Thirty years and still dooting
September 2, 2017 2:54 PM Subscribe
Doot! Doot! The One and Literally Only Nardwuar: He calls himself the Human Serviette. We call him one of the brightest, weirdest stars in the world of CanCon. His show, Nardwuar the Human Serviette (previously), has been airing on CiTR 101.9 FM since 1987. To mark the show's 30th anniversary, the station will be broadcasting a 20-hour marathon of Nardwuar’s interviews ("ranging from Jay-Z to Michael Gorbachev, from Destiny's Child to Wesley Willis to everything in between") starting at 9:00 p.m. on September 21 until 5:00 p.m. on September 22.
CiTR's Nardwuar the Human Serviette archive dating back to 2003 can be found here.
Nardwuar on Youtube
TEDxVancouver - Nardwuar - Do It Yourself!
More Nardwuar, previously:
Have a nice lunch (Nardwuar the Human Serviette at 20)
"This to me-- Oh, my, oh-- Yo! Willie T!? Wait! Where'd you find this?"
BUNK - a rock video for Nardwuar + the Evaporators
If you like modern music, you'll probably like Nardwuar
CiTR's Nardwuar the Human Serviette archive dating back to 2003 can be found here.
Nardwuar on Youtube
TEDxVancouver - Nardwuar - Do It Yourself!
More Nardwuar, previously:
Have a nice lunch (Nardwuar the Human Serviette at 20)
"This to me-- Oh, my, oh-- Yo! Willie T!? Wait! Where'd you find this?"
BUNK - a rock video for Nardwuar + the Evaporators
If you like modern music, you'll probably like Nardwuar
National treasure!
posted by rodlymight at 3:04 PM on September 2, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by rodlymight at 3:04 PM on September 2, 2017 [2 favorites]
I volunteered/worked at CiTR for 5.5 years and had the pleasure of getting to know Nard a bit. In addition to the broadcast gems / persona on display in this post, he's a disarmingly kind, solid person.
posted by radiocontrolled at 3:05 PM on September 2, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by radiocontrolled at 3:05 PM on September 2, 2017 [4 favorites]
My favourite interviews are where he totally hits a wavelength with someone and they're totally thrilled he's ultra-prepared and wants to talk about interesting things.
Rob Halford. The bit about Heavy Metal Parking Lot is priceless.
Snoop Dogg and Insane Clown Posse are two other faves of mine.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 3:11 PM on September 2, 2017 [4 favorites]
Rob Halford. The bit about Heavy Metal Parking Lot is priceless.
Snoop Dogg and Insane Clown Posse are two other faves of mine.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 3:11 PM on September 2, 2017 [4 favorites]
?uestlove's amazed Where'd you find this?! is pretty much how I react to all of the deep cuts Nardwuar busts out during interviews. He's the absolute legend best ever GOAT music act interviewer. If you're ever wondering whether a musical act behind the tunes you enjoy are a good person/good people, just look for their interview with NtHS. The good ones react like ?uestlove. The bad ones just exude a really rude WTF-ism.
posted by carsonb at 3:16 PM on September 2, 2017 [10 favorites]
posted by carsonb at 3:16 PM on September 2, 2017 [10 favorites]
Oh wow, thank you, this rocks! How has no one done a Nardwuar post before?
I'll be digging into this later tonight, big time.
National treasure indeed.
posted by chococat at 4:51 PM on September 2, 2017
I'll be digging into this later tonight, big time.
National treasure indeed.
posted by chococat at 4:51 PM on September 2, 2017
I seem to fall down a 4 hour Nardwuar watching hole every couple of years. The strange obscure gifts and questions are jaw dropping.
posted by ShakeyJake at 5:04 PM on September 2, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by ShakeyJake at 5:04 PM on September 2, 2017 [3 favorites]
Nardwuar is a treasure. As a side note, his interviews with Snoop Dogg have really helped me appreciate how sweet Mr. Dogg is.
posted by baseballpajamas at 5:12 PM on September 2, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by baseballpajamas at 5:12 PM on September 2, 2017 [4 favorites]
How has no one done a Nardwuar post before?
Psst.
posted by zamboni at 5:13 PM on September 2, 2017 [3 favorites]
Psst.
posted by zamboni at 5:13 PM on September 2, 2017 [3 favorites]
What? "Nardwuar the Human Serviette" is still on? I left Vancouver too soon.
posted by sneebler at 6:27 PM on September 2, 2017
posted by sneebler at 6:27 PM on September 2, 2017
I was at UBC the same time as this guy. I guess he is the test that proves I actually am a dull normal and not a wacky random... because I didn't get him then, and the idea that he has built a life and career on his schtick boggles my mind.
posted by Meatbomb at 7:15 PM on September 2, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Meatbomb at 7:15 PM on September 2, 2017 [1 favorite]
The Janelle Monae interview is one of the most endearing things I've ever seen.
posted by pxe2000 at 7:18 PM on September 2, 2017
posted by pxe2000 at 7:18 PM on September 2, 2017
Much more archived Nardwuar here. Doot doola doot do!
posted by Tad Naff at 11:55 PM on September 2, 2017
posted by Tad Naff at 11:55 PM on September 2, 2017
The bad ones just exude a really rude WTF-ism.
I have to respectfully disagree, I'm afraid.
Without wanting for one second to piss in the cornflakes of those who really dig his shtick, I personally find his whole routine supremely grating — the human equivalent of unending nails-on-blackboard screech.
While I admire the commitment to deep-background delving, literally everything else about the way he chooses to present himself to the world is suffused with a kind of forced wackiness I personally cannot abide. If you manage to meet him on his wavelength, more power to you — and the delight in the ?uestlove segment is infectious — but I'd never blame a single soul for being rubbed the wrong way, and in particular it doesn't make them a bad person.
tl;dr It's not fair to use one's reaction to someone who's deliberately crafted such an irritating persona as a global litmus test for chill.
posted by adamgreenfield at 2:32 AM on September 3, 2017 [10 favorites]
I have to respectfully disagree, I'm afraid.
Without wanting for one second to piss in the cornflakes of those who really dig his shtick, I personally find his whole routine supremely grating — the human equivalent of unending nails-on-blackboard screech.
While I admire the commitment to deep-background delving, literally everything else about the way he chooses to present himself to the world is suffused with a kind of forced wackiness I personally cannot abide. If you manage to meet him on his wavelength, more power to you — and the delight in the ?uestlove segment is infectious — but I'd never blame a single soul for being rubbed the wrong way, and in particular it doesn't make them a bad person.
tl;dr It's not fair to use one's reaction to someone who's deliberately crafted such an irritating persona as a global litmus test for chill.
posted by adamgreenfield at 2:32 AM on September 3, 2017 [10 favorites]
I too was turned off early by the Narduar schtick, but that's probably more on me than him.
Maybe I'll give one or two of the above-praised interviews a try.
posted by Artful Codger at 8:16 AM on September 3, 2017 [1 favorite]
Maybe I'll give one or two of the above-praised interviews a try.
posted by Artful Codger at 8:16 AM on September 3, 2017 [1 favorite]
I'd never blame a single soul for being rubbed the wrong way
His 1998 Henry Rollins interview proceeds precisely as expected on that front ("Oh. I see. You're a character now."), and so on and so forth in 2011.
Greg Ginn seems a little more game.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 10:19 AM on September 3, 2017 [1 favorite]
His 1998 Henry Rollins interview proceeds precisely as expected on that front ("Oh. I see. You're a character now."), and so on and so forth in 2011.
Greg Ginn seems a little more game.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 10:19 AM on September 3, 2017 [1 favorite]
(The ?uestlove post’s interview link was broken. Cortex has kindly fixed it.)
posted by Going To Maine at 2:42 PM on September 3, 2017
posted by Going To Maine at 2:42 PM on September 3, 2017
tl;dr It's not fair to use one's reaction to someone who's deliberately crafted such an irritating persona as a ...* litmus test for chill.
We can set aside the question-begging here. You find him annoying, and that's fine! You're not a bad person (because of that). I never meant to paint everyone who finds Nardwuar annoying with the bad-person brush. Alls I'm saying is, how would one react when being interviewed by him? Would you swallow your annoyance and graciously interact with an act designed to delight and surprise, or would you huff and cross your arms and clearly be counting the seconds until the absurdity ceases? Would you heartily DOOT DOOT?
Those who would not, well.
posted by carsonb at 3:33 PM on September 3, 2017
We can set aside the question-begging here. You find him annoying, and that's fine! You're not a bad person (because of that). I never meant to paint everyone who finds Nardwuar annoying with the bad-person brush. Alls I'm saying is, how would one react when being interviewed by him? Would you swallow your annoyance and graciously interact with an act designed to delight and surprise, or would you huff and cross your arms and clearly be counting the seconds until the absurdity ceases? Would you heartily DOOT DOOT?
Those who would not, well.
posted by carsonb at 3:33 PM on September 3, 2017
* I have to be careful because you may very well have written 'global litmus test' and this stupid plug-in on my browser changed it to 'spherical litmus test' or you actually wrote 'spherical litmus test' I have no way of knowing which. It also changes the word 'horsepower' into 'tons of horsemeat' which is a little easier to edit out of quotes.
posted by carsonb at 3:35 PM on September 3, 2017
posted by carsonb at 3:35 PM on September 3, 2017
or would you huff and cross your arms and clearly be counting the seconds until the absurdity ceases?
The only way in which I agree with you is that I cannot comprehend why anybody who feels as I do would indulge him even momentarily. I do not understand why anyone who feels, as Henry Rollins clearly does, that this obnoxious individual is wasting irretrievable moments of their one and only life on Earth wouldn't simply refuse to appear on camera with him in the first place. I do think that's the wiser route.
posted by adamgreenfield at 3:42 PM on September 3, 2017
The only way in which I agree with you is that I cannot comprehend why anybody who feels as I do would indulge him even momentarily. I do not understand why anyone who feels, as Henry Rollins clearly does, that this obnoxious individual is wasting irretrievable moments of their one and only life on Earth wouldn't simply refuse to appear on camera with him in the first place. I do think that's the wiser route.
posted by adamgreenfield at 3:42 PM on September 3, 2017
About a week ago I was listening to CIUT-FM in Toronto and they were playing a segment of Nardwuar interviewing Alice Cooper from around 1994. I got about a minute in to it where Nardwuar repeatedly tries to start the interview by saying "Hey Stoopid! How are you!" (a play on Cooper's album from a few years previous) -- "How do I take that?" Alice replied, obviously thrown off-guard. Nardwuar repeats the question over a few takes while Cooper gets more and more audibly upset, and at that point I had to switch the radio over to another station.
Once upon a time I loved hearing that sort of goofy confrontation with celebrities who may or may not have deserved to be put on the spot like that, but now... I just don't have the stomach or the patience for it. Maybe after all of these years I am no longer the punk I thought I was. Maybe I have to set this stuff aside along with those old Dayglo Abortions albums I used to think were so funny, but now only come across as juvenile and even a little mean.
What a drag it is, getting old.
posted by spoobnooble II: electric bugaboo at 4:07 PM on September 3, 2017 [3 favorites]
Once upon a time I loved hearing that sort of goofy confrontation with celebrities who may or may not have deserved to be put on the spot like that, but now... I just don't have the stomach or the patience for it. Maybe after all of these years I am no longer the punk I thought I was. Maybe I have to set this stuff aside along with those old Dayglo Abortions albums I used to think were so funny, but now only come across as juvenile and even a little mean.
What a drag it is, getting old.
posted by spoobnooble II: electric bugaboo at 4:07 PM on September 3, 2017 [3 favorites]
His 1998 Henry Rollins interview proceeds precisely as expected on that front ("Oh. I see. You're a character now."), and so on and so forth in 2011 .
While Henry is still acting like he's a little too cool for this in 2011, he seems to have lightened up a lot from the last one, and he's engaged and thoughtful with the questions. I bet he enjoyed it more than he lets on.
posted by rodlymight at 6:29 PM on September 3, 2017 [1 favorite]
While Henry is still acting like he's a little too cool for this in 2011, he seems to have lightened up a lot from the last one, and he's engaged and thoughtful with the questions. I bet he enjoyed it more than he lets on.
posted by rodlymight at 6:29 PM on September 3, 2017 [1 favorite]
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posted by mandolin conspiracy at 2:58 PM on September 2, 2017