Who

Hodgman purveys his brand of nerdy, self-effacing humor in books, on the web, and on TV and radio. He's best known for his turn as the straight man on those Apple commercials.

Backstory

Hodgman grew up in Brookline, Mass. and attended Yale before joining Writers House, the literary agency founded by Al Zuckerman. His stint as a literary agent led to his popular McSweeney's advice column "Ask a Former Professional Literary Agent." Since then, Hodgman has covered the entire media spectrum: He's made radio appearances as a contributor to NPR's This American Life, had his short fiction published in the Paris Review, served as humor editor of the New York Times magazine, and hosted a popular reading series at Williamsburg bar Galapagos called The Little Gray Book Lectures. In 2005, he published his first book, The Areas of my Expertise, which he billed as "a compendium of complete world knowledge." Another "fake trivia" book entitled More Information than You Require is in the works.

On screen

In 2006, Hodgman began popping up regularly on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart as the show's "Resident Expert," a gig he was offered after appearing as a guest to plug his book. He became an even more familiar face to TV viewers later that year, when he was cast in Apple's "Get a Mac" commercial as the suited, uptight PC to actor Justin Long's cool, hoodie-and-jeans-wearing Mac. For the record, though, Hodgman is a Mac user.

Personal

Hodgman lives in Park Slope with his wife (and high school sweetheart) Katherine and their two children. They have a summer home in Massachusetts.