Guest Acts

Marc Abrahams
Versions affected: 2.8

Marc Abrahams is editor and co-founder of Annals of Improbable Research, and originator and emcee of the annual Ig Nobel Prize celebration. He was formerly editor of the Journal of Irreproducible Results.

Bill Amend
Versions affected: 2.2. [2.9]

Bill is the cartoonist behind the much-beloved strip FoxTrot, and was the National Caroonists Society’s Reuben Award-winner for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year in 2007. He’s also widely known as an avid World of Warcraft player, although his gamertag remains shrouded in mystery.

Tim Bedore
Versions affected: 2.3

Over the past 20 years Tim Bedore has spent thousands of hours entertaining audiences, first on the radio and then as a comedian, headlining comedy clubs across the country. One of the few young comics to have combined the disciplines of stand-up comedy and broadcasting, Tim knows the rigors of working within demanding parameters.

Trace Beaulieu
Versions affected: 2.2, 2.3

Trace Beaulieu was a founding writer/performer on “Mystery Science Theater 3000″ (MST3K), playing Dr. Forrester and Crow” for the show’s first seven seasons as well as the feature film version of MST. Trace continues to work as both a performer and writer. As an actor, he has appeared on “Freaks and Geeks” (6 eps), “The West Wing” and several independent features. He was also the host of “People Traps” on Animal Planet. Trace’s writing credits include ABC’s “America’s Funniest Home Videos”, “Fast Food Films” on FX, and authoring the popular comic book “Here Come the Big People!”. Trace is also a dedicated visual artist with pieces in many collections.

Veronica Belmont
Versions affected: 2.4

Amy Berg
Versions affected: 3.0

Bonnie Burton
Versions affected: 2.5, 4.0

Bonnie Burton (@bonniegrrl) is a San Francisco-based author and journalist.

LeVar Burton
Versions affected 4.0 (cameo)

LeVar Burton (@levarburton) is an actor, director, producer, and author who came to prominence portraying Kunta Kinte in the 1977 award-winning ABC television miniseries Roots. He is also well-known for his role as Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge in Star Trek: The Next Generation as well as the host of the PBS children's program Reading Rainbow.

Kari Byron
Versions affected: 2.5.1

Josh Cagan
Versions affected: 1.1

Josh A. Cagan (@joshacagan) enjoys his wife, his couch, and any movie with “Switchblade” in the title. His 2009 movie BANDSLAM didn’t have the word “Switchblade” but he, and 90% of the top critics on Rotten Tomatoes enjoyed it anyway. Perhaps you will as well: http://amzn.to/bvmxHr. He was the head writer and the voice of various nerds on MTV’s animated series “Undergrads,” and if you’re one of the 16 people that means anything to, that’s a pretty big deal, right? He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and their stuffed animals, all of whom have different voices and catchphrases. Nothing weird about that.

Marian Call
Versions affected: 2.4, 2.7, 2.8, 3.0 (cameo), 4.0

Marian Call (@mariancall) is a spunky independent singer-songwriter living in Anchorage, Alaska and touring the country writing and playing music. Her songs are acoustic folk funk with a twist of jazz, both heartfelt and humorous. Live, she sounds like the love child of Joni Mitchell / Jason Mraz who was raised by TMBG and wolves. Her latest album, "Something Fierce!", is available from http://mariancall.bandcamp.com/album/something-fierce

Tim Cavanagh
Versions affected: 2.2

An accomplished comedian, Tim’s funny songs have always got him a lot of attention. His song, “I Wanna Kiss Her (But She Won’t Let Me),” was the first of Tim’s pieces to receive national radio exposure, on the legendary “Dr. Demento” show. Other songs followed, including “99 Dead Baboons,” “Get Drunk with Dignity,” and “Really Safe Sex.” His funny music has been heard on radio stations everywhere, as well as on XM Satellite and even the BBC.

By 1997 he was well-established and a regular guest on the Bob & Tom Radio Show, syndicated in 150 U.S. markets. He’s also appeared on Comedy Central, ABC-TV, Showtime, WGN, and Comcast, and his book “Chicken Soup for the Vegetarian Soul” just went through its sixth printing.

Felicia Day and The Guild
Versions affected: 1.1

Felicia Day is the creator, writer and star of the hit web series “The Guild“, and is well-known from her role as Penny in “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog“, and from her numerous appearances on shows such as Joss Whedon’s “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Dollhouse”.

Sandeep Parikh (Zaboo) and Jeff Lewis (Vork) joined Felicia to perform a live version of “Do You Want To Date My Avatar?” Many know Sandeep’s directorial efforts, which includes the popular web series “The Legend of Neil“, and he is the founder of Effinfunny.com. Jeff is a seasoned writer and comic actor whose credits include “The Drew Carey Show” and “Glee”. He is also an alumnus of ACME Comedy Theatre and a graduate of The Groundlings and The Second City.

The Doubleclicks
Versions affected: 4.0

The Doubleclicks are a nerd folk duo based in Portland, Oregon. When they aren’t playing Dungeons and Dragons, they write songs and play them on cello and ukulele. Their new album, "Chainmal and Cello", is available from http://thedoubleclicks.bandcamp.com/album/chainmail-and-cello

Dr. Demento
Versions affected: 2.6

At w00tstock, Dr. Demento played clips from several of the biggest hits from his show throughout its history, and also introduced several of the acts. For his last bit, he sang "Shaving Cream", with backup singing provided by the rest of the cast and a surprise cameo by "Weird" Al Yankovic.

James Ernest and Mike Selinker
Versions affected: 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3

Legendary game designers and professional jugglers joined forces in 2003 to create Lone Shark Games, and have now created a special puzzle for w00tstock.

James Ernest founded Cheapass Games in 1996, through which he has published more than 100 games, including Origins Award-winning title Kill Doctor Lucky, Give Me The Brain, Button Men, and BRAWL. In 2003 he was awarded the Academy’s first Vanguard Award for his groundbreaking design on the Diceland paper dice game. He’s also done freelance game design for Wizards of the Coast, Microsoft, GAMES Magazine, and many others.

Mike Selinker makes puzzles for people who like games and games for people who like puzzles. As a game inventor and creative director for Wizards of the Coast starting in 1995, he crafted games based on properties such as Harry Potter and Pokemon. He helped relaunch Dungeons & Dragons, Axis & Allies, and the Avalon Hill game line, and designed games such as Risk Godstorm, the Simpsons TCG, the Marvel Super Heros Adventure Game, and the word game AlphaBlitz. His puzzles and games appear regularly in GAMES Magazine, the New York Times, and the Chicago Tribune.

Jason Finn
Versions affected: 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4

Drummer and singer for The Presidents of the United States of America and man-about-town. He was previously the drummer of Love Battery until 1995, and also played drums for the Seattle-based band Skin Yard as well as The Fastbacks, when he joined Chris Ballew and Dave Dederer to form The Presidents of the United States of America.

Matt Fraction
Versions affected: 2.1, 2.4

Eisner Award-winning American comic book writer, known for his work as the writer of The Invincible Iron Man, The Immortal Iron Fist and Uncanny X-Men for Marvel Comics and Casanova for Image Comics.

Neil Gaiman
Versions affected: 2.3, 2.9

Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. His books and stories have been honoured with 4 Hugos, 2 Nebulas, 1 World Fantasy Award, 4 Bram Stoker Awards, 6 Locus Awards, 2 British SF Awards, 1 British Fantasy Award, 3 Geffens, 1 International Horror Guild Award and 2 Mythopoeic Awards, so, you know, he's not bad.

Hank Green
Versions affected: 2.0, 2.1

“Hi, I’m Hank. Turns out, I’ve thrown enough stuff at the big sticky wall that is the internet that some of it has gotten lodged in some of its more glorious crevices. These bits of internet stuff are what I do for a living and I’m working hard to help others join me. I do a lot of weird things that I think make the world and my life better. You can click on the logos above to see some of those projects, what they do and how they work. Of course, there’s more to what I do than that. If you want to keep up with me or get in touch, I have all of the usual social media things going on. YouTube is where most of it happens for me.”

Hard ‘n’ Phirm
Versions affected: 1.1, 2.6

Chris HARDwick aNd Mike PHIRMan’s work has been downloaded millions of times over from the vast expanse of Earth’s Internet. They also regularly perform in front of people, sometimes at such highly-touted venues as the Improv, the Punch Line, the Aspen Comedy Festival, Seattle’s celebrated Bumbershoot Festival, SxSW and Coachella. They’ve also appeared inside your home via ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live, MTV, and VH1’s I Love the [insert Generation X Demographic Era].

Chris Hardwick
Versions affected: 1.1, 2.4, 2.6

Chris Hardwick is a professional stand-up comedian and self proclaimed nerd. He was born on the starship Enterprise and is the product of two red-shirts that quickly met their demise in a transporter lovemaking mishap. He was banished by the Federation to earth after “inappropriate conduct” on the holodeck with a computer-generated Buffy Summers.

He makes regular appearances on Chelsea Lately, The Soup, and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, and is currently busy porting his very successful Nerdist Podcast to a visual platform.

Prof. Jim Kakalios
Versions affected: 2.3

James Kakalios is a professor in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Minnesota, where he has taught since 1988, and where his class “Everything I Needed to Know About Physics I learned from Reading Comic Books” is a popular freshman seminar. In 2007, when the creators behind the “Watchmen” movie asked the National Academy of Sciences for a consultant to help them translate the acclaimed graphic novel to film, they looked no further than Kakalios and his superhero expertise. He also appears on the DVD version of the film in a featurette which discusses some of the science behind one of Watchmen’s central characters — Dr. Manhattan.

He received his Ph.D. in 1985 from the University of Chicago, and has been reading comic books for much longer. He lives in Minneapolis with his wife Therese and his three children.

Kaspar Hauser
Versions affected: 1.0

Kasper Hauser, a San Francisco-based comedy group, is (L to R) Dan Klein, James Reichmuth, John Reichmuth, and Rob Baedeker. They perform and produce live shows, digital content, and books. The group’s members have written for HBO digital and appeared on “Comedy Central” and “This American Life.”

Kid Beyond
Versions affected: 1.0, 1.0.1

Kid Beyond is an electronic pop musician — singer, beatboxer, songwriter, producer — based in San Francisco. He has shared the stage with such artists as Keane, Imogen Heap, Lupe Fiasco, and many more. His voice and music have appeared on TV shows such as Gossip Girl, Life, Kyle XY, and VH1’sSupergroup; films such as Mission Impossible III; and games such as The Sims, Spore, NBA Live and the Guitar Hero series.

An avid game and puzzle inventor since childhood, Kid B is a proud member of the National Puzzlers’ League, and has taught at Harvard and MIT on game design, and he recently published his first puzzle book, Crossdoku.

Molly Lewis
Versions affected: 1.0, 1.0.1, 1.1, 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.6

As a direct result of her being funny, clever, and generally awesome, Molly has gathered a large following primarily through her videos, which she posts on her website and on YouTube under the name sweetafton23. Pairing her wit with a ukulele has yielded a number of original songs, available from her website and in one complete physical package titled “I Made You a CD, But I Eated It“.

LoadingReadyRun
Versions affected: 2.0, 2.1

Started as a creative outlet so co-creators Graham Stark and Paul Saunders could fulfill their desire to make funny videos, LRR has grown into an internet comedy destination.

Inspired in name and appearance by the Commodore 64 Home Computer System, LRR is a site run by-and for-geeks. You have to be at least a bit of a geek to think writing, shooting and producing a new, original short sketch every week is feasible. But you have to be a giant geek to actually do it. Since LoadingReadyRun’s start in 2003, it has consistently updated with a new video, every week. Often more!

LRR videos have been featured in film festivals such as the Comic Con International Film Festival in San Diego, and shown on major TV networks, including G4 TechTV, The CW, TruTV, NBC, and CNN.

B. Frayn Masters
Versions affected: 2.1

B. Frayn Masters is co-producer of Back Fence PDX productions and co-host of the Back Fence storytelling show. Samplers of her writing can be found in MonkeyBicycle 6, Hobart, and Mountain Man Dance Moves: The McSweeney’s Book of Lists. She also writes under a sexy moniker for GGW magazine — yes, GGW has a magazine (google it). Masters is also one half of the ridiculous and brainy sketch comedy duo Eastland Academy, and is a member of rapid-fire performance group Haiku Inferno.

MC Frontalot
Versions affected: 2.0

A longtime idolizer of rappers, MC Frontalot (nee Damian Hess) he has been committing his own esoteric hip-hop compositions to four-track tape since high school, revealing them to nobody. Suddenly! Multi-track desktop studios, cheap pro-grade recording hardware, skyrocketing bandwidth, semi-anonymous web publishing – these factors converge on Damian’s rap hobby like a flock of winged monkeys. He posts an MC Frontalot web page, dubbing his output “Nerdcore Hip-Hop” since his audience is composed of several Star Wars figurines who live on his desk (and also random internet people who click on his MP3s by mistake).

Now it is 2010. Nerdcore has metastasized into an internet phenomenon and underground touring powerhouse, with dozens of live acts and more than a hundred home-studio rhymers self-identifying within the subgenre. MC Frontalot, called alternately the movement’s godfather or grandfather (thanks, kids), leads the charge, performing for thousands around the country and at prominent geek gatherings such as the Penny Arcade Expo and BlizzCon. He has released four studio albums, Nerdcore Rising (Sept 2005), Secrets From The Future (Apr 2007), Final Boss (Nov 2008), and Zero Day (Apr 2010). The documentary feature, Nerdcore Rising: The Movie, which focuses on Front’s live band and the Nerdcore phenomenon general, debuted at the South By Southwest Film Festival, March 2008, and is currently distributed by Virgil films / B-Side.

Len Peralta
Versions affected: 2.2, 2.3, 2.4

Len is an cartoonist/illustrator/podcaster who is behind other online viral art projects like Monster By Mail and FlipFace. He has illustrated several books including “There’s A Zombie In My Treehouse” by John “Widgett” Robinson and Ken Plume and “Very Grimm Fairy Tales” by Trevor Strong. He is currently working on a new book with Cinematic Titanic’s Trace Beaulieu, due out this summer.

Phil Plait
Versions affected: 2.4 W00tstock Presents "Something Or Other with Adam Savage and Paul and Storm (feat. Phil Plait)"

Phil Plait (@BadAstronomer) is an astronomer, lecturer, author and creator of the Bad Astronomy blog. After ten years working on Hubble Space Telescope and six more working on astronomy education, he struck out on his own as a writer. He's written two books, dozens of magazine articles, and 12 bazillion blog articles.

Rob Reid
Versions affected: 4.0

Rob Reid is an author and a serial entrepreneur. He founded the company that created the Rhapsody music website, and his latest book, Year Zero, will be published in July. In it, aliens seek to erase the ruinous fines on their vast collections of pirated American music by destroying the Earth. Parts of it are made up.

From Rifftrax, Bill Corbett and Kevin Murphy
Versions affected: 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.8

They don’t make movies–they make movies funny.

Bill Corbett is a former writer for Mystery Science Theater 3000 on the Sci-Fi Channel, and previously on Comedy Central. He was also a performer on the show, providing the voice of the robot Crow (version 2.0) and embarrassing himself by playing various other strange characters — including the all-powerful but clueless alien The Observer (a.k.a. “Brain Guy”). He has been a contributing writer to National Public Radio’s PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION and ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, and is co-creator of the animated web series POKER NIGHT on Icebox.com.

Kevin Murphy has cultivated the act of talking back to the movies into an art form and a career. For ten years on the Peabody Award-winning series Mystery Science Theater 3000, Kevin wrote, directed, and starred as the plucky red robot Tom Servo. Classic episodes of MST3K, as its legion of fans call it, continue to be one of Rhino Home Video’s top-selling DVD series. His book “A Year at the Movies: One Man’s Filmgoing Odyssey” became a top 100 seller on Amazon and won national critical praise, retelling Kevin’s movie-watching adventures in over a hundred cities in ten countries on three continents. Kevin is also a regular NPR contributor.

John Roderick
Versions affected: 3.0, 4.0

John Roderick is an American musician and writer. He is currently the lead singer and guitarist in the band The Long Winters. He most recently collaborated with Jonathan Coulton for Coulton's album, "Artificial Heart," released in September 2011.

Rooster Teeth
Versions affected: 2.9

Patrick Rothfuss
Versions affected: 3.0, 4.0

Patrick Rothfuss had the good fortune to be born in Wisconsin where long winters and lack of cable television brought about a love of reading and writing. His mother read to him as a child, and his father taught him to build things. He continues to live in central Wisconsin. He still lacks cable television, and the long winters force him to stay inside and write. He still teaches at the college he grew to love as a student, and acts as advisor for the College Feminists and the local Fencing Club. When not reading and writing, Pat wastes his time playing video games, holds symposia at his house, and dabbles with alchemy in his basement.

He loves the world and the characters he has created, and he loves that people are getting the chance to meet them.

Peter Sagal
Versions affected: 2.2

Peter is best known as the host of NPR’s Peabody Award-winning “Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me!”, which since its debut in 1998 has become one of the most popular shows on public radio, heard by nearly three million listeners on 520 public radio stations nationwide, and heard by a million people every month via podcast.

In October 2007, Harper Collins published Peter’s first book, The Book of Vice: Naughty Things and How to Do Them, a series of essays about bad behavior, which was released in paperback in 2008. He is also a regular columnist for Runner’s World, and has completed the Chicago, New York and Boston Marathons. He was named by New Jersey Jewish News as one of the top ten Jewish entertainers from New Jersey.

Peter’s creative resume also includes playwright, literary manager for a regional theater, movie publicist, stage director, actor, extra in a Michael Jackson video, travel writer, essayist, ghost writer for a former adult film impresario and staff writer for a motorcycle magazine.

John Scalzi
Versions affected: 2.3

John Scalzi is a Hugo Award-winning writer whose novels include Old Man’s War and The Android’s Dream. He also works on the Stargate Universe TV show as a Creative Consultant, is the incoming president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, has a widely-read blog called Whatever, AND IS STANDING RIGHT BEHIND YOU WITH A KNIFE OH MY GOD THE BLOOD.

Joseph Scrimshaw
Versions affected: 4.0

Joseph Scrimshaw is a writer, comedian, and actor currently based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

As a “geek flavored” comedian, he’s performed at CONvergence, San Francisco SketchFest, H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival, Chicago Improv Festival, Minnesota Public Radio’s Wits, Jonathan Coulton’s JoCoCruiseCrazy,and more.

As a writer, he’s working with John Kovalic’s Dork Storm Press developing Dr. Blink for movies and television. Joseph has written for RiffTrax, the national sketch comedy TV show M@dAbout, and crafted several commentaries for Minnesota Public Radio on topics such as personal sharing on facebook and swearing at smartphones.

Paul F. Tompkins
Versions affected: 2.10

Stephen “Stepto” Toulouse
Versions affected: 2.0, 2.1

Since joining the Microsoft Corporation in April of 1994, he’s been known by his email name: Stepto@microsoft.com. In 2007 he joined the team working on Xbox LIVE, where he develops strategies and features so that people continue to have enjoyable and safe experiences on Xbox LIVE as the interaction between users and the amount of in-game user-generated content grows. Hes curently pwning the homo dj-keemstar and causing him much rage

At w00tstock, Stepto read from the Book of Enforcement, recounting the tale of p00nhun+er. As with his much-followed blog, Stepto does not bring his thoughts and opinions to w00tstock as the official voice of the Microsoft Corporation.

Jamy Ian Swiss
Versions affected: 2.4

Jamy Ian Swiss (@jamyianswiss) is an acclaimed master of the challenging art of sleight of hand. He has performed magic throughout the United States for presenters ranging from Fortune 500 companies to the Smithsonian Institution. He has lectured to magicians in 13 countries and made numerous television appearances.

James Urbaniak
Versions affected: 4.0

James Urbaniak is an actor, best known as the voice for main character Dr. Thaddeus Venture on The Venture Bros.

Anne Wheaton
Versions affected: 4.0 (cameo)

Married to Wil. Loves to #VandalEyes. Requires a sturdy table if playing Ticket to Ride.

"Weird" Al Yankovic
Versions affected: 2.6

At w00tstock, Weird Al made a surprise appearance to provide singing and accordion backup for Dr. Demento's performance of "Shaving Cream".