 |
August 18-21 |
 |
I am Chris Hardwick. You probably recognize me from TV. You don’t
realize that’s where you know me from, but it is. You think
you went to college with me or I look like your cousin’s friend,
but that is not the case. At one time or another you stumbled across
me on your moving picture box in such cerebral gems as MTV’s
Singled Out and Noam Chomsky’s Shipmates. I was also in House
of 1000 Corpses, which you were afraid to see because horror films
make you pee a little. I was also in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines,
which you are somewhat reluctant to give me credit for, because
I was only in a couple of scenes and I was not a robot. When I told
you about, Guys Like Us, a series I did on UPN, you replied, “I
don’t get cable,” ignorant of the fact that UPN was
freely available in many of the contiguous United States until its
black heart was sliced out and carelessly jammed inside the WB's
desiccated corpse to form the Franken-channel of "The CW".
“I was on KROQ in Los Angeles for THREE YEARS!” “Radio
is a dead medium,” you scoffed. “Well, I’m not
only an alumnus of the 2001 US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, CO,
but I went back in 2005 as half of the musical comedy duo Hard ‘N
Phirm!” “Why would I care about stand-up comedy amid
a bunch of drunken, nouveau-riche mountain dwellers and their many
unnecessary art galleries?” Again I tried to appeal to your
sycophantic sensibilities. “Guess who’ll be appearing
at the Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal this year??” Again,
you rejected me. “French-Canadians talk too throaty.”
“But HnP is about to tape its very own half-hour special for
Comedy Central! Surely that must…” “Meh.”
Your judgments against me are growing tiresome. Still, I’m
nowhere near being done with you yet. More of me can hit you in
your apathy-wrinkled brain, like my vocal portrayal of the male-uddered
cow 'Otis' in Nickelodeon’s television adaptation of the cinematic
powerhouse The Barnyard, which confirmed my long-standing suspicions
that I am a low-rent Kevin James. Rob Zombie is producing my solo
comedy album, Blood Pudding, AND I did a CS-fucking-I for crapsake!!
I have also been on more pilots than you, ranging from Network Television
to upstart cable firms like CNN, demonstrating a wide berth of talents
from hosting all the way to pretending. Sadly, you will ne’er
see any of those, for they are decaying in a failure-vault in the
catacombs of Hollywood, forever suppressed by the Industry Fat Cats
who run this glitzy shitberg. Truthfully, I don’t care if
or how you know me, or what opinions of me have formed like wax
bottles in your important head. Just enjoy me NOW. I am from Memphis
and my father was a professional bowler. Thank you for giving this
indulgent essay one hundred and four seconds of your life that you
will never get back.
With Matt Willis
|