At Comic-Con 2012, we sat down with nerd extraordinaire Zachary Levi, best known for portraying the computer-whiz title character on NBC's Chuck and as the brain behind The Nerd Machine and Nerd HQ, a hit hot spot of the latest two hyped conventions -- and the place from which we were streaming live!
Levi's motivation behind fueling Nerd HQ has been all about the fans.
"I believe that as an entertainer, you're only as good as your audience and the people who support you," he says. "Every year we've gotten so much love at Comic-Con when we were doing Chuck panels, but we'd have a moderated panel for 50 minutes and then five minutes left over for fans. I just never really felt like that was right."
Taking matters into his own hands, Levi carved out a space to set up small and intimate panels, each a full hour of Q&A with the fans.
"There's not a bad seat in the house. It's $20 a seat and every penny goes to charity," Levi says. Last year, they raised $40,000 and this year, they're well on their way to $100,000.
As a part of the event, Levi organized two back-to-back Chuck reunion panels, hinting that he'd be psyched for the possibility of a Chuck movie.
Current trends aside, has Levi always considered himself a nerd? "Absolutely," he's quick to say. "I get a lot that people have a hard time believing that I'm a nerd... but I grew up with a Nintendo controller in my hand."
Continue leading the way, Zach!
Check out more about The Nerd Machine, the new web series Trailer Park Heroes, and follow Zachary Levi on Twitter.
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