Nardwuar
| Nardwuar the Human Serviette | |
|---|---|
Nardwuar in 2005
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | John Ruskin |
| Born | July 5, 1968 |
| Origin | Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada |
| Genres | Garage rock |
| Occupation(s) | Media personality, interviewer, musician, singer-songwriter |
| Instruments | Vocals, keyboards |
| Years active | 1986-present |
| Labels | Nardwuar, Alternative Tentacles |
| Associated acts | The Evaporators, Thee Goblins |
| Website | www |
John Ruskin (born July 5, 1968), better known as Nardwuar the Human Serviette, is a Canadian interviewer and musician from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He is the lead singer and keyboardist for The Evaporators and plays in Thee Goblins.
Nardwuar got his start in media at the University of British Columbia radio station CITR 101.9 FM in Vancouver. His show has been running every Friday afternoon since October 1987. The program features a mix of eclectic music, along with interviews and commentary. Nardwuar's interviews are frequently shown on MuchMusic's Going Coastal, or printed in Chart. Although Nardwuar's favourite targets are music artists, he has stated that he will interview any celebrity. He also sometimes appears as a guest host and interviewer on CBC Radio 3 and started his own weekly program on freeform radio station WFMU which ran from 2009 to 2013 .
A typical interview will begin with "Who are you?", followed by "From?" if the subject doesn't volunteer his or her affiliations. Each interview ends with "Keep on rockin' in the free world", and the "doot doola doot doo..." of "Shave and a Haircut", to which the interviewee is expected to reply with the final "doot doo!" before Nardwuar freezes with a wide smile until the camera cuts off. When asked to explain his name, Nardwuar has said it is “a dumb, stupid name like Sting or Sinbad;” and that “Human” came from the song "Human Fly" by The Cramps; and “Serviette” came from the fact that “in the U.S.A. they don’t have serviettes, they have napkins”.
Nardwuar was born John Ruskin in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, in 1968. His father Vernon was an engineer and his mother, Olga Ruskin, was a local journalist, high school history teacher and historian. She published a history of Vancouver historical figure "Gassy Jack" John Deighton. His mother exposed her son to local history by bringing him to historical society meetups. Nardwuar won a public speaking competition while in elementary school, where he was also a long-distance runner.
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