Nardwuar: The Man Who Knows Too Much
By: Matthew Spence
6 min readJul 20, 2020
When you think of an interview for your favorite artist or actor, what comes to mind: Do you think them on a talk show with either a 50/50 chance of enthusiasm of being there or giving off a sign that they want to be anywhere else but there? Do you think of them on a podcast? Whichever you pick, you’re not wrong, but have you considered a 52-year-old, never seen without a hat, eccentric, lovable frontman of The Evaporators, who always gets the most genuine reactions and knows more about his interviewers than they know themselves sometimes? If not allow me to introduce you to Nardwuar, aka the Human Serviette. Canada’s own Nardwuar has made a name for himself over the years, being a lovable guy whose research is very in-depth and who’s signature “manikin pose” for the camera at the of every interview is even more impressive than his research. While his fame has been in the more recent years due to social media, he’s been doing this for decades. From 90s legends of Nirvana to Sonic Youth, to the 2000s best such as the White Stirpes. From hip hop superstars such Jay-Z to Kendrick Lamar to Drake to Tyler the Creator, to recent pop titans such as Billie Eillish.
Whether they’re up-in-coming or on top of the world, Nardwuar has interviewed plenty of music best of past, and now 1985 would be the year Nardwuar would make his “debut” with his first interview with members of the punk band, Poisoned, Art Bergmann & Tom Upex. All before his internet fame, he hosted (and still currently does) a radio show, accordingly clocking in over 100,000 hours. However, in 2006, Nardwuar would start his YouTube run with his first upload being his question to Dan Quayle, the former U.S Vice President. Though he was judged and doubted in that room full of more “professional” journalists. However, in the last decades, Nardwuar may have not changed his presence that people in that press room may have judged, but that didn’t stop him from garnering a following and gaining respect from peers of the music and culture scene.
The main component is his research. Nardwuar trademark goes beyond what he asks, but how does he even know this to ask to begin with. Asking questions about the artist obscure facts about him/herself that the public isn’t much aware of and the artist may have forgotten about. A common joke about Nardwuar, between the artists and the meme community, is that Nardwuar secretly works with the government, hence why he knows so much about the artist. A classic case is a Lil Uzi Vert interview, he reacts to a Nardwuar question and says “…….. Bro, he knows too much”. In an interview with Nylon from 2017, he was asked about his research process and stated: “ I do one week of researching”, “It’s not that hard to do it.” Explaining, “Most people are too busy to delve into a subject or too lazy. But it’s right there”. “It’s not that difficult for people to find”. Yet, the cherry on top isn’t just the interviewing questions he brings, he also gifts the artist rare collectible items from a shop from Canada. In the rest of the interview, with Nylon you get the feel of his genuine passion and love for what he does. Which translate to his videos, where some artist react like kids on Christmas when he asks a personal question and hands them a gift (Eric Andre even wanted to kiss him).
Frequent interviewee, Snoop Dogg in a 2010 interview with Nardwuar elaborated on why he keeps accepting interviews with Nardwuar, stating: “Most guys who interview me don’t have as much personality as you have, as much courageousness. You know you’re courageous and you got a lot of personality so it brings the best of me and you at the same time”.
Of course, not everyone is as fond and observant of Nardwuars, eccentric and borderline goofy charisma, some artists have been very dismissive, abrasive and antagonistic towards him. Sonic Youth, influential bands from the 90s alternative scene, and Blur of the 90s Britpop scene have infamous interviews with Nardwuar. In 1991, Sonic Youth, known for not giving an eight of a fuck, spent most of their interview with him, portraying “too cool to care” attitudes: ignoring and trying to villi-pend all of Nardwuar questions with jokes. At some point, it goes from an interview with a music journalist and a artist to being a video of high school bullies attacking the un-provoking nerd. As Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo begin to push and shove and hold Nardwuar, eventually breaking a rare 7-inch Nardwuar was planning to give to them, which lead Nardwuar to belt: “YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT!!”.
Even after they continued to shove and jump him as if they were his older brothers. 12 years later, Nardwuar would face a similar torment from Blur member Dave Rowntree in 2003, where he shoved, took Nardwuars hat, at some point wouldn’t have been shocking if Dave outright said: “GIVE ME YOUR LUNCH MONEY!!”. Years later, Dave would apologize to Nardwuar, in his statement he went on to state: “To be clear, Nardwuar didn’t do anything to provoke me”. He went to explain and blame his drug addiction and binge: “I became addicted to drugs in the 90s. Now I’ve no idea if it has this affect anyone else, but for me, the day after a cocaine binge, I’d sometimes fly into a murderous rage and take it out on whoever happens to be around”. Eventually, on Twitter, Nardwuar responded and accepted Daves’s apology on Twitter: “Thanks to Dave of Blur for this apology……I appreciate it”. Now it’s gone to be a trope (and slight observation) by judging a person’s character based on how they treat Nardwuar.
Yet, even in those more uncomfortable and hostile interviews are outnumbered by the countless positive interviews and reactions he gets from artists to where you might as well watch a compilation videos of them on YouTube. From Waka Flocka giving him his chain to Kendrick Lamar smiling with glee when Nardwuar mentions a favorite chicken spot, to Pharrell to being so impressed he requested Jay-Z to interview with him (though that one didn’t turn out as great as we hoped). Whether in a welcoming or hostile interview, Nardwuar knows how to keep it cool, calm, and collected and stay in character. He’s like those living museum workers from that South Park episode “Super Fun Time”. Just take his signature outro as an example. After wishing his guest well and giving his send-off jingle, he freezes like a manikin until the video is over. At this moment, the artist usually is confused, can’t stay still as long as he, find it humorous, or take the opportunity to playfully mess with him, even being carried away by some artists, he never breaks.
Nardwuar is more than a music journalist, he’s an anomaly. A personality that never fails to entertain his interviewee and his audience. This shows us that even in times where we forget that artists aren’t impeccable machines that have to stay in character but are humans like everyone else who can get excited over the little things. With under 30 years under his belt, he gives aspiring journalists that being yourself is an option you can’t go wrong with.
