Latest news with #Nardwuar
The Province
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Province
Vancouver's Nardwuar steps it up with his own Nike sneaker
The celebrity interviewer says the design is still in the works, but it will have a tartan theme and be a skateboard sneaker Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney with Nardwuar the Human Serviette. Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. Nardwuar has done the 'Hip Flip' with Prime Minister Mark Carney. He's interviewed a who's who of rockers and rappers, including Kurt Cobain and Snoop Dogg. His videos have attracted eight million followers on TikTok, 3.5 million on YouTube, and 2.6 million on Instagram. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events. Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account. The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events. Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account. The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Now the eccentric celebrity journalist from Vancouver has really hit the big time: Nike is planning a Nardwuar sneaker. There has been no official announcement by the American running shoe giant, and Nike did not return requests for comment. But news of a 'Nardwuar x Nike SB Dunk Low' skateboard sneaker has leaked out on internet sites, such as which said the Nardwuar sneakers should be out for the 'Holiday 2025 season' and may retail for US$135. Nardwuar confirms he has a deal with Nike. But a design hasn't been finalized — the sneaker is still in the development stage. 'I guess with the sneaker heads, the rumours start,' he said. 'The information got out there, and I'm honoured people speculate what it will be. … People are obsessive with this stuff, aren't they, because I think my shoe is one of like 50 different shoes (being released).' Essential reading for hockey fans who eat, sleep, Canucks, repeat. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. He said he was approached by Nike last year, which he found ironic, because he had unsuccessfully tried to approach them. 'For years I tried to get a Nardwuar shoe, it's my dream to actually get a shoe,' he said. used images of an existing Nike tartan design to illustrate its story, but it isn't what the Nardwuar sneakers will look like. Rapper Tyler the Creator with Nardwuar the Human Serviette at Van Dusen Gardens. Nardwuar tells them a concept, then Nike's staff designs it. 'I'm telling what I'd like to happen, what I'd like the shoe to look like,' he said. 'It's pretty obvious, because I like tartan.' Nardwuar has already been wearing Nike tartan sneakers for years. They fit with the tartan tam he wears during interviews, which he often complements with tartan pants and a tartan coat. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The erstwhile John Ruskin's rise began as a DJ at CiTR, the student radio station at UBC. He adopted the stage name Nardwuar the Human Serviette. Nardwuar was a name he made up with friends. He adopted Serviette after he tried to get one in the U.S. and found out only Canadians use the term. He became something of a garage-rock impresario, fronting his own band, the Evaporators, promoting concerts and releasing a compilation album, Oh God, My Mom's On Channel 10! in 1990. At CiTR, he began interviewing musicians, digging up obscure nuggets about their pasts that blew artists' minds. He often comes with obscure props or gifts, such as a Redd Foxx doll that amazed Snoop Dogg. He also made waves at an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference in 1997 when he asked then prime minister Jean Chretien about protesters being maced or pepper sprayed at UBC. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'For me, pepper, I put it on my plate,' Chretien famously replied. He has an animated interviewing style, which some people get, others don't. When he tried for an impromptu interview with another prime minister, Stephen Harper, Harper's bodyguards literally picked him up and carried him away. Nardwuar went from a local to a national phenomenon when his interviews started appearing on MuchMusic. He went international on the internet, where he set up his own Nardwuar channel on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. Now some celebrities contact him to do interviews. Actor Timothy Chalamet requested Nardwuar when he was doing press for the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown. Actor Timothee Chalamet with Nardwuar the Human Serviette. Unfortunately, the 56-year-old has had some health issues. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'In 1999, I had a brain hemorrhage, and in 2015 I had a minor stroke,' he explains. He does physio to stay healthy. But he's still hard at work as the ace interviewer that online 'sneaker reviewer' Steve Natto said has been 'breaking the internet finding out secret info about your favourite artists and celebrities.' During the recent federal election, he interviewed three political leaders: the Liberals' Carney, the NDP's Jagmeet Singh and Elizabeth May of the Greens. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre declined. All three leaders did the Hip Flip with him, a 1960s game where two people brace a stick against their bodies and try to 'flip' an attached piece of plastic. jmackie@ Nardwuar has a star on the B.C. Entertainment Hall of Fame on Granville Street. The City of Vancouver also proclaimed a 'Nardwuar Day' on Sept. 29, 2019. PNG Read More News News Vancouver Canucks Vancouver Canucks News
Vancouver Sun
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Vancouver Sun
Vancouver's Nardwuar steps it up with his own Nike sneaker
Nardwuar has done the 'Hip Flip' with Prime Minister Mark Carney. He's interviewed a who's who of rockers and rappers, including Kurt Cobain and Snoop Dogg. His videos have attracted eight million followers on TikTok, 3.5 million on YouTube, and 2.6 million on Instagram. Now the eccentric celebrity journalist from Vancouver has really hit the big time: Nike is planning a Nardwuar sneaker. There has been no official announcement by the American running shoe giant, and Nike did not return requests for comment. Get top headlines and gossip from the world of celebrity and entertainment. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sun Spots will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. But news of a 'Nardwuar x Nike SB Dunk Low' skateboard sneaker has leaked out on internet sites, such as , which said the Nardwuar sneakers should be out for the 'Holiday 2025 season' and may retail for US$135. Nardwuar confirms he has a deal with Nike. But a design hasn't been finalized — the sneaker is still in the development stage. 'I guess with the sneaker heads, the rumours start,' he said. 'The information got out there, and I'm honoured people speculate what it will be. … People are obsessive with this stuff, aren't they, because I think my shoe is one of like 50 different shoes (being released).' He said he was approached by Nike last year, which he found ironic, because he had unsuccessfully tried to approach them. 'For years I tried to get a Nardwuar shoe, it's my dream to actually get a shoe,' he said. used images of an existing Nike tartan design to illustrate its story, but it isn't what the Nardwuar sneakers will look like. Nardwuar tells them a concept, then Nike's staff designs it. 'I'm telling what I'd like to happen, what I'd like the shoe to look like,' he said. 'It's pretty obvious, because I like tartan.' Nardwuar has already been wearing Nike tartan sneakers for years. They fit with the tartan tam he wears during interviews, which he often complements with tartan pants and a tartan coat. The erstwhile John Ruskin's rise began as a DJ at CiTR, the student radio station at UBC. He adopted the stage name Nardwuar the Human Serviette. Nardwuar was a name he made up with friends. He adopted Serviette after he tried to get one in the U.S. and found out only Canadians use the term. He became something of a garage-rock impresario, fronting his own band, the Evaporators, promoting concerts and releasing a compilation album, Oh God, My Mom's On Channel 10! in 1990. At CiTR, he began interviewing musicians, digging up obscure nuggets about their pasts that blew artists' minds. He often comes with obscure props or gifts, such as a Redd Foxx doll that amazed Snoop Dogg . He also made waves at an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference in 1997 when he asked then prime minister Jean Chretien about protesters being maced or pepper sprayed at UBC. 'For me, pepper, I put it on my plate,' Chretien famously replied. He has an animated interviewing style, which some people get, others don't. When he tried for an impromptu interview with another prime minister, Stephen Harper , Harper's bodyguards literally picked him up and carried him away. Nardwuar went from a local to a national phenomenon when his interviews started appearing on MuchMusic. He went international on the internet, where he set up his own Nardwuar channel on YouTube , Instagram and TikTok . Now some celebrities contact him to do interviews. Actor Timothy Chalamet requested Nardwuar when he was doing press for the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown. Unfortunately, the 56-year-old has had some health issues. 'In 1999, I had a brain hemorrhage, and in 2015 I had a minor stroke,' he explains. He does physio to stay healthy. But he's still hard at work as the ace interviewer that online 'sneaker reviewer' Steve Natto said has been 'breaking the internet finding out secret info about your favourite artists and celebrities.' During the recent federal election, he interviewed three political leaders: the Liberals' Carney , the NDP's Jagmeet Singh and Elizabeth May of the Greens. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre declined. All three leaders did the Hip Flip with him, a 1960s game where two people brace a stick against their bodies and try to 'flip' an attached piece of plastic. jmackie@
CBC
25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Nardwuar the Human Serviette desperately wants to play Hip Flip with Pierre Poilievre
For more than two decades, Nardwuar the Human Serviette has been on a mission to play the 1960s party game Hip Flip with every Canadian prime minister and would-be prime minister he crosses paths with. The Vancouver-based TV and radio personality, whose real name is John Ruskin, is widely known for his quirky persona, unique aesthetic and well-researched interviews with celebrities. But whenever there's a federal election afoot, he turns his efforts to interviewing the candidates vying to be Canada's next prime minister and challenging them each to a round of Hip Flip — a 1968 Hasbro game in which two people prop a metal rod between their bellies and attempt, in unison, to swing a plastic flipper upside down. So far this year, he's engaged in the physically awkward ritual with Liberal Leader Mark Carney, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, and Green Party co-leader Elizabeth May. Only the Conservative Party leader remains. "We're just waiting for Pierre Poilievre, possibly, to do the Hip Flip. I have tried," Nardwuar told As It Happens host Nil Köksal. "I'll keep trying. I won't give up, because that's what I do. I want to complete this." Games and gifts for Carney, Singh and May Nardwuar, known for his frequent appearances on MuchMuch in the '90s, got his start in 1987 hosting his own show on CITR 101.9 FM, the University of British Columbia campus radio station, which he continues to do today. He also has a presence on YouTube and TikTok, where he often shocks and impresses celebrities with his intimate knowledge of their lives and careers, and bestows upon them obscure gifts catering to their interests. He developed his eye for detail, he says, during his early days of college radio. "If the interview was boring, people would phone in and just say, 'This is boring!' So I always have the tidbits because I live in fear of people phoning in saying, 'It's boring! It's boring!'" he said. He brings that same energy to his political interviews, all of which he conducted this year in the basement of Neptune Records in Vancouver. WATCH | Nardwuar vs. Mark Carney: First up was Carney, the newly minted Liberal leader. "I couldn't believe that the prime minister of Canada actually came to me," Nardwuar said. Nardwuar dug into Carney's years as a minor hockey goaltender and gifted him, among other things, a 45 RPM vinyl of the 1982 single Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodby e by King Richard's Army, a major arena anthem featuring Vancouver Canucks goaltender Richard Brodeur as the cover art. When he asked whether Carney would do a Hip Flip with him, the Liberal leader responded: "That looks like so much fun. Yeah, why not?" WATCH | Nardwuar vs. Jagmeet Singh: Next up was Singh, in his third election interview with the Human Serviette. "This is honestly one of the things I look forward to in the campaign. I know I have a guaranteed visit with Nardwuar," the NDP leader said. Nardwuar shocked Singh with musical trivia about his own NDP colleagues and also offered gifts, including vinyls by every artist featured on the 1998 Canadian hip-hop hit Northern Touch, each pressed by Clampdown, a company based in Singh's Burnaby, B.C., riding. WATCH | Nardwuar vs. Elizabeth May: Most recently, Nardwuar spoke to May, the only leader who seemed to match him with her knowledge of obscure Canadian trivia. As he was gifting albums by B.C. environmentalist David Suzuki and Nova Scotia songstress Rita MacNeil, the Green Party co-leader spun yarns about each of them, including the time she tracked Suzuki down at a Halifax hotel when she was a young activist, interrupting his shower while calling for a favour. While accepting Nardwuar's Hip Flip invitation, May said: "I've got two artificial hips. We're going to give it a go." Decades of Hip Flippery, and the occasional snub Nardwuar has been doing the Hip Flip schtick with Canadian politicians for more than two decades, during both federal and B.C. elections. "For me, it's just like business as usual," he said. "Get the Hip Flip done." He's played with former prime ministers Jean Chrétien, Paul Martin and Justin Trudeau; former Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff; former NDP leaders Jack Layton and Thomas Mulcair; and former Green Party Leader Annamie Paul. He struck out with Stéphane Dion in 2008 at an event at UBC, even though the audience shouted at the Liberal leader to do it, then jeered him when he declined. When he tried to initiate the game with then-Conservative leader Stephen Harper in 2004, he was carried away by security guards. He tried again Harper during the 2006 and 2015 elections, to no avail. Now he has his eyes set on the new Conservative leader — the only prime ministerial candidate who has not yet spoken to him during this election. (He has not asked Yves-François Blanchet, though says he would welcome the Bloc Québécois leader should he ever find himself in Vancouver). Nardwuar says Poilievre's team acknowledged his interview request in an email on March 30, and promised to get back to him. But, so far, he's heard crickets. "I have followed up about 10 times," he said. CBC has also reached out to the Conservative Party about Nardwuar's request, but did not hear back before deadline. The Human Serviette, however, hasn't given up hope.
