Q & A With Andrew W.K.: "A Role Model for Fun"

"I never thought I would be a role model for anything. But a role model for fun, I can do that," says musician Andrew W.K., who has been called "the great unwashed rock star" and "the great god of partying"since he first hit the charts with the release of his 2001 album "I Get Wet." That record featured the anthemic tunes "Party Hard," "We Want Fun," and "Fun Night." Rolling Stone praised the album as "the loudest and funniest metal you've heard in ages" and Allmusic.com pronounced that "resistance to its hard-partying charms is futile."

Born in 1979 and raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Andrew W.K. has also delighted a generation of children as the host of "Destroy Build Destroy," a live-action Cartoon Network series in which teams of kids compete for the right to blow up each others’ creations. Of the popular and sometimes controversial show, Andrew W.K. says, "Isn't this great that we're using weaponry purely for fun? Just for the spectacle, like a fireworks show. Now that was very offensive and frightening to other people. But certainly none of the kids, they thought that was awesome. Because you can have fun blowing something up, and it doesn't have to be violent."

He's a regular on Fox News’ "Red Eye with Greg Gutfield" and is known to show up on channels ranging from MTV to CNN to Glenn Beck's The Blaze. "Every once in a while someone will say, what are you doing on there," explains Andrew W.K. "And I say, Oh I was invited. And that usually ends the conversation. I go where I’m invited. [It's] very easy to go and hang out with someone even if you don’t agree on every single thing."

He's also a motivational speaker, and through his weekly "Ask Andrew W.K." column in the Village Voice, arguably the greatest advice columnist working in the U.S. today.

Reason TV's Nick Gillespie sat down to talk with Andrew W.K. about how his struggle with depression led to his passion for partying (2:23), why the prospect of "blowing up the school bus" can be thrilling and cathartic for a kid (4:23), how he soldiered through the red tape of New York City's regulatory regime to open the concert and dance venue Santos Party House (6:54), his book-in-progress, "The Party Bible" (9:59), the sage wisdom he doles out in his advice columns (17:00), the politics of partying (25:51), his new kids show on Maker.tv, "Meet Me At The Reck" (28:20), and his unabashed and unapologetic embrace of fun and libertine abandon.

About 30 minutes.

Interview by Gillespie. Produced by Anthony L. Fisher. Camera by Jim Epstein and Fisher.

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