What do Snoop Dogg, Lady Gaga, James Brown and Mikhail Gorbachev have in common?

They’ve all been interviewed by Nardwuar the Human Serviette.

The Canadian personality has been interviewing — and sometimes ambushing — musicians, politicians, celebrities and more for over three decades in his signature, very silly, high-energy style.

“I’m scared about someone phoning in will say, ‘this is boring,’ ” he tells World Cafe. “So wherever I am doing an interview, I think ‘someone’s gonna think it’s boring, someone’s gonna think it’s boring!’ I don’t have time to worry about being nervous.”

Nardwuar has garnered millions of views for his YouTube interviews, where he’ll often present unexpected, thoroughly researched gifts that leave his guests dumbfounded. His enthusiasm has made him a bit of a folk hero both in the U.S. and in his native Canada, where he’s also hosted a Friday afternoon show at CITR 101.9FM in British Columbia since 1987.

In this session, Nardwuar talks about how he got his start, making his own music with The Evaporators, and the artists at the top of his interview bucket list.

This episode of World Cafe was produced and edited by Miguel Perez. Our senior producer is Kimberly Junod and our engineer is Chris Williams. Our programming and booking coordinator is Chelsea Johnson and our line producer is Will Loftus.

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