Nardwuar on His Best and Most Uncomfortable Interviews
In 1993, a gonzo journalist and punk singer named John Ruskin barged his way into a press conference with Mikhail Gorbachev to ask, “Of all the leaders you’ve encountered, who wears the biggest pants?” Ruskin, known to his peers as Nardwuar the Human Serviette, had a habit of carrying his nutty onstage energy into his interviews, and swiftly gained a reputation for befuddling and bedazzling his subjects.
Today, Nardwuar mostly focuses on musicians, subjecting some of the world’s biggest artists to rapid-fire rounds of rote questions (“who are you? Why should the people care?”) with a playful, animated squeak. Then, when they’re sufficiently dumbfounded, he reveals the fieldwork he’s done on them — a breadth of research so thorough it reaches a point of zaniness. He might casually bring up the name of Seth Rogen’s mall cashier when he was a kid, Kendrick Lamar’s Louisiana Chicken order, or Travis Scott’s high-school Spanish teacher. He gives gifts that will remind his subjects of past lives they’d long forgotten, like the poster of the film Coffy that had Drake reminiscing about his days as a horny teenager. By the end, Nardwuar closes with his signature kicker, “Keep on rockin’ in the Free World! Doot-doola-doot-doo,” then freezing in place until the subject gives a “Doot-doo!” in return.
This might all seem like one huge commitment to a bit, but when you get the chance to actually speak with Nardwuar, you start to understand that this is simply who he is. Calling ahead of a series of live events he’s hosting — and while wearing his signature tam-o’-shanter — Nardwuar is a ball of energy that never stops rolling. “Everyone has a story, and it’s up to me to bring out the story,” he says. “If Nardwuar can do it, anyone can. Please don’t just leave this up to me.”
