John Hodgman
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| John Hodgman | |
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 Hodgman in 2006 |
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| Born | June 3, 1971 Brookline, Massachusetts |
John Kellogg Hodgman (born June 3, 1971) is an American voice actor, author and humorist. In addition to his published written work, such as The Areas of My Expertise, he is known for his personification of a PC in Apple's "Get a Mac" advertising campaign and his correspondent work on Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
His writings have been published in One Story to which he contributed the debut story, The Paris Review, McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, Wired and The New York Times Magazine, for which he is editor of the humor section. He contributes to Public Radio International’s This American Life, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s Wiretap. His first book and accompanying audio narration, The Areas of My Expertise, a satirical tongue-in-cheek almanac which contains almost no factual information, was published in 2005. His second book, More Information Than You Require went on sale October 21, 2008.
In addition, Hodgman founded and is emcee for The Little Gray Book Lectures in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The lectures have been on hiatus "for the foreseeable future" as of August 2007 (currently noted as "until at least Jan 1, 2008").
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[edit] Biography
Hodgman was born and raised in Brookline, Massachusetts and attended the Heath School and Brookline High School.[1] In high school, Hodgman was a member of Brookline High's School Within a School program, a functioning student democracy within the larger school.
Hodgman studied clarinet performance with Paulette Bowes at the All Newton Music School in West Newton, Massachusetts and viola with Gillian Rogell at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School.
He graduated from Yale University in 1994.[2] Before gaining fame as a writer, Hodgman worked as a literary agent at Writers House in New York City, where he represented Darin Strauss, David Grand, Deborah Digges, and actor Bruce Campbell, among others. Hodgman has used his experience as an agent in his column “Ask a Former Professional Literary Agent” at McSweeney's Internet Tendency. Hodgman lives in Brooklyn, New York.
[edit] Television appearances
[edit] The Daily Show
Hodgman appeared on The Daily Show on November 16, 2005 to promote his book, The Areas of My Expertise. Host Jon Stewart described the book as “very funny” and said that the section on hobo names in particular was written with “a certain kind of genius.” Hodgman has returned to the Daily Show several times for "resident expert" interview segments, and he is listed on the show's web site as a contributor.[3] Hodgman retains the simple title "Resident Expert". He appeared again on the October 21, 2008, December 3, 2008, February 12, 2009 and April 6, 2009 broadcasts.
[edit] Attack of the Show
In February 2006, Hodgman appeared on Attack of the Show, a show that airs daily on G4, to share some insight with the host and promote his book The Areas of My Expertise. In this appearance Hodgman recounted the sad tale of the lobster (which he said were actually a small, furry, extinct species, killed and replaced by the creatures we think of as lobsters today) and brought along Jonathan Coulton, a frequent Hodgman collaborator and musical director of the Little Gray Book lectures. Coulton performed a song called Furry Old Lobster.[4] Also, on October 18th, 2008 Hodgman appeared again on Attack of the Show to talk about his newest book More Information Than You Require.
[edit] "Get a Mac" ad campaign
Hodgman appears in the Get a Mac advertising campaign for Apple Inc., which started in May 2006. In the ads he plays the personification of a PC alongside his Mac counterpart, played by actor Justin Long. Hodgman himself has been a Mac user since 1984. [5]
[edit] Venue Songs
In 2005, Hodgman played a character named "The Deranged Millionaire" in They Might Be Giants' Venue Songs DVD/CD, narrating in between songs with dialog he co-wrote with the band. He also narrated a number of "Venue Songs"-themed setlists during the band's live shows in 2005, and has introduced the band while in the role of The Deranged Millionaire as recently as May 16, 2007.
[edit] Flight of the Conchords
In 2007, Hodgman appeared in the "Bowie" episode of the HBO television series Flight of the Conchords. He played the manager of a musical greeting card company who was considering using one of the band's songs for a greeting card.
[edit] Battlestar Galactica
Hodgman appeared in the episode "No Exit" of Battlestar Galactica, appearing as the civilian neurosurgeon, Dr. Gerard.[6] He had earlier visited the set in 2005 to write about the show for The New York Times Magazine.[7] A bottle of Edradour given as a gift to the show's producers also appeared in the episode "Crossroads, Part I".[8]
[edit] Other media appearances
[edit] Film appearances
- 2008: Baby Mama as Fertility Doctor
- 2009: This Side of the Truth
- 2009: Coraline as Father/Other Father (voice actor)
[edit] Radio
Hodgman has contributed several segments to the public radio series This American Life, in addition to appearing on their collection:[9]
- 178 - Superpowers, asking the question, "which is better: flight or invisibility?"
- 190 - Living the Dream, in which he becomes Bruce Campbell's literary agent.
- 205 - Plan B, interviewing a professional partier.
- 226 - Reruns, retelling story about his arrest for breaking into the London Zoo so that he could pet penguins and ultimately be arrested.
- 232 - The Real Story, disclosing that he rewrites the screenplay to Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace in his head.
- 243 - Later That Same Day, telling story about revisiting Atlantic City to ride the Sling Shot following loss of close family members.
- 298 - Getting and Spending, living at the Mall of America for seven days (from Hodgman's The Areas of My Expertise).
- 305 - Holiday Spectacular, discussing the true-life origins of Christmas traditions.
- 329 - Nice Work If You Can Get It, telling the story of what happens when celebrity hunts you down and finds you.
Hodgman and close friend Jonathan Coulton were interviewed for an episode of the Public Radio International program The Sound of Young America in 2006.[10] Hodgman also appeared on the podcast Jordan, Jesse GO! playing "Judge Hodgman" presiding over a mock trial.
Hodgman appeared in person and on the NPR radio broadcast of City Arts and Lectures, in a recorded interview by Dave Eggers, in front of a live studio audience on November 10, 2008, at the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco, California.
[edit] Print
- Hodgman appears on the cover of the February 2007 edition of Wired Magazine, as a contributor to their "What we don't know about..." articles.
- Hodgman oversaw the "True Life Tales" section of the Sunday New York Times Magazine.[11] The section is currently on hiatus.
- Hodgman has guest written for the "Sederatives" section of "The Believer" Magazine, an arts magazine. "Sederatives" is an advice column created by Amy Sedaris.
- Hodgman wrote the Massachusetts[12] chapter in the anthology State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America.
- Hodgman wrote the introduction to The Laugh-Out-Loud Cats Sell Out (2009), a collection of Adam Koford's "Hobotopia" comic strips.
[edit] Online
- the show with zefrank, at the tail end of an episode discussing the brisk Brooklyn weather.
- It is rumored that Hodgman appears on the podcast You Look Nice Today, hosted by Merlin Mann and others. Some say he provides the non sequitur act breaks that play between talk segments, as well as opening and closing the show. Hodgman did make an appearance alongside his cohort Jonathan Coulton on the November 13th, November 24th and December 3rd episodes: "Selfish Express", "Faux Tog" and "Faire du camping" respectively.
- In the online role playing game Kingdom of Loathing, much of the material for the multiplayer dungeon "Hobopolis" as well as the final boss character for the area is based on Hodgman and his fictionalized discussion of hobos. Many parts of the randomly generated hobo names are also taken from the section on hobo names in The Areas of My Expertise. The game's administrators asked for and were granted permission by Hodgman for the use of parts of his hobo names, as well as for permission to use him as the final boss of Hobopolis. Hodgman was reportedly "flattered".[13]
- TED: A brief digression on matters of lost time
- Interview with Leo Laporte on This Week in Tech 167: More TWiT Than You Require (last 45 minutes)
- On an occasional podcast series at Boing Boing TV as the host of SPAMasterpiece theater.
- Guest on This Week in Tech 174: A 10 Ferret Night
[edit] Bibliography
- The Areas of My Expertise (ISBN 0-525-94908-9, 2005)
- More Information Than You Require (ISBN 0-525-95034-6, October 2008)
[edit] References
- ^ Chase, Katie Johnston. "True to his nerd: John Shackleford-Hodgman finds a niche as 'Daily Show' resident expert, mendacious author, and dorky PC", The Boston Globe, September 24, 2006. Accessed December 3, 2007. "He was focused, and a touch eccentric, from the start. ``He was a legend at his own elementary school," the Heath School... and in eighth grade he was voted most likely to become the editor of The New Yorker.... "
- ^ Yale Daily News - Yale alumni move up in the world of comedy
- ^ Hodgman biodata
- ^ http://www.jonathancoulton.com/music/thingaweek/FurryOldLobster.mp3
- ^ TWiT Podcast
- ^ "Battlestar Wiki: John Hodgman" (in English). 24 October 2008. http://en.battlestarwiki.org/wiki/John_Hodgman. Retrieved on 2008-11-05.
- ^ "Q&A: John Hodgman on Perfecting the Illusion of Expertise" (in English). 22 September 2008. http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/magazine/16-10/pl_print_hodgman. Retrieved on 2008-10-08.
- ^ "Battlestar Wiki: Podcast:Crossroads, Part I" (in English). 8 October 2008. http://en.battlestarwiki.org/wiki/Podcast:Crossroads%2C_Part_I. Retrieved on 2008-11-05.
- ^ http://www.thislife.org/pages/store.html#hope Stories of Hope and Fear
- ^ The Sound of Young America: Podcast: Best Friends with John Hodgman and Jonathan Coulton
- ^ The New York Times Magazine “From the Editors.” September 18, 2005.
- ^ Massachusetts: Bulwark against the Kingdom of the Anti Christ
- ^ The KoL Wiki “Hodgman, The Hoboverlord.”
[edit] External links
- Official site for The Areas of My Expertise
- John Hodgman on Twitter
- Little Gray Book Lectures, including archival material
- Good Evening—Hodg-man on Blogger
- John Hodgman at the Internet Movie Database
- Early review of "More Information Than You Require"
- TED Talks: John Hodgman's brief digression on matters of lost time at TED in 2008
- "Interview with John Hodgman"
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