• daily show

    Gates to meet his TV tormentor


    Nerdy humorist John Hodgman, who plays a bumbling PC in Apple commercials, will get a chance to rub shoulders with nerdy billionaire Bill Gates on Monday, January 29. That's when Gates will be appearing on Jon Stewart's The Daily Show, where Hodgman is the "Resident Expert." Geeks will be looking forward to seeing whether Gates and Hodgman combine to create some kind of nerdy critical mass. Valley flacks will be marveling at Microsoft's ability to get prime exposure just one hour before Vista goes on sale at midnight.
  • john hodgman

    John Hodgman Just Waiting For His 'Allure' Covershoot Now

    Every decade brings forth an odd figure upon whom celebrity is conveyed in contravention of prevailing dictates and standards, someone who, when you look back years later, seems to somehow capture the essence of the era in a way that was not apparent at the time. It may be too early yet to determine who will represent the zeitgeist of the oughts (or whatever the hell we're calling this decade; can we please settle that already?), but our money's on Mac pitchman John Hodgman, who has turned a career as dude who had a column on the McSweeney's website into a multimedia extravaganza, and whose baffled nerd persona peers out at you from countless covers on neighborhood newsstands (see above). We've never heard a mean thing said about Mr. Hodgman, so we don't begrudge the success, but, dude, you might want to nip this overexposure in the bud before you become the '00s equivalent of Donovan Freberg. Just trying to help out. More »
  • john hodgman

    Movie Star, Loosely Defined

    We can't say we ever found those Mac vs. PC ads particularly amusing, but truly, why make the Mac person such a total annoying dweeb? Apparently everyone else felt the same way, since Radar reports (in an exclusive!) that Mac has quietly canned Justin Long, the skinny hoodie-wearing "hipster" who was supposed to represent the Mac, with the much more endearing John Hodgman repping the PC. Long's rep seemed a bit defensive about the firing:
    A rep for Long confirms that his days as an Apple pitchman are over: "Every ad you see Justin in is for that previous time period only," she tells Radar. "There's no long-term deal with him." She adds (somewhat implausibly, perhaps), "Justin's a movie star, not a commercial guy."
    Yeah, we really dug his work in Herbie: Fully Loaded. More »
  • john hodgman

    John Hodgman & George Plimpton United in Advertising

    To promote the paperback release of his book The Areas of My Expertise, professional gadabout and omniversal adept John Hodgman mined some very obscure adverto-literary history. Hodgman's new print shill at right is an "homage" to an ancient ad for the long-extinct Intellivision video game console that inexplicably featured an endorsement from Paris Review editor George Plimpton. Larger versions after the jump. More »
  • justin long

    Mac Guy Forced To Pervert His Talent For Commerce

    We weren't aware that Justin Long was "famous" enough to inspire a backlash, but apparently the star of the Mac ads (and the forthcoming feature film Young School) has been on the receiving end of a bit of vitriol roundabout these here Internets. We find the young actor delightful and charming, and think it shows incredible commitment to craft that someone who literally looks like a penis has enough self-belief to persevere in an industry where so much is based on appearances, but even we've got to say he's not helping himself with quotes like this: More »
  • john hodgman

    John Hodgman, Former Professional Literary Agent, Takes Over the World

    We saw these new Apple ads on TV the other night. They're cute, and they've got that irritating/charming dorky kid who used to be on Ed, which is nice. They also have John Hodgman, which we suppose is nice, too. But we're trying to figure out: So the guy's a TV actor now, too? Huh. More »