you're not even funny. You're lucky God don't strike you dead."[12]
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."[13][14]
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.[15] 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 the late 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[16] is the only major candidate from the 2004 election who has never performed a successful "Hip Flip" with Nardwuar.
See also
References
- ^ Doug Ward, "Trudeau rolled by Human Serviette", Vancouver Sun, November 17, 1993. p. A1
- ^ The Mad Genius Of Nardwuar, by Mike Usinger, from The Georgia Straight, January 29, 2004 (retrieved February 24, 2011)
- ^ "Nardwuar vs. N.E.R.D - The Extended Version". YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RKbSi87J5Q. Retrieved 2011-03-02.
- ^ "Duncan M. McHugh, "To Nardwuar, Hang in there. Sincerely, David Lee Roth's manager," The Ubyssey, August 3, 1999. p. 8" (PDF). http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/pdfs/ubyssey/SUBYSSEY_1999_08_03.pdf. Retrieved 2011-03-02.
- ^ CITR schedule grid[dead link]
- ^ "I pretty much will interview anyone but here's who i have talked to" - Nardwuar
- ^ "'Another Nardwuar-ticle', The Peak, Jan 2008". The-peak.ca. http://www.the-peak.ca/article/1692-another-nardwuar-ticle. Retrieved 2011-03-02.
- ^ 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
- ^ http://serviette.ca/audio/interviews/real/jello_biafra-00.ram
- ^ "Nardwuar vs. N.E.R.D - The Extended Version". Youtube.com. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RKbSi87J5Q. Retrieved 2011-03-02.
- ^ "Nardwear vs. Mikhail Gorbachev". Nardwuar.com. http://www.nardwuar.com/vs/mikhail_gorbachev/index.html. Retrieved 2011-03-02.
- ^ "Nardwuar vs. Ernest Angley". Nardwuar.com. http://nardwuar.com/vs/ernest_angley/. Retrieved 2011-03-02.
- ^ Kerry Gold, "Who is Nardwuar: He's obnoxious, persistent, clever & curious", Vancouver Sun, Apr 23, 1998, p. C1
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWf2LLaHkM0 Nardwuar's upload of his question to Chretien w/ his response on YouTube
- ^ Nardwuar vs. Paul Martin 2004
- ^ Nardwuar vs. World Leaders 2006
External links
Categories:- 1968 births
- Living people
- Musicians from Vancouver
- Canadian rock singers
- Canadian male singers
- Canadian rock keyboardists
- Canadian radio personalities
- MuchMusic personalities
- University of British Columbia alumni
- Mint Records artists
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