Geek Speak: Chris Nyarady, host of West Coast Geeks Versus Nerds

Chris Nyarady, seen here with R2-D2, is an animation student at Vancouver Film School.

Who’s the better vampire slayer—Blade or Buffy? If you have a strong opinion either way (it’s obviously Buffy), Chris Nyarady has got the comedy debate show for you.

Nyarady is the coproducer and host of West Coast Geeks Versus Nerds. The Vancouver offshoot of the Geeks Versus Nerds show in Halifax sees teams of comedians argue over the merits of pop-culture characters like Batman and Boba Fett. After its first “episode” on September 11, WC GvN is coming back with a second show on Tuesday (October 9) at Yuk Yuk’s (2837 Cambie Street). Tickets are $10. Future shows will happen on the second Tuesday of every month until May.

A 26-year-old animation student at Vancouver Film School, Nyarady moved from Halifax to Vancouver in May. The writer, actor, and comedian now lives in the West End.

The Georgia Straight reached Nyarady by phone at VFS.

Why are you putting on West Coast Geeks Versus Nerds?

For a couple of reasons. One, it’s just a really fun show. It’s great to laugh at what you love the most, and this is definitely a great opportunity to do it. But also because it’s a great way to build a good, strong community. That’s kind of what I liked the most about the Halifax show. It really brought like-minded people together with a love of arguing over trivial facts.

What’s the audience like for the shows?

Anyone’s free to come out and join. But usually we get those like-minded, geeky individuals. We’ve had a really good range of types of people—guys, girls, anywhere from 19 to 60. It’s really open to a lot of people. A lot of times we encourage audience members to get involved and participate in the debates as well, by yelling random stuff at our debaters. We are definitely open to audience participation.

What’s the theme for the upcoming show?

The upcoming show is sort of Halloween-themed, so it’s called “The Monster Mash”. We’re pitting Frankenstein’s monster versus Wicked Witch of West for who’s the most misunderstood green monster, and we’re also pitching Blade versus Buffy for who’s the superior vampire slayer.

What are two icons that you’d like to see debated in a future show?

We have a nice, big list. There’s a couple from the Halifax show that have been done before that I’d like to see, like Darth Vader versus Spock for who’s the best second in command. But we also have a bunch that we haven’t done yet that I’d like to see, like Thor versus He-Man. One I personally want to see, which might be a little too obscure, would be Popeye versus Aquaman. For some reason, that just strikes me as a fun time.

What’s the difference between a geek and a nerd?

That’s a good question and one that doesn’t really have a clear answer. It always seems to change depending on who you ask. If I had to give my best response it’d be, “There is none.” I think those are both terms that, maybe growing up, people have been called quite a bit. I like to take back those terms. For our purposes, it’s Group A and Group B. It just so happens to be “geeks” and “nerds”.

How long do you see this comedy series running for?

Our first season is going to be from September through to May. If that goes well, which so far it is, we’re going to be doing a second season. We’ll just keep going. If people want to see our show, we’ll be there to do it for them.

Every Friday, Geek Speak catches up with someone in Vancouver’s technology sector, video-game industry, or social-media scene. Who should we interview next? You can tell Stephen Hui on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.