I'm not horribly familiar with the work of Chris Hardwick, but what I do know is that he is in the midst of building a mad with power geeky multi-media empire. I've seen him on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, where he and Craig gushed like teenage fanboys about the glorious wonder that is Doctor Who. I can get on board with that train of thought.

I think it might have been via the Mayfair twitter feed, but somehow I learned that Kevin Smith was a guest on the 200th episode of Chris Hardwick's podcast, The Nerdist. Now, although I am not much of a fan of Kevin Smith the screenwriter or filmmaker, I think he's an excellent public speaker / interview subject / pseudo-almost kinda a stand-up comedian.

If I'm curious about how anyone could bother with watching traditional tv with commercials and time-slots and such, I'm even more perplexed as to how anyone could bother listening to radio. Why bother listening to radio stations with a short-list of repetitive song offerings, annoying dj's and a glut of car dealership ad's? The advent of Portable MP3 devices a few years back means you can easily and readily listen to whatever music you want whenever you want. Podcasts seem to negate any need one might have to listen to radio talk shows. If you can get something as specific to your tastes as a show like the Nerdist or a show hosted by Alec Baldwin or one about roller derby or knitting or any such obscure topic why would you bother to listen to anything else?

If you ever happen to go to one of those preview screenings of a movie that radio stations host, the worst part is the uncomfortable and unwanted hosting abilities of a dj introducing the movie. When a dj walks out on stage at Blues Fest to introduce a band, I'm always curious to know if they think they are actually famous and a draw? The disinterest of the crowd and the weak polite smattering of applause must make them realize they are on the last legs of their medium.

The good news / bad news is that because it wasn't some awful morning dj thing, I quite enjoyed the Nerdist podcast. And that means that I now have at least 199 episodes of the Nerdist to catch up on.