Biography
Chris Hardwick entered the world in Louisville, Kentucky, though his upbringing unfolded across Tennessee after his family relocated during his teenage years. High school took him through both Colorado and California before he enrolled at UCLA, where he shared living quarters with Wil Wheaton from the Star Trek: The Next Generation ensemble. A mid-1990s DJ stint at KROQ opened the door to his role as host of the MTV dating program Single Out, which launched in 1995; Jenny McCarthy served as his initial co-host until Carmen Electra assumed the position in 1997, and the series concluded in 1998—the same year Hardwick launched his standup career and secured his first professional acting part in the short-lived UPN series Guys Like Us. Subsequent film roles included appearances in House of 1000 Corpses (2002) and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003). In 2005, the musical comedy partnership Hard 'N' Phirm, formed with Mike Phirman, issued its debut album Horses and Grasses. Hardwick’s affinity for technology found an outlet in 2007 when he began hosting the PBS series Wired Science, followed in 2009 by his turn hosting the G4 viral-video program Web Soup. The following year he launched The Nerdist Podcast, which expanded into the broader Nerdist Network and incorporated the popular podcast Nerdist News. His first Comedy Central special, Mandroid, arrived in 2012 and reached retail in DVD, CD, and digital formats the next year, climbing to number five on the Billboard Comedy Albums chart. Also in 2013 he took the helm of the Comedy Central improv competition @midnight with Chris Hardwick and supplied the voice of Craig for the Nickelodeon animated series Sanjay and Craig; both programs earned renewals for additional seasons. His second standup hour for the network, Funcomfortable, debuted in April 2016 and appeared via digital download shortly thereafter, returning him to the Top Five of the comedy chart.