John Hodgman

John Hodgman in 2006.

John Kellogg Hodgman (born June 1971) is an American author and humorist who is best known for his personification of a PC in Apple's "Get a Mac" advertising campaign and his correspondent work on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

His written work has been published in One Story to which he contributed the debut story, The Paris Review, McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, Wired and The New York Times Magazine, for which he is editor of the humor section. He is also a contributor to Public Radio International’s This American Life, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s Wiretap. His first book, The Areas of My Expertise, for which he also performs the audio narration, was published in 2005.

In addition, Hodgman is the founder of, and master of ceremonies for, The Little Gray Book Lectures in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The lectures have been on hiatus "for the foreseeable future" as of August 2007 (currently noted as "until at least Jan 1, 2008").

Biography

Hodgman was born and raised in Brookline, Massachusetts and attended Heath School and Brookline High School. Hodgman studied clarinet performance at the All Newton Music School in West Newton, Massachusetts. He graduated from Yale University in 1994.[1] 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 column “Ask a Former Professional Literary Agent” at McSweeney's Internet Tendency.

Television appearances

The Daily Show

Hodgman appeared on The Daily Show on November 16, 2005 to promote his book, The Areas of My Expertise. Host Jon 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.” Hodgman has returned to the Daily Show several times for "resident expert" interview segments, and he is listed on the show's web site as a contributor. Unlike other correspondents, who are frequently re-branded with titles using the “Senior [descriptive word or topic] Correspondent” format, Hodgman retains the simple title "Resident Expert."

Attack of the Show

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 Old Lobster. [2]

"Get a Mac" ad campaign

Hodgman appears in the Get a Mac advertising campaign for Apple Inc., which started in May 2006. In the ads he plays an anthropomorphized PC alongside his Mac counterpart, played by actor Justin Long. While he plays the role of a PC in the campaign, Hodgman is actually a diehard Mac user: "I bought the very first Mac, or convinced my father to buy it, in 1984."

Venue Songs

In 2005, Hodgman played a character named "The Deranged Millionaire" in They Might Be Giants' Venue Songs DVD/CD, narrating in between songs with dialog he co-wrote with the band. He also narrated a number of "Venue Songs"-themed setlists during the band's live shows in 2005, and has introduced the band while in the role of The Deranged Millionaire as recently as May 16, 2007.

Flight of the Conchords

In 2007, Hodgman appeared in the "Bowie" episode of the HBO television series Flight of the Conchords. He played the manager of a musical greeting card company who was considering using one of the band's songs for a greeting card.

Other media appearances

Radio

Hodgman has contributed several segments to the public radio series This American Life, in addition to appearing on their collection Stories of Hope and Fear:

• 178 - Superpowers, asking the question, "which is better: flight or invisibility?"
• 190 - Living the Dream, in which he becomes Bruce Campbell's literary agent.
• 205 - Plan B, interviewing a professional partier.
• 226 - Reruns, retelling story about his arrest for breaking into the London Zoo so that he could pet penguins and ultimately be arrested.
• 232 - The Real Story, disclosing that he rewrites the screenplay to Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace in his head.
• 243 - Later That Same Day, telling story about revisiting Atlantic City to ride the Sling Shot following loss of close family members.
• 298 - Getting and Spending, living at the Mall of America for seven days (from Hodgman's The Areas of My Expertise).
• 305 - Holiday Spectacular, discussing the true-life origins of Christmas traditions.
• 329 - Nice Work If You Can Get It, telling the story of what happens when celebrity hunts you down and finds you.

Hodgman and close friend Jonathan Coulton were interviewed for an episode of the Public Radio International program The Sound of Young America in 2006. Hodgman also appeared on the podcast Jordan, Jesse GO! playing "Judge Hodgman" presiding over a mock trial.

Print

• Hodgman appears on the cover of the February 2007 edition of Wired Magazine, as a contributor to their "What we don't know about..." articles.
• Hodgman oversaw the "True Life Tales" section of the Sunday New York Times Magazine. The section is currently on hiatus.
• Hodgman has guest written for the "Sederatives" section of "The Believer" Magazine, an arts magazine. "Sederatives" is an advice column created by Amy Sedaris.

Online

• Zefrank's The Show, at the tail end of the episode discussing the brisk Brooklyn weather.
• On the podcast You Look Nice Today, hosted by Merlin Mann and others, Hodgman provides the non sequitur act breaks that play between talk segments.

Bibliography

• The Areas of My Expertise (ISBN 0-525-94908-9, 2005)
• More Information Than You Require (October 2008) [3]

External links

• Official site for The Areas of My Expertise
• Little Gray Book Lectures, including archival material
• Collection of "Get A Mac" Commercials
• Good Evening—Hodg-man on Blogger