Chris Hardwick on Nerdistry, Hosting The Streamys and “The Talking Dead”

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  • Just days before he’s set to host the 3rd annual Streamy Awards, Chris Hardwick – a.k.a. Nerdist – sits down with Shira Lazar and Beth Hoyt to discuss his preparations for the big night, the importance of multi-platform content creation, and how he’s bringing “The Walking Dead” fans together with his hit “Talking Dead” series.

    “This is my world,” Chris says of the online entertainment community. “I’m actually honored to host the Streamys with all these amazing content creators.” Maybe ShayCarl won’t hump him on stage this time. Or maybe he’ll do something even crazier!

    Though Chris will essentially carry the major event on his shoulders, he insists that he won’t be doing cheesy stand-up bits and, contrary to popular belief, was not personally responsible for bringing in Vanilla Ice.

    He points out how important it is to have an awards show particularly for this Internet platform. “YouTube’s only about eight years old and yet it’s hard to remember a time when there was not ubiquitous digital content like this,” he says. “I feel like it just sort of plants a flag and says, ‘This is a viable form of entertainment. There are incredibly talented people here.'”

    His own network is included in that talented bunch, the Nerdist Channel being a YouTube empire that went from zero to over 350,000 subscribers in about nine months. And his team is still experimenting with all kinds of exciting content, like Neil Patrick Harris’ “Puppet Dreams” (good news – Neil’s up for season 2!) and “Celebrity Bowling.”

    Chris says, “Everything we do on the Nerdist Channel is just basically based on – what are people passionate about that the rest of the entertainment industry would never allow them to do?”

    He’s never been in it for that one-hit wonder, viral video. In fact, he remarks, “If I hear the word viral video one more time, I’m going to punch someone in the testes.” Haven’t we learned already that viral videos can’t be orchestrated? They just happen.

    Chris also stresses the benefits of creating content that can work across multiple platforms, expanding YouTube videos to podcasts, TV series, and even movies.

    As long as those projects keeps popping up, Nerdist predicts that in five years, The Streamys will be “an award show that people will pay attention to,” comparing them to the Independent Spirit Awards in film.

    “Content is king now and I think that it’s important that we celebrate that.”

    Watch the Streamys on Sunday, February 17 at 3 p.m. PT on Streamys.org!

    Subscribe to Nerdist Channel and follow Chris on Twitter.

    Subscribe to Beth Hoyt on YouTube and follow her on Twitter.

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