John Hodgman
John Kellogg Hodgman[1] (born June, 1971, Brookline, Massachusetts) is an American author and humorist whose work has been published in the Paris Review, The New York Times Magazine and McSweeney’s. He has also contributed to Public Radio International’s This American Life, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s Wiretap and, of late, Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
Hodgman’s first book, The Areas of My Expertise, was published in 2005. In addition to his work in literature, he is the founder of and master of ceremonies for the Little Gray Book Lectures in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Biographical information
Hodgman was born and raised in Brookline, Massachusetts and attended Brookline High School. He received his higher education at Yale University. Hodgman studied clarinet performance at the All Newton Music School in West Newton, Massachusetts. Before gaining fame as a writer, Hodgman worked as a literary agent at Writers House in New York City, where he represented Darin Strauss, David Grand, Deborah Digges, and actor Bruce Campbell, among others. Hodgman has used his experience as an agent in his McSweeney’s column “Ask a Former Professional Literary Agent.”
Hodgman lives in New York City.
TV appearances
John Hodgman has been the only on-air contributor to The Daily Show with Jon Stewart whose first appearance on the show was as a guest. Hodgman appeared on The Daily Show on November 16, 2005 to promote his book, The Areas of My Expertise. Stewart described the book as “very funny” and said that the section on hobo names in particular was written with “a certain kind of genius.” On January 16, 2006, Hodgman appeared on The Daily Show again, this time as an “expert” on Iranian nuclear ambitions in an interview with Stewart. Then on January 31, 2006, he appeared on the show for a third time as an “expert” to discuss the retirement of Alan Greenspan. He re-appeared in a report about India-Pakistan relations on March 8, 2006. On March 20, 2006, he posed as an expert on the potential effects of global warming. On April 25, 2006 he appeared as a judge for the U.S. Army’s essay contest. On July 19, 2006 Hodgman appeared as an expert on net neutrality, in a segment which made joking references to his appearances in the Get a Mac campaign (see below). The Daily Show’s website currently lists Hodgman as an official contributor. Unlike other correspondents, who are frequently re-branded with titles using the “Senior [Insert Descriptive Word Here] Correspondent” format, Hodgman retains the simple title “Resident Expert,” thus implying that the show can reference him as an expert on anything.
In February of 2006, Hodgman appeared on Attack of the Show, a tech-related show which runs daily on G4, to share some insight with the host and promote his book The Areas of My Expertise. In this appearance Hodgman recounted the sad tale of the lobster (which he said were actually a small, furry, extinct species, killed and replaced by the creatures we think of as lobsters today) and brought along Jonathan Coulton, a frequent Hodgman collaborator and musical director of the Little Gray Book lectures. Coulton performed a song called “Furry Ol’ Lobster.”
On August 24, 2006 Hodgeman appeared on the Daily Show to explain to the viewers about the new planets being added. He gives them an acronym to remember this. "My Very Eager Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizza Cars 2003 UB313 AKA Lesbian."
Hodgman appears in the Get a Mac ad campaign for Apple Computer, which started in May 2006. In the ads he plays a humanized PC alongside his Mac counterpart, played by actor Justin Long. This was commented upon on the Daily Show when doing a sketch about the Internet.
References
External links
- Official site for The Areas of My Expertise
- Good Evening—Hodg-man on Blogger
- The Little Gray Book lectures
- Ask a Former Professional Literary Agent at McSweeney’s
- 700 Hoboes group on Flickr.
- The Fanbase of John Hodgman’s Expertise on livejournal
- Please use a more specific IMDb template. See the documentation for available templates.
In the media
- Hodgman’s appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
- Venue Songs DVD/CD On this DVD by They Might Be Giants, Hodgman plays “the Deranged Millionaire.”
- MP3 interview with Hodgman on The Sound of Young America, February 2006
- MP3 interview with Hodgman on The Sound of Young America, November 2005
- Hodgman’s Appearance on the Jawbone Radio podcast.
- Hodgman’s appearance in the new ads “Get a Mac” of Apple, May 2006
- Ink Q &A John Hodgman 13 questions answered by Hodgman for Powells.com
- Random Rules: John Hodgman Kyle Ryan interview with Hodgman on avclub.com, April 2006
- A Believer Nighttime Event Hodgman hosts a literary “variety show” for the PEN World Voices New York Festival of International Literature—includes audio of entire event pen.org, April 2006
- So What Do You Do, John Hodgman? Lizzie Skurnick interview with Hodgman on Media Bistro.com, July 2003
- The Transom Review, vol.2, iss.7 Intro by Jay Allison, including a link to streaming audio of Hodgman as a college radio host plus transcript of Q &A with Hodgman on Transom.org, June 2002
- open letters Two letters published as part of an online publication exploring first-person writing through letters openletters.net, September and October 2000
- Photo submission Individuals and reflective surfaces on mirrorproject.com, June 2000
- ^ Hodgman, John. “Wish Lists.” Open Letters. August 20, 2000.