Until June 2018, Chris Hardwick was best known as the talented host of shows such as Taking Dead, @midnight and The Wall. He rose to fame in the cult MTV dating show, Singled Out, and despite a brief period in the wilderness following the show’s demise, he’d become, in recent years, a seemingly unstoppable force. As popular for his comedy as he was for his hosting skills, it seemed there was no show, genre or stage that couldn’t benefit from his presence. That all changed when in 2018, allegations of domestic abuse surfaced that simultaneously shocked the word and threatened to put a stop to Hardwick’s professional career once and for all. In the end Hardwick survived the allegations, and his career has continued (even if his previously unfailing popularity hasn’t). Keep reading to find out more.
1. He’s the son of a professional bowler
Hardwick was born in Louisville, Kentucky on November 23, 1971. His mother is Sharon Hills (née Facente), a real estate agent, while his father is Billy Hardwick, a ten-pin bowler and member of the Professional Bowlers Association. Billy Hardwick achieved great success throughout his 16 year career, amassing 18 PBA titles (and becoming the first player to win the “Triple Crown” in the process), earning the title of PBA Player of the Year in both 1963 and 1969, and claiming 12th position on the PBA’s 2008 list of “50 Greatest Players of the Last 50 Years”.
2. He roomed with Will Wheaton in college
Hardwick was schooled at St. Benedict at Auburndale high school before transferring to Regis Jesuit High School in Colorado, and later, Loyola High School in Los Angeles. After graduating high school, Hardwick enrolled in UCLA, where he majored in Philosophy. During his time at the university, Hardwick roomed with future Star Track star, Will Wheaton. The pair met while waiting in line to see the 1990 horror-comedy film Arachnophobia and have been firm friends ever since.
3. Radio got him his first big break
Hardwick got his first taste of entertainment when he secured a DJ gig on the popular radio station KROQ 106.7 in Pasadena, California. Hardwick’s combination of comedy, philosophical asides and nerdy trivia made him an instant hit with listeners, as well as winning the attention of the big hitters over at MTV. Keen to see if he could replicate his radio success on the small screen, MTV producers offered Hardwick the opportunity to front their new dating show, Singled Out, alongside entertainment veteran, Jenny McCartney. With Hardwick’s acceptance, his career was well and truly set.
4. He struggled with alcohol addiction
Despite Singled out becoming a cult classic, it was eventually pulled in 1998. The end of the series would see Hardwick go into free fall; never having been one to say no to a drink, he started to use alcohol to a greater and greater extent, piling on the pounds and driving his personal and professional career into the ground. Fortunately, he managed to pull himself back from the brink just in time. “I knew that I had two choices: I could continue living the way I was living and die pickled and unemployed, or make sweeping changes with the hope of salvaging my life,” he wrote in his self-memoir, The Nerdist Way.
5. He was lifelong friends with Joan Rivers
When Hardwick was 4 years old, he met comedy legend, Joan Rivers, when he attended one of her Las Vegas Shows. The pair would become life-long friends, with Joan regularly popping up on Hardwick’s Nerdist podcast. Hardwick was clearly left devastated by her death in 2014: “She wanted to know how everything worked and how people were communicating now and she wanted to understand digital content,” he said. I adored her and she was lovely and a pioneer. She never stopped working-such an inspiration.”
6. He’s featured in several movies
He may be best known for commenting on TV shows and movies, but he’s not adverse to occasionally appearing in them either. Notable appearances include as David Newman in Halloween II, the unnamed “2nd engineer” in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Dan Inwood in Married…with Children, Mickey Shoemaker in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and Garth Berman in Zoey 101.
7. His dream guests would be Joan Rivers, Mel Brooks and Tom Hanks
When asked who his dream guests would be on his Comedy Central @midnight show (which aired for 600 episodes between 2013—2017), Hardwick didn’t hesitate with his reply:- “Jon Hamm, Tom Hanks, Mel Brooks – Joan Rivers would be great,” he answered. “They just know how to connect with an audience, they’re natural performers. It’s not comedy that drives the show – it’s comfort.”
8. He has multiple influences
Hardwick has cited lifelong friend Joan Rivers as a key influence on many occasions, but the late comedian isn’t the only entertainer who’s struck a chord. When asked by The Awl to name some famous names who’ve had the greatest impact on his life, Hardwick was ready and waiting with a whole litany of names. “Steve Martin. I had all the Steve Martin records,” he said. “George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Sam Kinison, Rodney Dangerfield, Bill Hicks, Emo Philips, Bill Cosby… It wasn’t like I limited myself to one kind of comic. I liked all different flavors of comedy. I loved it all.”
9. He’s had several high-profile relationships
These days, Hardwick is a happily married man, having wed model, blogger, heiress and actress, Lydia Hearst, on August 20, 2016 after a year long engagement. Before his marriage, Hardwick was associated with a string of beauties, including actress Janet Varney, who he dated from 2004-2011, model/ actress Jacinda Barrett, and actress Chloe Dykstra, who he dated from 2011- 2014.
10. He’s a voice actor
As well as featuring in several TV shows and films (both as himself and in character), Hardwick has lent his voice to numerous animations. Credits include Alexander Hamilton in The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd, Otis in the Barnyard series, Green Arrow/Oliver Queen on The Batman and Lego Dimensions, Glowface in The X’s, and Sokka in The Legend of Korra. He’s also voiced Craig the Snake on Sanjay and Craig and Vaughn in Telltale Games’s Tales from the Borderlands. Most recently, he lent his voice to the villainous Klaxxon for a special podcast edition of Futurama.
11. He started hosting in 1993
Hardwick’s first hosting job was on the short-lived MTV game, Trashed, but his big break came a few years later with the channel’s Singled Out. Since Singled Out ended, Hardwick has showcased his hosting talents on various shows, including Shipmates, Wired Science, Web Soup, and Talk Soup. In 2010, Hardwick began hosting the “the Nerdist” podcast alongside Jonah Ray and Matt Mira. Hardwick continues to host the podcast to the day, albeit under its new name of ID10T with Chris Hardwick. In addition to “the Nerdist”, Hardwick has seen success with @midnight with Chris Hardwick, a half hour comedy panel show broadcast by Comedy Central, along with the hugely popular Talking Saul and Talking Dead.
12. He drops the comedy when it comes to business
Hardwick formed the Nerdist in 2008; 3 years later in 2011, he formed Nerdist Industries after entering into an equity partnership with GeekChicDaily, a publisher of pop culture based newsletters. A year later, GeekChicDaily fully merged with Nerdist Industries. The newly created company went under the name Nerdist News, a pop culture newsletter hosted by Jessica Chobot, with Hardwick taking the position of Chief Creative Officer. In 2012, Nerdist News was acquired by the Chinese owned media cooperation, Legendary Entertainment. Hardwick became the co-president of Legendary’ s digital business, a position he occupied until his contract ended in 2017.
13. He was one half of Hard ‘n Phirm
Hardwick began performing with comedy partner Mike Phirman while still at university. After working together since 1994, they temporarily split in 1997, only to reform 7 years later. In addition to their special for Comedy Central Presents, the duo saw success with their comedy/ musical offerings, including the song “Rodeohead” and album” Horses and Grasses”. In February 2008, Hardwick and Phirman cemented their achievements with the Effinfunny.com Comedian of the Year Award. Despite their success, the group haven’t worked together since writing the theme to Doug Benson’s Comedy Central series The Benson Interruption in 2010.
14. He faced allegations of abuse in June 2018
In June 2018, Hardwick nearly saw the bottom fall out of his career when allegations of abuse surfaced. The allegations were made by his ex-girlfriend, Chloe Dykstra, who claimed Hardwick sexually and emotionally abused her throughout the course of their 3 year relationship. According to an essay posted by Dykstra on Medium, Hardwick forbade her to have male friends, wouldn’t let her go out without him, repeatedly sexually assaulted her, and essentially blacklisted her in the industry after telling any potential partners he wouldn’t work with them if they dated her. In her original comments, Dykstra didn’t mention Hardwick by name, but dropped enough clues (her alleged abuser was described as being around 20 years older than her, a successful podcaster, former alcoholic, a CEO of his own company, and someone she’d dated for three years) for readers to put 2 + 2 together and come up with Hardwick.
15. He denied the allegations
In the face of Dykstra’s allegations, Hardwick was steadfast in pleading his innocence, claiming that while their relationship had been far from perfect, he’d never sexually assaulted her. “I’m devastated to read that she is now accusing me of conduct that did not occur,” he said. “l was blindsided by her post and always wanted the best for her. As a husband, a son, and future father, I do not condone any kind of mistreatment of women.”
16. He was suspended from AMC
Further to the allegations of abuse, AMC suspended Hardwick from “Talking with Chris Hardwick”, and his name was removed from the Nerdist Website. Following an investigation into the matter (in which Dykstra did not participate) Hardwick was allowed to return to hosting duties in July. At the time of his return, AMC issued a statement saying that it was “the appropriate step.” In August 2018, his name reappeared on Nerdist’s website.
17. Hardwick wasn’t the only one to come under attack
Will Wheaton and Chris Hardwick have been friends since college, so it was perhaps understandable, if not excusable, when the former Star Trek actor failed to immediately comment on the allegations, insisting instead he needed time to consider his “feelings”. The twittersphere, however, was far less forgiving. “Wil Wheaton can’t speak out against Chris Hardwick without implicating himself in everything that went down and not sound like a lying hypocrite. They’re best friends. He knew,” vented one disgruntled commentator. “So your choices were “I believe her. I’ll work out the logistics of my friendship later.” and “I need time to process this, cause I’m all in my feels right now” and you went with the latter?” another mocked.
18. His return to AMC sparked a mass walk- out
During the investigation into the allegations against Hardwick, the entertainer was supported by both his wife and several ex-girlfriends, who all went on record to state they had never been abused by Hardwick. Those in the industry felt slightly differently, with one source saying: “Nobody’s surprised. Everyone can think back to incidents with Chris that line up with something in that story.” Feelings against the beleaguered star clearly ran strong, and on his return to AMC, several staff, including the co-executive producer of Talking Dead, Jen Patton, resigned from the show in protest.
19. He’s received multiple awards
Hardwick has won multiple awards and honors during his time in the spotlight, including several prestigious Emmy’s. His first win came in 2014 with Spike Guys’ Choice Award for Smartacus. That same year, he won his first Emmy nomination in the category Outstanding Interactive Program for his work on @midnight with Chris Hardwick. He may have come home empty-handed that night, but the same couldn’t be said the following year, when he scooped the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Media — Social TV Experience. In 2016, he won the same category again, and also picked up a nomination for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Interactive Program for Talking Dead.
20. He has a net worth of $15 million
With an extensive career that’s taken in near enough every type of entertainment genre there is, you’d naturally assume Hardwick wouldn’t be short of a dollar or two. And you’d be right. While his personal life may have come under scrutiny in recent years, his bank balance has continued to flourish… at least if CNW is to be believed. According to the site, the star is worth a pretty hefty $15 million.Joan Rivers
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