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John Hodgman

John Kellogg Hodgman (born June 3, 1971) is an American author, actor, and humorist. In addition to his published written works, such as The Areas of My Expertise, More Information Than You Require, and That Is All, he is known for his personification of a PC in contrast to Justin Long's personification of a Mac in Apple's "Get a Mac" advertising campaign, and for his work as a contributor on Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

John Hodgman

John Kellogg Hodgman

(1971-06-03) June 3, 1971
  • Actor
  • author
  • humorist
  • television personality

2005–present

Katherine Fletcher
(m. 1999)

2

His writings have been published in One Story (to which he contributed the debut story "Villanova"), The Paris Review, McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, Wired and The New York Times Magazine. He has also contributed to This American Life, CBC Radio One’s, and Wiretap. His first book and accompanying audio narration, The Areas of My Expertise, a satirical tongue-in-cheek almanac that contains almost no factual information, was published in 2005. His second book, More Information Than You Require, went on sale October 21, 2008. His third book, That Is All, went on sale November 1, 2011. Vacationland: True Stories from Painful Beaches, a collection of "real life wanderings" about Hodgman's life experiences (especially in Western Massachusetts and coastal Maine) was published on October 24, 2017.[1] Vacationland was a finalist for the 2018 Thurber Prize for American Humor.[2] His most recent book, Medallion Status was released on October 17, 2019.


Hodgman was the headline speaker at the 2009 Radio and Television Correspondents' Association dinner in Washington, D.C.

Early life[edit]

Hodgman was born and raised in Brookline, Massachusetts, the son of Eileen (née Callahan), a nurse and educator, and John Francis Hodgman, the President and CEO of the Massachusetts Technology Development Corporation and a professor at Tufts University.[3][4][5] He attended the Heath School and Brookline High School, where he edited the underground magazine Samizdat, named for the grassroots dissident publishing movement produced under the Soviet Bloc.[6][7] During his last year of high school, he hosted the weekly Radio Consuelo show on freeform station WMFO in Medford.[8]


In 1994 Hodgman graduated from Yale University with a degree in literature, focusing on literary criticism.[9][10] Before gaining fame as a writer, Hodgman worked as a literary agent at Writers House in New York City, where he represented Darin Strauss, Deborah Digges, and actor Bruce Campbell, among others. Hodgman has used his experience as an agent in his column "Ask a Former Professional Literary Agent" at McSweeney's Internet Tendency.

2015: as Soren the Architect

Minecraft: Story Mode

A character in the browser-based multiplayer role-playing game Kingdom of Loathing bears the name 'Hodgman, The Hoboverlord' in his honor.

[40]

Hodgman appears on the cover of the February 2007 edition of , as a contributor to their "What we don't know about..." articles.

Wired Magazine

Hodgman oversaw the "True Life Tales" section of the Sunday .[59] The section is currently on hiatus. He also writes the "Bonus Advice from Judge John Hodgman" section of "The Ethicist" column by Kwame Appiah in the magazine.[60]

New York Times Magazine

Hodgman has guest written for the "Sedaratives" section of . "Sedaratives" is an advice column created by Amy Sedaris.

The Believer

Hodgman wrote the Massachusetts chapter in the anthology State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America.

[61]

Hodgman wrote the introduction to The Laugh-Out-Loud Cats Sell Out (2009), a collection of Adam Koford's Hobotopia comic strips.

Hodgman founded The Little Gray Book Lectures in . The lectures have been on hiatus "for the foreseeable future" as of August 2007.[62]

Williamsburg, Brooklyn

As contributor:


As author:

Official website

at IMDb

John Hodgman

at TED

John Hodgman

"Interview with John Hodgman"