Get Out Tonight: John Hodgman at Town Hall
We've read enough pub trivia answer sheets to be familiar with this phenomenon: A team doesn't know the answer to a question, so they write something witty instead. ("Your mom" being one of the least witty examples.) While some of those answers are genuinely clever, however, we never would've thought to transform fake, funny trivia into a literary form.
But this is why we are not John Hodgman. Sure, we may be pudgy. We may wear glasses. We may have fed our young inquisitive mind with a steady diet of The Book of Lists (and sequels), the People's Almanac, William Poundstone's Big Secrets series, Cecil Adams' The Straight Dope, Ripley's Believe It or Not, and Wil Huygen and Rien Poortvliet's Gnomes. Among other factlet-rich reading material.
It takes the transformative power of genius--Hodgmanic genius--to take those influences and decide to write books full of made-up facts. Previously, making up facts required one to make up a narrative in which to contain them, a la William Faulkner or Jacqueline Susann. Hodgman's highly amusing The Areas of My Expertise replaced story with a list of hobo names, and funny writing has been slightly different ever since.
Further proof of Hodgman's genius: He's the only writer on the internet who can TYPE IN ALL CAPS without seeming like he's shouting.
We're not overelaborating on the Hodgman phenomenon because of ALL CAPS or his earlier book or his compelling performances as the platonic ideal of a PC or his appearance in Baby Mama or his brilliant interview with The A.V. Club or even his latest book (More Information Than You Require) or his appearance on Weekday this morning.
No, he's appearing at Town Hall tonight, and we encourage you to go. Not only will you get your recommended daily dose of Hodgman, you'll also slake your thirst for Jonathan Coulton, John Roderick, and Sean Nelson. (Can one ever slake one's thirst for Sean Nelson, even in this town? We think not.)
John Hodgman and guests // tonight at 7:30pm // Town Hall Seattle at 1119 8th Avenue // call about tickets: 206-624-6600 or try visiting Elliott Bay Books
Photo of Town Hall by B.K. Dewey. Thanks!
