Past Program: Neil Gaiman

with Josh Ritter, Adam Savage, and Wil Wheaton
Event date: Friday, June 24, 2011, 8:00 p.m.

Audio from the Neil Gaiman show

Videos from the Neil Gaiman show

Photos from the Neil Gaiman show

Tweets from the Neil Gaiman show

About!

Neil Gaiman with Josh Ritter, Adam Savage, and Wil Wheaton

Friday, June 24, 2011, 8:00 p.m.
Neil Gaiman is one of the most engaging, smart writers we know. (@neilhimself) Turns out he's pretty funny, too. He's behind the Sandman graphic novels - the only comics to ever make the New York Times bestseller list. He's won a ton of awards for his writing - The Newberry Medal, the Carnegie Medal in Literature the Bram Stoker award. His written books and screenplays - "American Gods", "The Graveyard Book", "Coraline", "Beowulf". He returns to Wits™ this spring and charms us all with his English accent and his way with words.

Paste magazine has called him one of the "100 Greatest Living Songwriters." Stephen King has said of one of Josh's songs: "This is the most exuberant outburst of imagery since Bob Dylan's "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall," in 1963." Most everybody agrees Josh Ritter is a rare talent. (@joshritter) He will woo you from the stage of the Fitzgerald at this final Wits show of the season, where you can also be one of the first to get his new novel, "Bright's Passage" (out in bookstores June 28, 2011). It's a book that inspired Pulitzer Prize-winning author Debby Applegate say "In his debut novel Josh Ritter displays the same love of language and historical detail, the same irresistible combination of wit and earnestness, that make him such a brilliant songwriter. He's created a genuine work of literature." You would be crazy to not see this show.

Adam Savage (@donttrythis) makes things that amaze you. He's put models together for movies like Star Wars Episodes I and II, the Matrix sequels and Terminator 3. Besides being able to craft Buddhas and spaceships for TV and film, Adam co-hosts The Discovery Channel's cult-hit series Mythbusters. Adam has also appeared on TV in a Billy Joel music video and a Charmin commercial, as Mr. Whipple's stock boy. He's given talks at the annual Maker Faire and is a headliner at w00tstock. He's also friends with Neil. And any friend of Neil's is a friend of ours.

Wil Wheaton (@wilw) most likely first crashed into your consciousness as Gordie in Stand by Me. Or maybe as Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation. He's written lots of acclaimed books including "Just A Geek," "Dancing Barefoot" and "The Happiest Days of Our Lives" and he continues to grace the screen in SyFy's hit series Eureka as well as CBS's The Big Bang Theory, NUMB3RS and Criminal Minds. He's also a celebrated blogger, headliner at w00tstock and he's a friend of Neil's. So get ready for one big fun party.

Bonus: Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett - the Box Dwellers! For ten years Kevin Murphy (@kwmurphy) co-wrote and directed the Peabody Award-winning series Mystery Science Theater 3000, and starred as the plucky red robot Tom Servo. Bill Corbett (@billcorbett) also wrote and performed on the show as well, providing the voice of the robot Crow (v.2.0) and playing various other strange characters -- including the all-powerful but clueless alien The Observer (a.k.a. "Brain Guy"). They both are part of the RiffTrax team that makes MP3 tracks you can play in-sync with your favorite movies. We've asked them to come and riff on Wits™. They'll be in a box seat at the Fitz, talking about the show and what people are saying on Twitter. Like our own, modern-day Statler and Waldorf.

Confirm what you think you heard: Our house playlist for the evening courtesy Bethany Barberg

You Must Be out of your Mind / Magnetic Fields

Holding on to Black Metal / My Morning Jacket
Happy With You / Bewitched Hands
Solitude is Bliss / Tame Impala
Found is a Passion / Little Man
Stone Rollin' / Raphael Saadiq
Rumor Has It / Adele
Revival / Deerhunter
One In The World / Tapes n' Tapes
I Told You Once / Howler
This Too Shall Pass / OK GO
Heartbreaker / Girls
Colours / Grouplove
Shake Me Down / Cage The Elephant
Country Queen / Night Moves
Zak and Sara / Ben Folds Five
Wild at Heart / Look Book
I want Some More / Dan Auerbach
Angela Surf City / The Walkmen

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