Chris Hardwick

Hardwick originated the role of Stacee Jaxx in Rock of Ages during its premiere run in Los Angeles (2005–2006).[citation needed] In 2011, he began hosting Ministry of Laughs, a BBC America Britcom block, and Talking Dead, a live hour talk show on AMC following episodes of The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead. In 2013, Hardwick hosted Talking Bad, a live half-hour talk show on AMC following the final eight episodes of Breaking Bad, and in 2016 he started to host Talking Saul for Breaking Bad's spin-off, Better Call Saul. He is also known for performing with Mike Phirman in Hard \'n Phirm, hosting Singled Out, Wired Science, Web Soup, and as the voice of Otis the Cow in Back at the Barnyard, replacing Kevin James.\n', ' He also created Nerdist Industries, operator of the Nerdist Podcast Network, and home of The Nerdist Podcast, which later left the network with Hardwick and was renamed to ID10T with Chris Hardwick. His podcast has 966 episodes as of 2018.\n', ' Hardwick was born in Louisville, Kentucky. He is the son of professional bowler Billy Hardwick (1941–2013) and Sharon Hills (née Facente), a real estate agent in Pasadena, California. His maternal grandfather was Italian American, and opened a bowling alley where his parents first met. Hardwick was raised in his mother\'s Roman Catholic faith. At four years old, he met then-struggling comedian and television personality Joan Rivers and became lifelong friends with her. Hardwick grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was the 1983 Memphis City Junior High Chess champion. He later attended St. Benedict at Auburndale high school, later moving to Regis Jesuit High School in Colorado, and then spending his senior year at Loyola High School in Los Angeles.\n', '