The Nerdist - The fades special

Welcome to The Nerdist January spooktacular! Ooh, January! -I'm Chris Hardwick. -(FLASHLIGHT RATTLING) Stupid. Oh, there. Ah, credits! Hello! Well, for the uninitiated, what I've done is I have taken my podcast and somehow convinced someone to start filming it, A.K.A. BBC America. I don't know how I did. It feels like the scam of the century. But here we are, you guys! The Nerdist Podcast as a television show. Normally, we talk about all things nerdy. But, to celebrate the kick off of the new BBC America show, The Fades, tonight, we're gonna talk about all things nerdy. And terrifying! ALL: Oh! -(GUITAR CHORD PLUCKS) -(AUDIENCE LAUGHS) That weird dissonant chord over there, Mike Phirman? I didn't play that. What? Wait a minute. Mike, 10 years ago, a guitar player standing on that spot passed away. -And tonight, he has... -(YELLS) -No, that's me in the poster. -I thought... Ladies and gentlemen, we already been talking to him. That's Mike Phirman over there. (AUDIENCE CHEERING) Mike Phirman and his band, Mike Phirman & The No One Else's. (AUDIENCE LAUGHING) Just standing in the corner. Also Matt Mira and Jonah Ray are here as well. You may know these guys. -It's us. -Yes. That's youse guyses. You said my name second, I'll let it pass... -Oh. -Love it when people do that. Alphabetically, that really is the way that it works. Mira, and then Ray. That's true, but Jonah, and then Matt. Yeah, but as a couple, you guys are Miray. That's your tabloid couple name. Make out! Make out! Make out! All right. (LAUGHING) He sounds like every other girl I've dated. All right, yeah. So, I did want to... Before we start, I saw the most amazing t-shirt in our audience. The greatest thing about the people who listen to The Nerdist, and who watch The Nerdist stuff is that they are creators as much as they are consumers. Like, we get so many cool designs and animations and stuff. And before the show, I saw this t-shirt in the front row. Would you stand up, please? You made that shirt yourself? -Yes -Enjoy your... And that's Aaron Burr and Judge Ito. Burr-Ito! Genius! -Genius shirts! -(AUDIENCE CHEERING) -You made that yourself? With what, like with a sharpie? -Yes. Gorgeous. Gorgeous. Well done. I will steal that from you later. Ah, so... You know, because we're talking about The Fades, what was the first movie that scared the (BLEEP) out of you? When I was a kid, the thing that would scare me the most was Pet Sematary and Child's Play. Those were the two things that scared me the most. Yeah, Pet Sematary was... Gabe, the little kid... Slice your Achilles' heel. Yeah, I didn't like that at all. I was like, "What are you doing to Mr. Monster?" -Yeah, yeah, yeah. -You're cutting him. Child's Play, I had My Buddy doll when I was a kid, and I have the same outfit. For some reason, my mom thought it'd be cute -to give me the same outfit. -Uh-oh. My Buddy doll... I was dressed just like a My Buddy doll. -Mira Buddy! -Yeah. And I beat the crap out of that doll because I saw Child's Play, and I was like, "This doll is going down." - # Where ever I go, you're gonna go - # My Buddy - # My Buddy # -(ALL LAUGHING) One of the scariest parts of any horror movie was the spider walk down the stairs in Exorcist. MIRA: Yes. (AUDIENCE APPLAUDS) Don't applaud for the most horrifying thing. That was for the reissue. That was not in the original. It wasn't in the original. But it was, but it was just cut out. The reissue, I saw it in the theater, and I ended up, like, crouched on my seat. I just, like, jumped up, and was on my seat. And I was on a date. It was just the worst. 'Cause she was fine. And I was the one that shrieked like a girl. Yeah. So, The Fades is a brand new BBC supernatural series, now appearing on BBC America. Take a quick look. Paul, What the (BLEEP) has happened to Steve? -What is he? -(PANTING) If I was to make an educated guess... He died, okay? He became a ghost. A fade. And this guy called John. From the 1940s. He used to be a fade ghost. He... He's probably taught him how to eat flesh and grow a new body. This is serious, Paul! I am being serious. We are in so much danger. So trap him or something. You ain't afraid of no ghosts. No, no, no, you're mental. You're both mental! Steve's mental, you're mental, and Jay is a (BLEEPING) library monitor! Little pig! Little pig! Let me in. Anna! (ALL CHEERING) When I was in London, I went ghost hunting myself. And who better to help me than our friends at The Fades. Lily, thank you for coming to the Victorian slaughter house. Thank you for having me here. This is, I think, what they call a *** flat. A lot of people haven't seen The Fades in the States yet. Will you tell us a little about the show? Yeah, The Fades is a sort of supernatural drama with comedy. The main story is about the fades, which are people who have died, but have not been able to pass on. And only a select few people can see them. It revolves around a boy called Paul, who's my character's twin brother, who has to decide whether he wants to be in that world or sort of stick around and stay with his family and his friends, and his girlfriend. Are you able to see dead people in the show? -My character is not... -Oh, come on. Um, and she's very skeptical, and thinks it's all a load of rubbish. Is the show... Oh, I guess you can't really talk about the end. -How does the show end? -(LAUGHS) Can't tell you. Duh, what? Come on. Oh, that usually works. It ends in a sort of cliff hanger, so if we get second series, hopefully. we can pick it up from where it ended. -You have nerds in England? -Yeah. You are? You? What are you nerdy about? Is Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings nerdy? Um, listen. I don't want to... I don't think they're nerdy because everyone loves them, don't they? Which house would you be sorted into? Gryffindor. I did it. -You did? -You know, you can do this thing on Facebook. -Oh, yeah. -I was put in Gryffindor. (GIGGLES) Did they make everyone Gryffindor? No, I've had friends that have been in Hufflepuff. -(LAUGHS) No! -(LAUGHS)Yeah. -Good luck. -Yeah. Can you help me come up with a good Harry Potter name? I don't know. I'll be Riland Pennycroft. That is good. That was really clever. I can't think stuff up like that. Thank you. All right. -Petrificus Totalus! -(CHUCKLES) I cast at thee. Lily, it was a pleasure. Thank you so much. -Pleasure. -Thank you for being here in our ice-cold interview meat locker. Yeah, thank you for having me again. Oh, there's no way out of here. (CLICKS TONGUE) (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) Our first guest is on two awesome shows, Mad Men and Community. This is a lady who is truly marvelous. Alison Brie! (ALL CHEERING) It's the right choice, Alison. Oh! Oh! -Hey, that's Mike Phirman over there. -Hey! PHIRMAN: Hey, Alison Brie. How's it going? -You're the first lady on our show. -(GASPS). To be in studio. Congratulations. I was the first lady on Nerdist Podcast. You are the first lady of Nerdist. BRIE: It's true. You guys, come on. -Okay, I only applaud at truth. -(LAUGHS) No bull (BLEEP). How has it been going since you were on The Nerdist Podcast last... -Um, really well. -Yeah? Yeah. I think everything picked up after that. -(CHUCKLES) -My whole life changed. Yeah. We hear that a lot. The Nerdist Podcast was like... I turned the corner after that. Yeah. Are you a horror fan? -Do you like horror movies? -I do. -What do you like? 'Cause you were in one. -I love horror movies. -You were in a Scream. -(GASPS) I was, and I love the Scream movies. I love horror movies, but they terrify me, so I can't see them very often. I was thinking about what horror movies scared me... Like, what was the first horror movie that scared me -and what did you say, Pet Sematary? -And Child's Play. Yes. Oh, not Child's Play. No. Sorry. I don't think I ever saw it. I've never seen it. MIRA: Well, it's a good thing. It would scare you. Well, it just looked bad. (LAUGHING) -So, that was really... -And you were 8 years old, going... -I was like... -"I don't think so." "I don't know. It's unrealistic. Come on, this doll's gonna get me?" If you had a Kid Sister doll, it would've scared you. Whatever. I am a Kid Sister doll. (MEN LAUGHING) Oh, my God, that's hotter than I expected. Oh. HARDWICK: Very awkward right now. -I've been watching American Horror Story. -Uh-huh. But I record it and then I watch it Sunday mornings. -Oh, right. -This is true. (IRISH ACCENT) Nothing can hurt you on the Day of the Lord. (ALL LAUGHING) Do... Were you... We've talked about this before, but, do you feel like you're particularly nerdy? You were, like, a theater geek. I was nerdy. I was just talking about this with Donald Glover, who, I'm outing him now, 'cause he's also very nerdy. Well, he's pretty out about that. -He is, right? -Yeah. We literally were watching, like, a horror movie the other day, and then quoted Shakespeare to each other, and then said, "We're total nerds." And we both just sat there depressed for a minute, like, "Why?" Aw, that's nice of you, hanging out with people from the show. Yeah, we're all friends. For real. What other sort of nerdy stuff were you into when you were a kid? I guess it was mostly drama. Like, super-drama nerdy. I mean... And I liked fantasy movies -like Willow and The Princess Bride. -Ah. Did someone almost "whoo" for Willow? -Willow was great. -Whoo it out, man! -"Madmartigan! Madmartigan!" -I just... Oh, my God. -I was watching... -It's a stupid Daikini anyway. -Yeah. -You guys. Yeah, Willow was great. -I love Willow. -Were you a Goth kid? -Was I a Goth kid? No. -Yeah. -Most of the drama people I knew were Goth as well. -Really? Well, I think that's because drama programs in high schools become that place where everybody who doesn't have a place kind of goes. Yeah. And maybe... I wasn't really... I wasn't Goth. I wasn't totally on the outskirts of everybody. I just was nerdy about drama. I had friends that weren't in drama. (ALL LAUGHING) See, I'm legit nerdy. I was nerdy. I was nerdy, I'm not nerdy anymore. -No, you got over it. -Now I'm like really cool. I got sent to a camp, and now I'm not nerdy anymore. -BRIE: Cool camp? Cool camp? -Yeah. Your parents are Christian? They didn't want you to be nerdy? Yeah, they... they showed me that it wasn't the right way. -Yeah, good. -And that I should play all the foots-balls. -Yeah, you play the... -Footballs. Footballs. (GRUNTS) Good work. How's the Mad Men program? -Fun. Fun as ever. -Is it? -Is it fun? -Yeah, it's great. Now, I know you can't give anything away. -Can't say anything about it. -But, in this next season, does Trudy marry Don Draper? -She does. I mean... -What? -Look, I'm not going to say anything. -Okay. I can't say anything about it. -But she totally marries him. -Oh, my God. -But you guys... (SHUSHES) -That's a huge spoiler. -I mean, you are... -I don't think it's a big deal if people know that. -No, everything else will be fine. -Yeah. Coming up, we're going to interview Thomas Dolby. What is scary about that? When you find out how much money he's made from licensing cell phone software, you will crap your pants! We'll be right back. (AUDIENCE CHEERING) All right, boys. If you had to whack off to toon ***... If you had to, which character would you choose? Would it be Marge Simpson, Betty Rubble or Stewie Griffin? (ALL CHEERING) It got weird at the end there. First of all, it's so fun to hear British accent say... -"Whack off..." -(ALL LAUGHING) I thought they were classier people, but... I gotta go Marge Simpson. I gotta go Marge Simpson. -She's yellow. -(AUDIENCE LAUGHS) -Betty Rubble. -Betty Rubble's -the answer. -Yeah. -(AUDIENCE APPLAUDS) -Well... If I have a write-in ballot, It's Belle from Beauty and the Beast. HARDWICK: No, no, no, no, no. BRIE: Yes. I did see there is a Simpson's parody *** which I saw, which I do not recommend, because they do the voices really well, and you think it's gonna be funny, but it just sounds like your weird aunt and uncle having sex, like, "Oh, Homey, shove it in." "Oh, Marge, here I come." You're like, "Stop it! Make it stop!" Oh, my gosh. There's a Community ***. -There is? -Yes... -Did you play yourself? -Yes! Yay! Oh, let's not even do that. Um, no, and I haven't even seen it. But when I heard that they did it, I was like, super proud. -That is pretty cool. -Right! I don't know why. Because... You know why? Because they're only parodying like, the best, most successful stuff. -Right? -Yeah. -That's what I'm talking about. -That's what... -So... -Right? Right? -You can be... -Right? You can be in The Nerdist Podcast parody ***. -It's all audio. -Oh... ALL: Oh... (MIMICKING BRIE) "I'm Alison Brie. This sure feels great." -"Yeah, me, too." -Is that what you think -I would sound like? -I don't know. (LAUGHS) Well, is that what you think I sound like when I have sex? (SHRILL VOICE) "I'm Alison Brie. This sure feels great. "Do it just like that." (ALL LAUGHING) Guys, I'm sure you know our next guest as Raj on The Big *** Theory. But we're about to find out how deep his nerd runs. -Please welcome Kunal Nayyar! -(AUDIENCE CHEERING) -Hello. -Hello. -Nice to see you. How do you feel? -Thank you. -What's up, boys? How are you? -How are you? What's up? -(SCATTING) -Ooh. -Warm seat. It's comfy. -Yeah. Seriously, the seat is nice and warm. -It is nice and warm. -Hey, guys. Hey, yeah, I warmed it up for you. -That was lovely. Thank you. I know. -You're welcome. I just reached for some coffee, and I had nothing. That's great. Oh, I'm so sorry. Do you want some water with... No, no. I'm fine, I'm fine. It's okay. -Do you need a Lynx? -Yeah, please. Thank you. Do you want an old Atari Lynx? -A Lynx? -Oh, my God. We never had these in India. Even though we probably built them. That's good. (ALL LAUGHING) The first time I met you was for... I moderated The Big *** Theory panel - at Comic Con in 2011. -Yes. Yes. And you guys were fantastic. That was a really fun kick-off. We were fantastic until, like, some audience member asked us something about a TARDIS. And none of us knew what a TARDIS was. -The TARDIS, yes. -And then they turned on us. And they started booing us. And Chris was like, "Stop booing them. You know, they've got a real job "unlike you guys," and started yelling at them. I did. I yelled at the audience a little bit. It was really sweet. Thank you. It was Kaley who said... Someone said something about TARDIS. She said, "I don't know what a Tardis is." And then, everyone's like... (GASPS) Like you can just feel the air get sucked out... NAYYAR: Five thousand people. Oh! (YELLING) You mean, you're just performing a part? You're not really the person you are on TV? It was like you always expected Sideshow Mel probably will go, "She doesn't know what a TARDIS is." So and then, everyone storms the stage. And then, she's like, "Guys, everyone, just because you either play a nerdy character "on television doesn't mean that you know "everything about every..." You don't, like, when you get really busy, you don't have time to play everything, watch everything... -No. -...consume everything. No, we don't. But, just so you know, TARDIS is Time And Relative Dimension In Space. And it's the machine that takes you anywhere you want in Time or Space. Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey. -So, that's how that goes. -BRIE: It's good to know. I feel so much more educated now. What? You're a smarty pants, so... And you even have the smarty pants glasses. These are real. You would think they're fake, but I... I started wearing, like, thick-rimmed glasses when everyone did, so I looked... Okay, they're not, then... Okay, they are real. I started wearing these glasses 'cause it was cool to wear the thick-rimmed glasses, you know. But I wore them so much that my eyes actually got bad. (LAUGHING) So, now I actually have to wear these while driving. And they're not crazy, but I have to wear them, otherwise my eyes will get worse. And I don't wanna put contacts in my eyes. -BRIE: Why? -HARDWICK: Have you ever tried? -(LAUGHING) It's something inside your eye. Like... Why would I put anything inside my eye? Have you ever tried to put contacts in before? -No. -I infuriated my optometrist's assistant... -...'cause I went, and I was gonna get contacts. -Uh-huh. But they won't let you leave with contacts until they train you how to put them in. And so, you have to sit there... It's a little perverse to be like, "Put it in your eye in front of me." "Stick it in your eye." -Like, "I wanna watch." -"Stick that thing in your (BLEEPING) eye right now." Don't say it. -"Why are you yelling at me?" -It weirds me out. I'm so turned on by this person. (LAUGHS) -That's not getting in anyone's eye. -That also seemed like... -the whitest sentence that's ever said. -What? "I infuriated my optometrist's assistant." (ALL LAUGHING) (STUTTERING) Are you into nerdy stuff at all? I couldn't remember... Nerdy, like, I love Lord of the Rings and Star Wars... Yeah, yeah. I used to play this game called Star Wars Epic Duels which is, stopped being made, but it's a board game of Star Wars. That didn't help me get laid, but I was pretty popular 'cause I was good at the game. -Yeah. -Yeah. I'm a big Lord of the Rings fan. Like, I cried when the opening sequence of Return of the King came on. The opening theme song. I had tears in my eyes. So, that's pretty nerdy, I guess. (ALL LAUGHING) It's sweet, too. That's very touching. I know, it's sweet. It's vulnerable. I'm vulnerable. -You are. -I cried, too, -but just because it was starting. -Oh. I don't like Lord of the Rings. You don't like Lord of the Rings? What are you saying? -What are you saying? -Battle. Battle now. -Beat him with your guitar. -Go. -How did you... -How do you... -I have so many questions. -Go, ask him. -Oh, yeah, what do you need to know? -Okay. In one sentence, why did you not like it? Uh... Mmm. I found them to be boring. Also, when a wizard and a sword appears onscreen, I check out. -(BRIE GASPS) -What? And it all stems from my sisters forcing me to LARP with them when I was a child. -(AUDIENCE LAUGHING) -Oh. -NAYYAR: Yeah. -That's so weird. I thought you were a fan of things that were good and enjoyable. -I guess not. -Yeah. Yeah. BRIE: You know, let's scoot a little bit this way. -Let's scoot a little this way. -Do you hate people also -and life? Yeah. -Yeah. -Do you hate joy? -Do you hate liking things? What is going on? -Okay, anyway. So... -HARDWICK: Poor Matt Mira. Real quick, there was also a Big *** Theory ***. There was a Big *** Theory ***. And my friend gave it to me for my birthday. -Was it just called The *** Theory? -And I watched it. I watched it. I'm sorry, I watched it. -That was a good joke. -RAY: Or was it called... -I'm sorry, you were saying? -Or was it called The Big *** Reary? -Close your ears. -Was it just called The *** Theory? -Yeah. -No, it was called The Big *** Theory. And, except, Raj was not played by an Indian guy. He was, like, from Kazakhstan. -Whoa. -But he was a white guy with a Russian accent. It was pretty racist. -Kind of racist. -Yeah. But I was better hung, anyway. -So, I... -(LAUGHS) *** Podcast on *** Parodies. That would be amazing. There's enough of them. There's enough of them. -That's great. -In just a tick, we're gonna get an earful of what Thomas Dolby is up to. Stay right there. Please. (AUDIENCE CHEERING) (ALL CHEERING) Thomas Dolby is best known for his song She Blinded Me With Science, but I... In all sincerity, this album, Aliens Ate My Buick pretty much guided me through my senior year of high school. And if you're a synthesizer nerd, then he's pretty much your emperor. Here's why. Thomas Dolby, thank you so much for having me to your home. And we're in a boat right now. What is the name of the vessel we're in? It's the Nutmeg of Consolation. -The Nutmeg of Consolation. -It's a 1930's ship's lifeboat. On blocks in my garden. See, this is why you come to England. 'Cause in the States, we have, like, old Camaros up on blocks. -Right. -(LAUGHS) Just like garbage in yards. But you actually have a lifeboat. Yeah. What's a Camaro? No, I'm only kidding. (LAUGHS) You were, kind of, a tech-head from pretty early on. What were you into when you were, like, 12, 13 years old? I was the first kid in school to have a cassette machine. It was this giant thing with a shoulder strap. And, you know, whopping, great headphones. And so, I got the nickname Dolby. And I was the guy that liked to resplice the films in film club. You know, splice a bit of cartoon in with a historical epic, and things like that. And I was the weatherman, so I would go up to the top of the playing fields and take rain measurements, and high and low temperatures, and stuff like that. So, I was always a meddler. What was the first breakthrough moment where you saw, like, "Oh, my gosh. "This musical electronic revolution "is, like, we're on the edge of it." You know, I'd been listening to Krautrock bands, like sort of Can and Kraftwerk, and Tangerine Dream and stuff like that. And suddenly, David Bowie, who had been, you know, a pop rock icon for a whole generation, went to Berlin with Eno, and started doing Krautrock himself. You know, during the era of punk, it was very exciting to the sort of underground electronic musicians that you can also get in the charts, you know, playing synths. Did you know that you were kind of, the voice for a young generation of nerds? You had a hit song about the concept of science. I knew that I was never gonna be a poster child, like Sting or Simon Le Bon or Adam Ant or one of those guys. She Blinded Me With Science, the storyboard for that video I wrote before I'd even written the song. That time when you went to... that you kinda went into the tech-biz for a while, you actually developed a music file format. In '93, I left LA, where I had been living, and I went to Silicon Valley and started consulting with tech companies. And then, I formed my own company, Beatnik. And we probably would have gone up in smoke like many dot-coms at the end of the millennium were it not for the fact that we had one deal with some teeth, and that was with Nokia, -the world's largest phone company. -Mmm-hmm. And my production team there programed the infamous Nokia tone, that's so familiar around the world. And it's now embedded in something like two billion phones worldwide. That ring still exists today. That comes with the phone, and they don't change it. I know, yeah. When you hear it, you always turn around. You go like, "That guy is not cool enough to change his default ringtone." Are you working on anything here now that you could show us or... I'm actually working on a remix for a song of mine called Spice Train. -Mmm-hmm. -You know, I get a groove going, and I'll sort of... (ELECTRONIC MUSIC PLAYS) That's the drums. (DRUMS PLAYING) (SYNTHESIZER MELODY PLAYING) (ELECTRIC PIANO PLAYING) (STRINGS PLAYING) (MUSIC STOPS) -Yeah, that's pretty sweet. Cool. Well, thank you so much. -Thank you. -Good to see you. -Likewise. (CROWD APPLAUDING) Well, that about does it for our Supernatural Nerdist Special. And, as with all good supernatural shows, we can't leave you without a twist. Jonah is actually dead. You mean like, on the inside, right? No, no, you're dead. You're ghost, on the outside. Well, that sucks. (LAUGHS) -MAN: Whoa! -(ALL LAUGHING) I'd like to thank Alison Brie and Kunal Nayyar. Thanks for being here. Enjoy your burrito, everyone. (AUDIENCE CHEERING)