On November 8, 2024, Nardwuar the Human Serviette sat with our Director of Social Media, Vanessa Chan, for an exclusive interview! Currently touring in California for his Video Vault and Q&A session, Nardwuar’s last stop is in San Diego. We chatted about his favorite interview moments, his love for tartan print, and everything in between. Coming to the Music Box on November 20, now’s your chance to get tickets before the show sells out! 

Who are you? 

Nardwuar: I’m Nardwuar the Human Serviette from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada speaking to Vanessa from KC…

KCR! Welcome! It’s an honor to have you on! How about we start with you giving an introduction for those who aren’t familiar with you?

Nardwuar: Well, as I said, I’m Nardwuar the Human Serviette from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. I love to do interviews. I also play in two rock and roll bands, The Evaporators and The Goblins. When I do radio interviews, I take the audio from a videotape player, but how do you put video on the radio? Why just take the audio and put the audio on the radio! I’ve been doing that for years. I also freelance for different organizations. Now with the new generation being able to upload from your phones, I am able to explore YouTube and Tik Tok and Facebook and all the other things that are out there. In the early days of CiTR radio, there was no internet. So what you broadcasted was only what you caught. And doot doola doot doo..

Doot doo! 

Nardwuar: So I’m not sure if that sort of explains me, does it? Who am I? Who is Nardwuar the Human Serviette? Like I have a hard time explaining myself, who am I? 

But does anyone know who they really are? It’s a difficult question if you really think about it. 

Nardwuar: Thank you for answering that. That’s what I thought. It’s hard enough for me. It’s hard enough for you. It’s hard enough for anybody to put in a clarification.

People know Nardwuar, but do people know about Nardwuar? How did you get your start with celebrity interviews? 

Nardwuar: Well, I kind of alluded to that earlier by volunteering at CiTR, the University Radio Station in Vancouver, Canada. So just doing a show on CiTR, I began as a regular DJ, just playing music, but it was sort of hard at the end of the show. All these records scattered everywhere and I was like, okay, I’ll play one song, interview a band and then play another song. So that’s how it kind of began, like doing a show every week. 

I’m repping college radio myself! Why was getting involved in college radio so beneficial to your career? 

Nardwuar: It’s so amazing that it allows you to do interviews with bands like, for instance, or non-bands, like you talked to Bunny.

 Bunny, yeah!

Nardwuar: From Rolling Loud, the legendary Bunny, Rolling Loud. 

You did research on me Nardwuar? Oh my God. I’m so honored. 

Nardwuar: I think she is married to Matt Zingler who runs Rolling Loud. How did you get that interview? 

Yeah! I got to cover Rolling Loud under KCR and it was such a surreal experience. Within the past year, I’ve done work with six festivals now and I’m covering Camp Flog Gnaw next weekend. I’m super excited about that. But yeah, I just got a lot of opportunities under KCR. 

Nardwuar: And that’s exactly how it works in Vancouver, Canada too! I got opportunities to interview different people. People would come to me. I do it with other people. It’s amazing. Like through college radio, we can be there right on the front lines. Whereas traditional media, maybe they have one person on the front lines, but the other people are like helpers. But here are you, Vanessa, right on the front lines. You’re not running coffee for Vanessa. You are Vanessa. You don’t have an assistant. You are like right there. That’s a great thing too. Like for college radio, you’re a producer. You’re a writer, you’re an operator, you’re in total control. You can pretty much do whatever you want. 

Yeah, that’s, that’s the nice part about it! You have total creative freedom.

Nardwuar: There are some people in commercial radio that are amazing. They’d have amazing voices and personalities. I was actually a volunteer coordinator at CiTR radio in Vancouver, Canada, where people come into CiTR and I was in charge of training them. And they would come in after going to a broadcast school and say they weren’t really that good. Some guy in my class is really good. He has an amazing deep voice. And I was like, well, the more strange and the more unique your voice is, the more you will stand out. That guy is amazing, but everybody can’t be like that guy. Unfortunately, a lot of broadcast schools teach that. This is the way you do things, but you’re sure you can be really great, but the other 59 people in the class, they are not losers. There is a place for you to stick at it. It may take a long time, but eventually you’ll get to the top and that person with a deep voice may eventually drop out. So eventually you replace that person, but it might take a long time. 

It’s all about finding your groove essentially. And I mean your work has taken music journalism to a whole new level. Your authenticity and ability to connect with artists makes you such a legend in pop culture. How do you handle the pressure that comes alongside your career? 

Nardwuar: Well, thank you very much Vanessa for the kind words. I appreciate that. I guess the pressure is there’s always pressure. So it’s kind of like there was pressure from day one, especially with college radio. You’d be like doing an interview and somebody would phone in and say, “This is boring”. So I’m still scared that somebody will phone in. Even when there are no phones around. Like for instance, if you’re out there interviewing Bunny at Rolling Loud, there’s no phones. I guess you could get a ring on your phone, but generally you’re not broadcasting live or you could do broadcasting live, but you wouldn’t see what’s happening. I’m always living in fear of somebody saying, “This is boring”. So for me, that kind of propels me. That’s the expectation. Like there is no expectation because there’s always people phoning in. There is no expectation because they’re an expectation. Like you do it or you don’t it’s like, you do it great! You don’t, you don’t. You’re scared of the pressure? Then, get the hell out! But there isn’t any pressure because it’s so much fun. It’s like fun, isn’t it? It’s not like operating on somebody who saved their life. Like the heart operation, we have to get everything perfect.We’re interviewing a band. We’re talking to a pop culture person. Even when we’re talking to a politician, like we’re part of the media. It isn’t really that hard. Is it?

I think the difficult thing really is just making that connection, but I think you do that so well and you’re famously known for giving gifts to celebrities. I love the way that you incorporate that because it makes it very personable. 

Nardwuar: Well, for me, like you don’t have, like for CITR radio and you do interviews also over the radio, like KCR, you can’t really give a gift over the radio. You know, when somebody’s phoning in for a phone booth, yes, I go back that long. When somebody’s phoning in, you can’t give them a gift, but when they come out to the station, you could pull out a record in a record library and say, “What do you think about this record?” So that’s kind of what I thought about when I began to do gifts. Like if I couldn’t interview the band in person, I would bring the record to them and I would show them and it would get them to talk. It’s really just to get people to talk. You don’t have to do it, but it helps because if you’re on the phone, talking to somebody, they’re like, “Yes, yes, yes, yes..” And then you’re in person, you hand them something they’re like, “Oh!” Then maybe they go on and talk about it, and maybe they don’t, but it’s a sort of fun way to get people to talk. 

Yeah! And that’s also key with your interviews – the attention to detail. How did you develop your unique interviewing style? 

Nardwuar: Well, like I said about the phone calls, like I’m always scared that somebody is going to phone in and critique you and people will always phone in and critique you. It took a few years. Like, you know, I mean, I always begin interviews with “Who are you?” I caught that from a 1970s or 80s TV show called Putting On The Hits where the host would always go, “Who are you? What’s your name and age?” And I would always end the interview with, “Doot doola doot doo…doot doo!”, when people phoned into CiTR radio. A lot of times when you listen to college radio or when you listen to commercial radio, people phone in and give their opinions, but what happens to the people? Like they phone in and then what happens? Like they talk and then they don’t even say bye sometimes. You can’t even tell. Cause then it’s just like, oh, I’m still talking, but the conversation’s over.. It’s very hard to have that connection over the phone, Vanessa. So people ask the question to the band or whatever, say whatever they want. And then I want to like to usher them out. So I say, “Doot doola doot doo…” And they know it’s time to go. It’s a play way rather than just dumping them. It’s kind of rude just to dump them. So I guess over the years kind of developed that and also like just, you know, taking time and doing interviews and learning how to do everything. But I’m still learning myself because like, I appreciate, you know, your kind words, but I’m still learning. Like the minute I learn everything is probably the minute I quit. So I’m learning everything. 

It’s also a new generation and things are constantly changing. You gotta keep up with it!

Nardwuar: Yeah, but they teach me stuff too! Like, for instance, I interviewed Flo Milli a couple of years back just before she played Rolling Loud. I think it was 2021 or something like that. I was showing her some photos that we had taken. She was like, “Oh, I’d like these photos!”, and she highlighted the photos. I never knew on an iPhone you could highlight the photos, like she highlighted a whole row. I thought you’d have to do it individually. I learn from the new generation. 

How do you get into “Nardwuar mode” before an interview? What’s the research process like? Do you do something beforehand or have some sort of ritual?

Nardwuar: I always have, speaking of rituals, a lucky chestnut. I always have the lucky chestnut in my pocket. It’s got nothing to do with interviews. It’s like luck for luck. So I always have the lucky chestnut. And also, I’m lucky enough that I get to talk to so and so. It’s usually every Friday I do my show. So I have a week to research that person.. Then I can get all the questions written out on cards. You don’t have to write all your questions out on cards. I like to write it on cards, just in case you get nervous, or you get flustered. And the publicist is going, “Come on, wrap it up, come on, wrap it up.” And you’re like, “Oh, I want to ask one last thing.” Otherwise, if you don’t write it down, your friends might afterwards or the listeners might go, you talked to so and so and you didn’t ask that. Then I’d go “Well, I was about to but I forgot and got flustered.” But this way it’s like, as soon as I get flustered, I can look down my notes and I can see what happened. So I guess doing the research, putting the notes together, then talking to my friends to help out with the camera in the case of doing a remote interview. Like the Flo Milli interview, I got my friend Stephanie who lives in California to help with the interview and she brought her husband Joey to help as well. And then, you know, the transportation. I’ve been at a one person DIY operation. It’s kind of like a long process, but I try to keep it to like about a week. Some stuff is ongoing, like I have an ongoing file for, you know, Paul McCartney. It’s my dream to talk to him. So I have that on my computer, but generally it is about a week. And it’s fun to wear different outfits. Speaking of, in the same shirt I talked to Flo Milli in, I also did an interview with Jack Harlow and I was wearing that shirt.

So every time you wear it, it’s like a little memory that comes along with it. 

Nardwuar: Yeah! It brings it back. Having the shirt, having the research questions, having some sort of like gifts to give the people, dressing up and, you know, putting on my tartan pants, you know, getting ready to go. 

Yeah, I love that. You’re also known for your outfits, your authenticity and stuff like that, so it’s cool that you stand out in so many different ways. 

Nardwuar: It’s fun having all this sort of stuff. A lot of stuff I get from this clothing store in Vancouver called Burshu’s Angels. I wear it all the time. I don’t always wear out, you know, my tartan pants, cause I got them in 1999. And I’m afraid that they might actually break. I keep bringing them in to get repaired, but they keep getting ripped, so I’m really afraid, but they’re the Tiger of London brand. They aren’t that hard to get. In fact, when I interviewed Kelly Rowland of Destiny’s Child, she said, “Hey, I have those pants! We have those pants!”  And I thought, “Oh, that’s amazing.” Can you imagine the entire Destiny’s Child dressed in tartan Tiger of London pants? 

That would have been amazing. So all four of you.

Nardwuar: It would have been, but when I talked to her, Beyonce wasn’t there at that time. I did talk to Destiny’s Child before another time, but it was only like for two minutes, like running from the dressing room to the stage. And I only talked to Kelly. Beyonce was there and Michelle was there, but they were kind of in their zone, ready to go on stage. Kelly, I did manage to go “Doot doola doot doo..” And you can actually see that on YouTube as it, like as the car is pulling away and I’m running after her. She went “Doot doo!”. That made the interview. So if people want to look like me, Tiger of London pants. If the people want to act like me, well, anybody could do it. I’m there to inspire. If people hear me, people might go like, “I could do what that guy does!” Well, good! Do it, please! Do it! Totally good to me. 

I know you’ve interviewed tons of people over your enormous years of interviewing, but are there any that stand out to you? And also I’m just curious, what is the strangest way somebody has reacted to a gift of yours? 

Nardwuar: For reactions, I would have to say Denzel Curry. It was amazing. When I interviewed Denzel Curry, he walked away from me. I was just looking at that the other day. Cause like he actually walked out in a room to another room. That is quite a reaction. Like to actually physically move away. Actually, Lil Uzi Vert said “You know too much” and ran away. And I ran after him and I got him to go “Doot doo!” And he ended up sampling that for “Futsal Shuffle 2020”. So here he is running away from me, but it was worthwhile for me to run after him because he ended up sampling me, which is totally mind boggling to me. Like I cannot believe that somebody sampled a dumb, stupid interviewer. When I started interviewing years ago, I never thought that, you know, the interviewer would become part of the music, but he sampled that. I’m so grateful. And you mentioned kind of like people that, you know, like, who do I like to talk to? Like you mentioned, you’re going to the Camp Flog Gnaw coming up. 

Yes!

Nardwuar: You’ve talked to Omar Apollo before, or you’ve been to some of his gigs…

I’ve been to Omar Apollo… I have not talked to him yet, but I’ve, I’ve been, I’ve been. I’m super excited. I love him. 

Nardwuar: And he has a deal with Taco Bell, which is amazing, there aren’t many in Canada at all. But the festival is put on by Tyler, The Creator. And I love talking to him. I love to get an opportunity. I’m not sure, but I’d love to get an opportunity to speak to him again. And I love talking to people like him because he’s like such a hip hop historian, like West love of the roots. Like Tyler, you can show a record and he’ll talk about that actual record, which is totally amazing. So I love that when you can like this, hold up the mic and let the person go. 

So that means you’re going to Camp Flog Gnaw next weekend!

Nardwuar: Yes! I’m hoping to touch wood. Everything will go on schedule. I’m part of the traveling Nardwuar video vault that’s coming to San Diego as well. 

I was going to say how I noticed your LA date is right before Flog Gnaw weekend! 

Nardwuar: So the tour stops on Wednesday in San Francisco, the 13th, the Friday, the 15th in LA, and then it stops and resumes in San Diego. So yeah, we do take a bit of a detour on the 20th for San Diego at the Music Box!

Let’s talk about your mini tour that you’re going on. You’re stopping in San Diego at the Music Box on November 20. What should people expect from the show?

Nardwuar: I’m going to play some of my favorite interviews and clips. There’ll be a question and answer, sort of like this. The Nardwuar video vault. And when I say like my favorite clips, it’s not going to be like, oh, you know, compilations that you’ve seen on YouTube is like, I’ll isolate them and talk about them and talk about the significance as well. So it’s a fun little sort of venture into the world of Nardwuar the Human Serviette. I like to inspire people. Like if I can do it, anybody can do it. Just, it might take a bit of time, but stick with it. 

That’s awesome! And it’s also great because you get to interact with people who have been fans of you for so long, who are inspired by you. So it’s cool that you get to have this personal connection with them if they go to the event. 

Nardwuar: Oh, I’m so inspired. Like some people over Halloween dressed up as me and that we did the event in New York and people dressed up as me. It’s such an honor. I’m savoring that moment. I cannot believe it. And other people that know me, like, “Hey, Nardwuar, did you tell people to dress up as you?” No! They did it on their own! I’m like, so, so flattered by that. It’s so cool. 

You know what? Maybe at the San Diego show, everybody will be dressed as you. How cool would that be? 

Nardwuar: I wouldn’t know what to do. That’s amazing. Well, I would definitely take a photo and document it exactly like that. 

That’s awesome. That’s basically everything I have! I’m hoping to be at the San Diego show too so maybe we will meet formally. 

Nardwuar: Thank you so much for the interest. And actually I should say, how did you first hear of me, Vanessa?

Oh my gosh. How did I first hear of you? I think when I was in middle school, well, for reference, I’m now a junior in college, but I think in middle school, I came across a video. I think it was you interviewing Tyler. And I just remember thinking it was unlike anything I’ve ever seen in my entire life. You kind of inspired me to join my college radio too. And then I remember like my first interview I was so nervous and I was like, “What would Nardwuar do?” I literally thought, “What would Nardwuar do?” And it’s funny that you brought up Rolling Loud because I had an artist that I interviewed, he was like, “Oh, you’re on your Nardwuar stuff!” And I thought it was like the highest compliment ever. So you’re a huge inspiration to me.

Nardwuar: Oh, thank you so much. That is amazing. And for nervousness, I’m nervous all the time. I’m nervous talking to you, Vanessa. But I think that’s good because that inspires you to want to do something to go out and find information. So every time I do an interview, it’s good to be nervous before the end of reason, true. You kind of like, eventually you lighten up. It doesn’t become as nervous, but you’re, you know, like once you get going, but it takes a while to warm up. So it’s good. I think a lot of times a lot of the performers will say, “I’m never nervous. I can go on stage or whatever.” It’s like, you’re not nervous because you’re not caring what people think. Well, if, if you don’t care, people think. then you should probably quit because it’s important what people think. If people think something bad, well, maybe report them to the police, but usually people that think bad things or tell you what’s bad are your friends and your enemies are people that don’t say anything. So it’s good to get some feedback. It’s good to feel nervous. What do people think? Well, of course, if people think really bad things, maybe, as I said, report them to the police or whatever, but so, yeah, don’t feel bad. Don’t feel nervous when you’re doing stuff. 

Yeah, that’s great advice! I just want to thank you again for this opportunity. This is awesome. 

Nardwuar: Well, thank you again, Vanessa. I really appreciate the kind words and doot doola doot doo…

Doot doo!