June 14: Nardwuar the Human Serviette

Our run of stand-up comic-free shows comes to an end with a real departure for What's So Funny? tonight. Our guest tonight isn't a comedian of any kind, although he's always made me laugh. It's the infamous Nardwuar the Human Serviette. He's from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, but he's known throughout the land as the most distinctive, fill-in-the-blank interview voice of his generation, or any other. I believe the world can be divided into two groups: those that get him and those that don't. Among those he's interviewed that get him are the likes of David Cross, N.E.R.D., and Kurt Cobain. Among those that don't are celebs like Ernest Angley, Alice Cooper and Mikhail Gorbachev.

No one does as much research going into an interview as Nardwuar. David Cross called it "thorough, in-depth and unnecessary research." He usually imparts gifts to his subjects, something I've never done. Also, what I've written here is about the extent of my research. Boy, is he going to be disappointed on the other side of the mic. But my pace is, er, less frantic so we'll fill the hour.

Nardwuar is going to bring in some clips of interviews with people such as Snoop Doggedy-Dog (that's it, right?) and the late hippie Timothy Leary and then we'll break off into discussion and get to know the story behind the interviews. We'll also play some of his beloved rock'n'roll music from his band The Evaporators. Like I say, a departure for us but it'll be fun. The Evaporators, by the way, are playing with Andrew W.K. on Tuesday, June 23, at Neptoon Records on Main St. at 4 p.m. and at the Biltmore on Kingsway at 8 p.m.