A very special tribute episode of NERTZ in which Mathew Klickstein's 2014 interview with legendary (and, as of 2017, late) comic book creator and icon Len Wein (co-creator of Wolverine, Swamp Thing, et al; editor of Alan Moore's Watchmen, etc.) is expanded and explored, delving into the changing face of the comic book industry today.…

After a lengthy hiatus (which has become par for the course), your favorite nerd/geek culture podcast -- NERTZ -- returns triumphantly with a VERY "indie" new production including brand new intro/outro music and a very special, very apropos guest: Get Up Kids frontman Matt Pryor. The Get Up Kids being one of the pioneers of so-called "emo" music, d…

It’s another huge get for the world of NERTZ, fellow NERTZERS: the one and only supreme geek rocker himself, Mark Mothersbaugh! Find out all you ever wanted to know about the intersection between the birth (and sustaining resonance) of Devo and nerd/geek culture, why Mark just looooves Andy Warhol and making music for “geeky” indie filmmakers like …

BOOM! It's Sara Driver, longtime partner and collaborator of the one and only master of indie films, Jim Jarmusch. Driver is also a filmmaker in her own right, having made a handful of movies back in the day and her recent documentary Boom For Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat. Driver was a close friend of Basquiat's, and her int…

Time to get caffeinated! On the this episode of NERTZ, we have one of our favorite all-time comix folks: Mr. Shannon Wheeler, the creator of one of the great indie comix of all time: TOO MUCH COFFEE MAN. Tah-dah! Wheeler also teaches and writes about comix (and comics; you'll find out the difference, as you will whether or not folks in the industry…

We are so excited to present one of the key figures of Nerd/Geek Culture, Mr. Toby Radloff, to our podcast. Toby took on the qualifier of "Genuine Nerd" after becoming fascinated by the quintessential Nerd Culture film Revenge of the Nerds, and later built his own reputation as such through his reoccurring role in Harvey Pekar's groundbreaking comi…

This episode of NERTZ gets right to the skinny of how Nerd/Geek Culture and pop culture intersect with our good friend Caseen Gaines. Caseen has contributed many pieces to outlets ranging from Vanity Fair to Rolling Stone and has written books on: Pee-Wee's Playhouse, A Christmas Story, the Back to the Future trilogy and (just released!) The Dark C…

After a brief hiatus, we return to NERTZ with a truly fascinating character who, frankly, loves investigating truly fascinating characters for his many articles, books and classes on subjects ranging from the rapper Common (with whom he wrote a bestselling memoir), to the monumentally impactful writer of Invisible Man (Ralph Ellison, whose literary…

For our TENTH EPISODE (!) of NERTZ, we have an extremely special guest in screenwriter and TV show creator Diablo Cody. There's so much to be said about Ms. Cody, but we'll leave that for the episode, a fun and informal frolic through her thoughts on what it means to be a nerd or a geek, whether or not there's such a thing as "nerd cultural misappr…

What can one say about Suicide Girls? The world-renowned iconic and iconoclastic collective of ever-growing young women who champion their inner and outer beauty in the most unique fashion while being at the same time totally embracing of their un-fashionability. There's plenty more wonderful contradictions ahead with our episode involving the prou…

Hailed as one of the rising stars of the DIY/indie film scene at the turn of the 21st century -- including a "favorite filmmaker" designation by perennial bellwether critic Amy Taubin and a "Someone To Watch" Award given by the Independent Spirit Awards -- Andrew Bujalski, rather unwittingly, has been called the pioneer of the so-called "Mumblecore…

Geekie Awards founder and geek mainstay Kristen Nedopak talks about how she developed her unique awards ceremony -- which has brought in such icons as Stan Lee, Kevin Smith and Seth Green -- why she chose to award "geeks" over "nerds" and what it takes to be a true independent in today's ever-changing creative market.…

We finally uncover our long-lost Episode Four, a very special segment involving two different mainstays from The Simpsons. Join Mike Reiss (who has written for the show since day one and was showrunner during Seasons 3 and 4, co-created The Critic and was a writer for National Lampoon) and Emmy-nominated voice actress Maggie Roswell (Maude Flanders…

Just what does the "Flo" Progressive Insurance spokesmodel have to do with Geek Culture? Find out as we talk to her co-creator and copywriter John Park. You may be surprised. Or not. That's fine, too.

Alex Winter is far more than merely Bill from Bill & Ted's or actor in such other modern classics as Lost Boys. He's also a filmmaker and uber-tech geek who's made a few docs on the subject (including the Napster flick, Downloaded). He now holds the record for most fundraised project on Kickstarter (for his Zappa documentary) and is just a darn nic…

Dr. Sandra Calvert has spent much of her career investigating how media affects children and thus the rest of us. In this debut episode of NERTZ, Dr. Calvert reveals some fresh new research about why we connect so intimately with fictional characters, especially those onscreen. It's really weird, gang, but it's true. Probably. Harry Potter gets dis…