Chris Hardwick has built a nerdy empire around talking about nerdy stuff. That might sound critical, but it's actually rather commendable. Hardwick's long-running Nerdist Podcast gives listeners access to top-tier celebrities on a regular basis while his stints hosting Comic-Con panels bring a familiar face and friendly vibe to the thousands in attendance. More recently, he's become the face of Talking Dead, AMC's after-show for both The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead, which became the (surprisingly) #1 talk show on TV.
But TWD and FtWD can't run all year long, to AMC's displeasure, so the network has now decided to launch the year-round talk show, Talking with Chris Hardwick. This hourlong talk show will air while the Dead shows are on hiatus. It'll air Sundays at 11pm and feature either a single guest or a cast, with "a strong social media presence and interactivity" because that's what the kids love. Look for it to premiere on April 9th at 11pm, a week after the Season 7 finale of The Walking Dead.
Here's what AMC President of Originals Joel Stillerman had to say about the announcement:
"Chris Hardwick is just the ultimate fan guide, advocate and conversationalist. He took our desire to serve the fans of The Walking Dead with an hour of discussion and analysis following each new episode and turned it into the No. 1 talk show on television, and a model that has been widely emulated but never quite duplicated, because Chris is the key. Between Talking Dead, his podcast and panel moderation at events like Comic-Con, there is just no one better at drawing out guests’ humanity, celebrating content and serving fans. We are looking forward to expanding our relationship with Chris through this new version of Talking that will allow him to do what he does best — give our viewers a front row seat to some of the biggest topics in pop culture today and a host who has an incomparable affinity for the content they love."
Hardwick was already busy enough before this news: He hosts the NBC game show The Wall and Comedy Central's four-night-a-week celebrity-heavy "quiz" show, @midnight.
