Late Night Video

Filed in National by on June 21, 2009

John Hodgman at the Radio & Television Correspondents Association dinner. Hodgman asks the important question: is Obama a true nerd? You decide.

Some sample questions:

What are the three types of orcs?
What is Superman’s father’s name?
What is the name of the god worshipped by Conan the Barbarian?
What is the name of the worms in Dune in the original language?
What was the machine for summoning the worms?
What is the name of the hallucinatory vomit produced by the worms?

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Opinionated chemist, troublemaker, blogger on national and Delaware politics.

Comments (10)

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  1. 1) Don’t know — which game or fantasy world?

    2) Jor-El

    3) Crom

    4) Shai-hulud

    5) Thumper

    6) Spice/Melange

  2. nemski says:

    Hodgman is the sum of awe.

    I think the first question should be, “What are the three types of hobbits?”

    Answer: Harfoots, Stoors, and Fallohides.

  3. Art Downs says:

    I would fail that test. But that may say something about priorities.

    De gustibus non est disputandem.

  4. I failed too, Art. I only knew 2 & 5. As nemski pointed out, I even wrote the first question wrong.

  5. Dana says:

    Uruk-Hai, the stronger orcs bred by Saruman; can;t think of the name of the bow-legged ones typified by Grishnakh on the trail from the Anduin to Fangorn, and the orcs of Mordor.

    I knew all of the others, but RwR got them right first.

  6. Dana says:

    But you didn’t get the first one wrong: there are three types of orcs. There would also be the half-orcs alluded to, such as the very ugly “Southerner” seen in the company of Bill Ferny outside of Bree.

  7. liberalgeek says:

    Oh my, my nerd status is in question. I only got Jor-el and I would have spelled it wrong if I hadn’t watched the video.

  8. Liberalgeek,

    We’re going to have to change your name to Liberaljock.

  9. liberalgeek says:

    Damn you, science woman!

  10. Dana says:

    And though it was almost universally panned, I liked the 1986 version of Dune with Kyle McLachlan (or however his name is spelled). The art-deco theme for the sets worked perfectly and the actors were chosen perfectly.

    The fact that I have the same eyebrows as the Mentat Assassins Thufir Hawat and Pieter DeVries has nothing to do with it!