Thanks to YouTube, Chris Hardwick’s first big break is readily available for all to see from two decades ago: hosting three seasons of MTV’s “Singled Out,” a mindless dating show that was the precursor to “The Bachelor” and Tinder.
With hair that looked suspiciously like Joey’s from “Friends,” the happy-go-lucky Hardwick did inane skits and tried his best to act cool with Jenny McCarthy and Carmen Electra. Surprisingly, the show didn’t lead to stardom, and Hardwick ended up hitting the road doing stand-up talking about whatever he personally found cool: nerd-like topics such as “Star Wars” and video games.
And now thanks to his wildly popular “Walking Dead” companion talk show on AMC, “Talking Dead,” and hit comedy/game show hybrid “@Midnight” on Comedy Central, Hardwick has graduated from comedy clubs to theaters, including the Variety Playhouse in Little Five Points on April 25.
“A lot of people who see me on TV have no idea I’ve been doing stand-up for 17 years,” said the 43-year-old Kentucky native.
He dubs this tour “Funcomfortable” because he tells stories about “fun but uncomfortable situations involving me and how I process the world.” He considers his own “weirdly obsessive nerd brain” as a conduit that helps others “feel good about their lives.”
And if you are a “Walking Dead” fan, don’t expect his show to be “Talking Dead Live.” He will only discuss the show for a few minutes.
His Nerdist podcast, launched in 2010, became wildly popular and helped lead to his hosting gig on “The Talking Dead” a year later. His bubbly fan-thusiasm bursts forth off the TV screen and provides an outlet for viewers, especially after a major character is killed.
The show’s guests include producers and actors from the show as well as celebrities who love the drama such as Conan O’Brien, Sarah Silverman and Aisha Tyler. The strangest visitor to date was singer Marilyn Manson, whose rantings annoyed viewers on social media. “I had to start treating him like a heckler at a comedy show,” Hardwick said. “He was trying to overtake the show with weirdness. That’s not what the show is.”
“The Walking Dead,” shot largely in the Senoia area, is the most popular show on TV among 18- to 49-year-olds. AMC is planning to debut a spinoff set in Los Angeles this summer for six episodes. Hardwick is open to doing a “Talking Dead” for that show starting season two in 2016 if the first season works.
His “@Midnight” show, now in its second season, comes on after “The Larry Wilmore Show” and features three comics riffing off whatever trending social media videos the writers choose to highlight. If the comics say something funny enough, Hardwick says, “Points!”
The person with the most points wins … nothing tangible. But he or she gets bragging rights.
“We dismissed the competition element at first,” Hardwick said, “but the comics have this innate drive to compete with one another.”
As for “Singled Out,” he has no regrets. “We did hundreds of episodes of that show,” he said. “It was a great learning experience. Going through a dry spell was a learning experience. It’s all about learning your craft.”
COMEDY PREVIEW
Chris Hardwick
8 and 10:30 p.m. April 25. $42.85 after fees. Variety Playhouse, 1099 Euclid Ave. N.E., Atlanta. www.ticketmaster.com.
