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Nerdist was started by Chris Hardwick and has grown to be a many headed beast.

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Nerdist Podcast: Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman chats with the nerds about American Gods, describes scenes that were cut from his Doctor Who ep (“The Doctor’s Wife”) and doles out PHENOMENAL advice for aspiring writers. Also, an intense spiritual discussion reveals that we are all Hodgman.

You can follow @neilhimself on Twitter and/or pick up the 10th anniversary edition of American Gods.

 
89 comments read them below or add one

  1. Hey my favourite nerdlings, I just wanted to say I have been a huge fan of the show since the podcast with Chris Anderson. Chris I have been to a few of your standup shows, brought friends who got to enjoy listening to you for the first time, it was phenomenal. Jonah you’re just constantly hilarious and one of the main reasons I try to make the drive up to the Meltdown (Kumail is the other). Matt, your adorable chipmunk laugh never ceases to make me laugh, to the point it disturbs my cubicle mates. That’s a good thing.

    I really wanted to thank you though for recently helping me out, though unintentionally. I was in a hit and run yesterday, the guy made sure I couldn’t catch up to him. After filing a police report, I was too shakey and near tears to listen to anything. However your podcast got me home safe and sound, and even helped me laugh again in light of the situation. I appreciate all you do, thank you.

  2. I’m afraid I’ve found fault with your “Watch the new Who first” hypothesis. I started watching chronologically from a 285 gig torrent, An Unearthly Child forward, and stalled during the massive amount of Reconstructions, during which I heard the podcast in which you posited the aforementioned paradigm of Doctor watchage.  Of course I found its wily charms seductive and immediately leapt to the ‘flix to draw my spouse into the circle of abuse that is my Doctor Who obsession, as she refused to watch the Reconstructions.

    However, five episodes in and I am lamenting my impatience, as I constantly find myself wondering if the Doctor ever had proper control over the Tardis, and his relationships with all previous Companions, among countless other inevitable questions as I had cast my previously obsessive need to follow chronology for canon-knowledge to the stars.

    Furthermore, the episode with Gaiman has nearly pushed me into abandoning the new series all together, as Neil’s spoiler description of The War Games and Patrick Troughton brought me nothing but mourning for the rich Who history I had left behind.

    Additionally, I hesitate to use such strong language, but you really made yourself, Matt and Neil as objectively judged assholes in respect to dedicating a good part of the episode to new season spoilers, especially in your brash handling of anybody who had not the time to watch every gorram thing on television, as Jonah’s reaction clearly showed.

    I really think you have based your estimation on your naïveté of the previous Doctors, as I had gotten three episodes into the Eccleston series before and run shrieking into the Demonoid for occult knowledges. (plus, you being on the payroll of BBC, just kidding, Skeptoid reference.)

    I again, do not want to appear the dick I no doubt am, but really would suggest you consider The Hobbit before telling everybody not to worry about it and just read Return of the King. (probably a bad comparison.)

    Of course, I am watching/listening to ghastly reproduction of Small Prophet, Quick Return as I iType this. Guh.

    Not sure what I was trying to get across completely, and now I fear I have rambled on too much to fit as a Quemment.

    Anyhow, I have listened to every episode so far, and am a vigorous supporter, but the Questionauts suck.  Sorry. Not your fault. Listened to the first three episode and was not drawn in to endure another. If their premise had been true and not a crappy Improv game shoved onto us, I would have been eager to listen.

    (still a supporter of everything you and your crew do, and unafraid to sample all of the new offerings Nerdist Industries has to give.)

  4. Thanks for the suggestion on the Tweaked Audio headphones. They’re total pieces of shit, busted after two weeks. Nice sponsor.

  6. Wow, this was such a fantastic podcast. This conversation is the first one that felt so real since Billy West. I am now going to go get something he has written, really cool guy and great advice.

  10. Loved this interview. Been a Nerdist fan for a few months now and so many topics from Black Dynamite to Neil Gaiman has been great to listen to. I must admit, I’m still ignorant of Dr. Who. Can anyone help suggest where I should start?

    I don’t even know what the hell a Tartus is.

  11. I would start with the Davies episodes as a jumping off point. It’s easier to go forward from there and then maybe jump back to the older stuff once you get acclimated.

    Also, best podcast I have heard from Nerdist. Neil is a fascinating guy

  12. Neil Gaiman is the classiest person in media today. Period.

    I go to a lot of SF cons, and he was a guest at Balticon a few years back (you should look at Balticon, BTW: they’ve gotten very big into podcasting over the past few years). Appearing at the same convention was Peter Beagle, author of THE LAST UNICORN. When Neil was made aware of this, he sought out Mr. Beagle, told him that THE LAST UNICORN was his all time favorite fantasy book, and invited him to sit in on both of his hugely well attended autograph sessions. I worked crowd control for those sessions, and from what I saw Neil told everyone who came “Nice to meet you, and have you ever met Peter Beagle?” and introduced him to every single person.

    Classy doesn’t even begin to cover it.

  13. Very good episode. I really like Neil Gaiman – his works are so varied and yet stylistically very Gaiman. He is great.

    Has anyone else noticed that Neil’s voice is very similar to Jonah’s? They have similar pitch and timbre and whenever Chris interrupts either of them they respond with the same off-handish ‘…yeah.’
    Neil kinda sounds like Jonah doing a very good British accent.
    …or maybe Jonah sounds like Neil doing a very bad American accent :)

  14. Loved this podcast although I have never seen the new versions of Doctor Who (sorry). I especially loved the end of it for all the aspiring writers like myself. My favorite quote was ‘ nobody has to read your first draft.’

    I have written a few short stories for fun. After meticulously editing them, giving the near final draft to friends ect. what do I do with it? Do I send it to some publisher, do I publish it myself (like one of the previous podcastees trhough podcasts or on Amazon), just let it sit and collect dust, or just burn it (like Kafka)? Interested in the Nerdist’s opinion.

  15. Gaiman mentioned a blog he read that made him interested in going on Ferguson’s show, but I can’t find the place in the podcast where he mentioned it. Does anyone know?

  16. FYI for Dave McKean fans, he is illustrating Richard Dawkin’s next book, The Magic of Reality. Unlike his other books, this one is targeted at a younger audience. Check it out later in the year when it is published.

  18. Still listening to everything in reverse order. This is probably the best one so far. I could listen to Neil Gaiman talking all day (hint: he narrates the audiobook for Neverwhere himself).

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