Chris Hardwick

Comedian and television personality Chris Hardwick is a nerd -- and with a best-selling book, a dedicated YouTube channel, and the long-running Nerdist Podcast - he's leading a powerful uprising of pasty Poindexters worldwide.

Case in point - Hardwick's upcoming Course of the Force, a 135-mile relay race from Santa Monica to San Diego, run by costumed Star Wars fans.

Our Fanboy caught up with The Nerdist in advance of his show at Stand-Up Live this Friday night.

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Comedian George Lopez

Most comedians might just enter into a deep depression or go on a serious drinking binge after getting canned from the biggest gig of their entire career. Not so with George Lopez.

The 51-year-old comic, whose late-night TBS talk show Lopez Tonight was cancelled last summer after only two seasons, has plenty on his plate this summer. He's got a new hourlong HBO special, It's Not Me, It's You, debuting July 14 and is hosting the new Fox dating show Take Me Out, which premieres on June 7. Plus, Lopez is paying visits to comedy clubs and venues across the country, including a two-night performance at Celebrity Theatre this weekend.

Jackalope Ranch recently spoke with Lopez about his two upcoming TV gigs, as well as his feelings about the soon-to-close Tempe Improv (where he's previously appeared several times), as well as what it's like for a Latino comic to perform in Arizona in the SB 1070 era.

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Courtesy of Personal Publicity

Bobcat Goldthwait

You may know Bobcat Goldthwait from his recent films, the cult sensation World's Greatest Dad and this year's God Bless America. Or his rather infamous role as the squeaky-voiced gang leader Zed from the Police Academy movies.

But Goldthwait was a standup comic first and foremost. He began performing when he was still in his teens, though his career eventually took a bit of a digression. Thirty years after starting, he seems to have finally found his comedic voice onstage.

Goldthwait's a master storyteller whether he's working in film or standup format, and his comedy sets are a balance of self-deprecation and absurdity, which you can witness for yourself when he takes the stage at this weekend's Phoenix Comedy Festival.

The event benefit Arizona's Bill of Rights Monument and, fittingly enough, Goldthwait had plenty to say about the content of that august document, including the first and second amendment. During our recent conversation with the comedian, he dished on his feelings about the right to bear arms, as well as his opinions on Ted Nugent, Westboro Baptist Church, America's over-obsession with human trainwrecks, and other topics.

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Courtesy of The Phoenix Comedy Festival

Comedian Steven Wright

Steven Wright likes to keep his comedy short but sweet. And plenty weird. Throughout his 30-year career In the early 1980s, the legendary comedian has condensed his quips into curt absurdist punchline, uttered in his trademark low-key and deadpan style, typically without setup or lengthy embellishment. (For example: "It's a small world, but I wouldn't want to have to paint it.")

Wright got his big break on the Tonight Show when the comedian made the late Johnny Carson crack up with laughter via his weirdly erudite observations of the world (One of our favorites: "I bought a house, on a one-way dead-end road. I don't know how I got there.")

In the three decades since, he's appeared in numerous independent movies, including Quentin Tarantino's debut film Reservoir Dogs, and even guest-starred recently on Louis C.K.'s hysterical FX television show.

Wright will be one of the headliners of the Phoenix Comedy Festival this weekend, which will raise funds for the Bill of Rights Memorial being built at the Arizona State Capitol. And although Wright didn't have much to say on the subject of free speech when Jackalope Ranch interviewed him recently, the comedian discussed his various influences (which include George Carlin and Salvador Dali), his deadpan style, and what it was like working with Tarantino.

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Dmitri Von Klein

Marc Maron, comedian and host of the popular WTF with Marc Maron podcast.

Marc Maron's reputation precedes him.

The comedian turned podcaster has a rep for digging deep with the guests on his podcast. New episodes are uploaded to his site twice per week, and no matter the guest -- notorious joke thief Carlos Mencia, author/musician/L.A. Weekly columnist Henry Rollins, Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips -- the results are insightful, odd, funny, and often incredibly revealing.

Hearing his voice on the other end of the line was strange. It felt a little like I was a guest on his show -- but as expected, he was candid and open about everything we discussed, from the recent Onion A.V. Club article that suggested there simply were too many comedy podcasts to his thoughts on political discourse to his exclusion from the Time Magazine: 100 Most Influential People in 2012 list (like Governor Jan Brewer, he was included in the short list but didn't make the final cut).

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G.P. Putnam's Sons | Amy Einhorn Books

Former New Times staff writer-turned-fiction writer Christopher Farnsworth has just released the third book in his President's Vampire series, Red, White and Blood.

The series centers on Nathaniel Cade, a vampire sworn to protect the president and the nation from the unforeseeable forces that go bump in the night. (Because where better to depict blood sucking fiends than in government?)

Farnsworth will be kicking off his book tour this weekend and stopping by the Poised Pen in Scottsdale on Sunday, April 29th, for a free book signing, reading, and maybe even a chance to hear your outlandish conspiracy theories.

Before kicking off his book tour, Farnsworth spoke with Jackalope Ranch about his love of history, the paranormal, and his future plans for the President's Vampire series.

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Lucha Libre USA

RJ Brewer (center) punishes Mexican wrestling icon Blue Demon Jr. in the ring.

Arizona's controversial immigration law SB 1070 has cause some heated confrontations across the country this week.

In Washington on Wednesday, attorneys arguing both for and against the "papers please" legislation verbally duked it out in front of the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, opponents of the law were arrested by Phoenix police during a demonstration downtown.

And come this Sunday, SB 1070 is going to cause professional wrestler RJ Brewer to engage in battle with masked Mexican luchadores.

As we blogged earlier this month, the 32-year-old grappler (who claims to be the son of Governor Jan Brewer) is a villain on MTV2's Lucha Libre USA: Masked Warriors Live espouses anti-immigration rhetoric and uses SB 1070 as motivation to fight Mexican-born wrestlers.

Lucha Libre USA is staging a live wrestling event at Celebrity Theatre this weekend and Brewer (whose real name is John Stagikas) will take on famed Mexican icon Blue Demon Jr. in the squared circle.

Jackalope Ranch recently spoke with Brewer both in and out of character and learned why he honestly believes in anti-immigration policies, how he enjoys being a villain, and how the Governor's Office has reacted to him

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Jesse Rieser

Is Dayvid LeMmon's digitally-modified photography made of scenes from Kurzweil's utopia or Gibson's dystopia?

The 28-year-old local artist, known for his geometric and ambiguous human portraits and techno landscapes, is already well embedded in the Phoenix arts scene. Belt-notches  include a 2010 Arizona Commission of the Arts grant and representation by the currently disembodied Perihelion Arts.

VECTOR, his latest exhibition, is a 16-piece glitch showcase described in the artist statement as reacting to "a culture that's fetishistically obsessed with synthetic imagery" using "my library of 'electronic trash' including television static, broken lcd monitors, circuit bent electronics, and vintage computer emulators."

The exhibition, at MonOrchid in downtown Phoenix, opened to the public April 6, and the party continues with a Third Friday reception tonight.

Jackalope Ranch caught up with LeMmon this week to discuss VECTOR, as well as his previous work, his fascination with TV static, and the effects of digitally-projected rappers on society today.

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Bearded nerd-bohemian Jeff Hester is a space case -- in the best possible way.

Dr. Hester started out at Rice University, getting first a degree in physics, followed by his Master's and PhD in Space Physics and Astronomy.

But it was when he signed on at California Institute of Technology in the 1980s that things got interesting. Hester was part of the team of scientists responsible for the first camera that flew on the Hubble telescope, resulting in some of NASA's most iconic images of deep space [above].

Hester came to Arizona State University in 1990, working as a professor in the Department of Physics for 20 years before taking early retirement at 51 years old.

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Image credit: Matthew Miller, Grand Central Art Station, courtesy of John Spiak

​John Spiak still climbs up and down the stairs of ASU Art Museum faster than his kid.
 
The museum's former curator was in Phoenix in February to reconnect with friends and the local art scene, and when we caught up with him, he was greeted by most everyone he bumped into.

Spiak left his post as curator in August after 17 years to cut his teeth as top dog at a major university art center. (The museum officially begins its search for a new curator this week.)

He's now Director and Chief Curator of Grand Central Art Center at Cal State-Fullerton in his hometown of Santa Ana.

Spiak says his new job is to start the process of helping Santa Ana discover its own artistic identity, and to do so, he's bringing a lot of skills and goals (and artists) from ASU Art Museum to Grand Central: building community, crossing disciplines, making art assessable, and getting up-and-coming artists into the fray.

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