The Cultlist: 2011′s Champions of Nerdom

Apart they all found ways to cheer us up, bring us down, shake our asses, and dry our eyes but together they are The Champions of Nerdom, a group of people that excelled at the things that please us so, comics, movies, television, music, and general awesomeness.

So now, without further ado, the people we most hope won’t die in 2012…

Donald Glover is half of “Troy and Abed”, TV’s funniest 2 pack, and one of the many reasons why fans of Community are up in arms about the show’s recent exile. Have no fear though, while we honorary Greendale-ians are fighting for #SixSeasonsAndAMovie, Glover (aka Childish Gambino) is keeping busy in support of his debut LP “Camp“, an erudite and rad rap record that is climbing charts and stabbing the “Party All the Time” fears in the heart like a Vampire in Brooklyn. What? Did that just happen? A ViB reference? Boom! Glitter shrapnel in yo ass. But seriously, can we get D. Glover to make a Beverly Hills Cop remake stat? #GambinoISAxel 

Remember when Chris Hardwick was only known as that smarm-bot that all-but humped the leg of Jenny McCarthy and then Carmen Elektra (despite her Prince cooties) on MTV’s Singled Out? No? Screw you fetus, it happened.

Hardwick has risen like Lazarus over the last few years since that notoriety blip by way of G4, Wired Magazine, and his Nerdist podcast, which is nerd church.

This year Hardwick began hosting The Talking Dead, a Walking Dead aftershow on AMC as well as specials on BBC America like Nerdist’s Year in Review, which featured Simon Pegg, David Tennant, Nathan Fillion, and Wil Wheaton. Add to that Hardwick’s place as royalty at both SDCC and NYCC and it’s easy to understand why every single nerd/geek writer adores and admires this slight son of a bowler.

Andy Serkis is, quite simply, our Lon Chaney, a master of acting from behind the veil. Whereas Chaney used makeup to hide his face and become his characters, Serkis uses computer technology that allow his characters to become him and vice versa.

Known for his work as Gollum in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, as well as the upcoming Hobbit films, Serkis rose to new heights this year, playing Caesar in Rise of the Planet of the Apes, a layered, tour-de-force that elevates the movie well beyond what it was predicted to be. For that, and the humanity he often injects into non-human characters, we salute him.

When Garfunkel and Oates write a song about handjobs, or why pregnant women are smug it isn’t made for the mainstream, they’re made for us by the nerdy comic-singer-songwriter-actors behind G&O, Riki Lindhome and Kate Micucci.

While it should be obvious to anyone who listens to this year’s album, “All Over Your Face”, and the duo’s many, many amazing viral videos, I can’t fully illustrate to you how hilarious and awesome G&O are. Why? Well , I’m really not that talented, so instead I asked these lovely and charming duck fuckers to do it themselves in our exclusive interview with Garfunkel and Oates, Champions of Nerdom edition, click here to read, because reading is fundamental and some shit.

A few years ago, Patton Oswalt was a familiar stand-up comic and guest player on some of television’s most popular sitcoms. Now, after poignant turns in 2009′s Big Fan and this year’s Young Adult where he played a wounded nerd who Charlize Theron’s character clings to as an island in the storm of her 1/3 life crisis, we know that he is so much more.

Add to that Oswalt’s turn in the mangy but funny Adult Swim showlet, The Heart, She Holler, his book of essays Zombie Spaceship Wasteland, and his scathing, impassioned, and intelligent nerd manifesto, Wake up geek culture. Time to die. and it’s easy to see why Oswalt has a spot on this list even if he might loathe us for putting one together.

One of the filmmakers at the forefront of this years art-house sci-fi trend, Brit Marling has become an indie darling — writing, producing, and staring in both Another Earth and The Sound of my Voice, a cult movie of a different type.

I haven’t seen Voice yet but I can say that when our Top 3 Films list was originally 10, Another Earth had a place on it. A slow building drama that shows a broken young women’s obsession with repentance all while another planet peers down from the sky, forcing her and others to ask some very real, very prescient questions. The very best sci-fi is about humanity and the effect that extreme, unbelievable, and unimaginable things have on that frail thing. Another Earth is imperfect but affecting as it embraces that notion.

What can we say about Dan Didio, one of the people behind the business triumph that set in motion a chain of events that had DC Comics derided, dismissed, and finally exonerated and praised?

I was among the chorus of people who chided DC for the New 52 reboot, and I still have harsh feelings toward what I regard as a cash grab and a continuity scrub. That said, I’ll freely admit that Didio may have saved DC, re-placing them on top of Marvel while the “House of Ideas” struggles to find one as good as Didio’s game changing “stunt”.

Honorable Mention: Todd Howard (the man behind Skyrim), Jane Espenson (the best part of an uneven season of Torchwood, who went her own way with Husbands, and is crafting fairytale adaptations with Once Upon a Time), Steve Jobs (of course), and Tim Tebow…nah, I’m just kidding, can you imagine?

So that’s our list, love it, hate it, mount it on a wall. Feel free to let us know who you think should have been on the list. 

Written by Jason Tabrys (@jtabrys)

The former editor-in-chief, Jason still reappears in the rafters of our fair site from time to time but he now spends his days leaping from one place to another, trying to put right what once went wrong. You can still find his words across the toxic constellation that is the… More »