Misc. Reviews

Long before Ali G, there was Nardwuar the Human Serviette, a very peculiar Vancouver DJ and musician who peppered interview subjects with oddball questions in a squeaky, adenoidal voice, all the while wearing crazy plaid outfits and a toque. Now, thanks to Nardwuar's new DVD, Doot Doola Doot Doo ... Doot Doo! (put out by Alternative Tentacles), folks in the U.S. can catch up on the man Michael Moore once called "a national treasure."

Nardwuar started out ages ago as a teenage rocker, putting on all-ages shows in British Columbia, before moving into radio interviews and eventually TV. This DVD collects some of his finest moments in front of the camera for MuchMusic, Canada's version of MTV, as well as some of his press conference visits. There are also hilarious videos and live footage from his silly, garage-rocking bands, the Evaporators and Thee Goblins. The former group's clip for "Addicted to Cheese" is a scream, as is a live bit in which spacesuit-sporting Nardwuar is chased around by his bandmates, who are dressed as sasquatches.

But most people will buy the DVD for the interviews, which truly are bizarre. In one, following a manic stream of questions, Michael Moore suggests that his interviewer is on crack. When a grumpy Henry Rollins tells the Human Serviette he's only got time for a couple more questions, Nardwuar proceeds to speed-read a half-dozen in 30 seconds, which prompts Rollins to remark, "Next time we do an interview I'd prefer if you flossed and brushed, because your breath is really intense."

It's amazing what Nardwuar gets away with: asking Mikhail Gorbachev which world leader has the biggest pants, requesting Ashanti teach him how to dance, showing Marilyn Manson his chest hair (which Manson admits is "impressively shaped"). Other highlights include Courtney Love covering the mouth of a coughing, zonked-out Kurt Cobain; Perry Farrell revealing he has "stuck many things up my ass but never cocaine"; and a dude from GWAR strangling the host after calling him "the most annoying human I've ever met." Annoying, maybe; compelling, definitely so.