Northern Exposure: Our Chat With Nolan North

@Rewcastle: And you say Patrick is immature...

@CptBedlam said:

@bcjohnnie said:

@Baillie said:

Wow, Patrick really is fucking annoying.

Yeah... I have always been kind of annoyed by Patrick on-screen, but he's especially bad in this video, trying to be funny all of the time and just babbling all over this interview. I'm not sure why they thought it necessary to put him on the couch.

Unfortunately, I'm in the same boat. I really don't want to be a hater but I just can't force myself to like Patrick - he is the kind of yerk kid that I never liked back in school. I'm kind of bummed out he is all over the site now. I just don't get the same friendly vibe from Giantbomb as I used to. :(

I honestly think people defending Patricks are just not aware of normal social graces. I don't want to act high and mighty, but watch the last three minutes of this interview and tell me Patrick was being professional. I don't think you should talk to anybody like that who you don't have a long standing personal relationship with.

"I just don't get the same friendly vibe from Giantbomb as I used to" -- This. The promise of this site was great, the early years were too, but now I feel like 50% of the comments are people defending or angry at Patrick and 25% of the news stories (and blog posts disguised as news, ugh) aren't treated with the required due diligence. I'm not looking for the New York Times of video games in tone and content, but a little better than what we're getting (and paying for!) would be nice.

More Jeff on Quick Looks, more Brad dying in games (serious!), more Ryan writing reviews (the man knows words) and more Vinny everywhere. Put Alex on news, at least his cynical nature will keep it accurate.

Just listened to the bombcast, I was in the wrong here. Apparently Nolan was a cool guy, and didn't mind the roughhousing. So y'all should chill the eff out.

Nolan North is hillarious. So awesome interview. Poor Ryan looked so nervous at the start.

Apparently, Nolan North was saying some crazy shit so patrick calling him an asshole is just following on that. But let's give Patrick some slack. He is just trying to deal with being star struck. If Nolan North came into my studio or place of work, I would be on my knees licking his balls right now.

Seriously guys, just enjoy Nolan North's momentous appearance on Giant Bomb. Sure it could have been better but you can nitpick at anything. Patrick had an off day, give him some slack.

Great fun interview, made my day seeing a GB Noland North interview

I dunno what everyone's complaining about. That was an excellent interview!

Are there really 800 comments bitching about Patrick? Good lord. Way to take an awesome feature and shit all over it for no reason, guys.

I really hope that Nolan North strolls into the GB office some more in the future, because this was simply delightful.

Wow, a lot of these comments are pretty disgusting. Patrick is fine, the interview was great. As far as I'm aware Patrick is the only one here who studied journalism so maybe you should trust that he actually knows more about interviewing than you do. But fuck, the people of the internet can't stop themselves from hating someone, and I can't stop myself from hating them.

Really loved the shout out to Yuri Lowenthal. Definitely one of the best in the business. Jerry Jewell is also one of my personal favorites.

"We put him down..." HA!

Finally! The dream of Nolan North in the bomb shelter has been realized! Now if we can only find a way to get J Allard down there somehow.

Nolan North interviews are serious business.

Also, I bought the book today from Amazon.

Holy Shit. Nolan North has All of the charisma.

Everyone bitching just need to keep in mind these are grown men. Just let them do what the fuck they want to.

You know, Cliffy said a while back that the video game business needs more recognizable faces and names and I think Nolan is a good candidate for that role. He's funny while being professional. Not to mention he's really good at what he does.

@themangalist said:

@SurplusGamer said:

There's such a thing as confirmation bias and I think a lot of people are hunting for reasons to justify their Patrick hate. I was honestly baffled when I looked at why there were so many comments on this, as when I watched it it was so abundantly clear that Patrick and Nolan were play-fighting through pretty much the whole thing, especially the end. The way that he said 'asshole' was in an obvious exaggerated and false way, and Nolan's 'that happened' reaction to camera was just as obviously meant in fun. Jeez. Call off the dogs.

Also, just bear in mind that Nolan North didn't just appear on the couch, do an interview, disappear again. He'd likely been visiting a short while before hand, more than enough time for everyone to get comfortable, which the podcast seems to bear out.

It's not confirmation bias. It's just yet another case to prove we don't like him. If you think the hate is pure prejudice in which we don't like anyone other than the main crew, then you are wrong. I'll save the personal attacks.

@Branthog said:

The interview was fine. I don't see what everyone is freaking out about. North is a professional and handled everything extremely well. The only reason I can see for picking on some of the Patrick weirdness is that you would normally expect something different from a person that people like to tout as "one of the only real journalists in gaming". But, this is just a casual chat, for fuck's sake. And in that context, everyone had a great rapport. Very good natured interview.

Tell if this is some sort of cultural difference or something, I do think it's not just "three dudes chilling in the basement". You have to admit the atmosphere in the room was not so harmonic as you guys make it seem like. Not saying it is weird and awkward all the time, but you can tell this "informal" interview is not working out flawlessly. Nolan North is a factor. He is a professional voice actor, a family man, and not an avid gamer. He may be fun but you can tell he is serious about the many things said in the interview. You don't have to, but you should respect the man even if he sounds so chill and approachable. That includes you mind your language and NOT interrupting him. You can tell Nolan doesn't look at Patrick much, and very often struggling to talk over his interruptions. Sure he tries to be cool about it, but I can't say for ALL professionals interviewed. A lot demands respect and can be easily offended. These are the type of interviews that's the hardest to conduct. Informal interviews. You need to play cool, be funny and chill, so the interviewee feels at home to share more in-depth information with you, jokingly or no. You always have to show a certain degree of respect for the interviewee, because you don't really know him/her really well, and even if you do, there are always things you might not know that'd tick them off. What makes Giantbomb so different from other sites is that they try to conduct this type of interviews. Jeff could pull it off, Ryan can pull it off, Patrick could not.The problem isn't Patrick's lame joke, it's his overall attitude. I know it's easy to lose your guard and say something totally cross-the-line, but that's what makes Jeff and Ryan more professional than Patrick. A lot of time he just comes off as being rude. Patrick is a great columnist/writer sure, but he still has long ways to go being an interviewer. He needs to learn to take a back seat because Nolan is the spotlight here, not him.

You're right.

@themangalist: Holy shit. What are you, 12? 13? What in the world gives makes you think you have any idea how to give a better interview than the Giant Bomb crew? Holy shit.

@SurplusGamer said:

There's such a thing as confirmation bias and I think a lot of people are hunting for reasons to justify their Patrick hate. I was honestly baffled when I looked at why there were so many comments on this, as when I watched it it was so abundantly clear that Patrick and Nolan were play-fighting through pretty much the whole thing, especially the end. The way that he said 'asshole' was in an obvious exaggerated and false way, and Nolan's 'that happened' reaction to camera was just as obviously meant in fun. Jeez. Call off the dogs.

Also, just bear in mind that Nolan North didn't just appear on the couch, do an interview, disappear again. He'd likely been visiting a short while before hand, more than enough time for everyone to get comfortable, which the podcast seems to bear out.

It's not confirmation bias. It's just yet another case to prove we don't like him. If you think the hate is pure prejudice in which we don't like anyone other than the main crew, then you are wrong. I'll save the personal attacks.

Your "case to prove" just got blown out of the water. Patrick and North were playing up for the cameras. YOu know that's what he's trying to explain to you. He said nothing even close to claiming that you hate Patrick for not being on the "OG crew" or whatever bullshit you have cooked up in your head. Turn off your PC, and GO OUTSIDE for once in your life.

Hoping for a Jennifer Hale and Troy Baker interview in the future...also Sir North on a podcast would be dope

There's such a thing as confirmation bias and I think a lot of people are hunting for reasons to justify their Patrick hate. I was honestly baffled when I looked at why there were so many comments on this, as when I watched it it was so abundantly clear that Patrick and Nolan were play-fighting through pretty much the whole thing, especially the end. The way that he said 'asshole' was in an obvious exaggerated and false way, and Nolan's 'that happened' reaction to camera was just as obviously meant in fun. Jeez. Call off the dogs.

Also, just bear in mind that Nolan North didn't just appear on the couch, do an interview, disappear again. He'd likely been visiting a short while before hand, more than enough time for everyone to get comfortable, which the podcast seems to bear out.

The interview was fine. I don't see what everyone is freaking out about. North is a professional and handled everything extremely well. The only reason I can see for picking on some of the Patrick weirdness is that you would normally expect something different from a person that people like to tout as "one of the only real journalists in gaming". But, this is just a casual chat, for fuck's sake. And in that context, everyone had a great rapport. Very good natured interview.

@JonBjork said:

@Zaxex said:

@Soulblitz said:

Seems like a ton of people simply didn't get the tone of this interview. I mean, seriously, Nolan is joking half the time in this video, and him and Patrick play off each other constantly. Do you really think that Nolan suddenly got offended and the video got weird when Patrick jokingly called him an asshole? What about when Nolan "insulted" him by saying that only adults were talking, and coming back at him with the cold hands and snide comments at the end?

It's all a joke and they all clearly had a good time. To echo a few others, it's starting to get a little annoying when people criticise all the staff in every video now. Whether it's people complaining about Brad not being the best video game player in the world, or the fact that Patrick is too annoying for them... seriously guys. Be happy with this quality content from a group of cool guys who love video games. None of the GB crew are perfect. Hell, nobody is, so stop bitching about every little thing they do "wrong" or just stop watching their content.

This. 100%.

Big +1

Yep. Now let's talk about Nolan North being pretty cool as was the interview.

What are people so unbelievably upset this? Awkward, really? It went fairly smooth overall, and it went like a dream after you listen to the Bombcast and realize they had barely any warning at all that Nolan North might stop by.

Whatever, the interview was great. This is probably the coolest inside-gaming related features I've ever witnessed outside of some of the GiantBomb E3 Ghetto Sit-Downs (tm).

*see this feature* Oh heeell yes!!!

This was really awesome and I was genuinely really interested to spend some quality time with Nolan North and see what he was like. I found him really funny (there were some great off-hand lines in there) andit was great to get a few snippets of him doing voices.

One of my favourite features Giant Bomb has ever done.

@TwoLines: I agree.

while it was a joke, it was attempted by someone who's mostly socially awkward to watch and unfunny. For everyone saying, people should back off on Patrick, I disagree., He's a chore to watch. I would've prefered if Jeff was there since,

1) he's actually funny and

2) he can rib someone without resorting to calling them an asshole, just because he isnt funny.

aside from that I enjoyed this interview and hope Nolan does more. The man is a class act

@RVonE said:

@Rewcastle: Is your poor attempt at snide cleverness going anywhere?

Is that it? Oh well, thank you and good night. I'll be here all week ;)

I cannot believe this amazing thing happened.

I enjoyed the interview! Hopefully we will see more videos like these!

ah this is the greatest interview. Good job Patrick and Ryan

and of course Nolan

Nolan North = Northern Exposure 
Troy Baker = In the Kitchen? 
 
EDIT: Man, people REALLY need to lay off Patrick. Seriously.

@H2Oyea: GOOD ONE!

@TwoLines: I agree.

while it was a joke, it was attempted by someone who's mostly socially awkward to watch and unfunny. For everyone saying, people should back off on Patrick, I disagree., He's a chore to watch. I would've prefered if Jeff was there since,

1) he's actually funny and

2) he can rib someone without resorting to calling them an asshole, just because he isnt funny.

aside from that I enjoyed this interview and hope Nolan does more. The man is a class act

@Rewcastle: Is your poor attempt at snide cleverness going anywhere?

@Babylonian said:

@Stubee said:

One question....why does a blind person want a voice actors book ?!

You realize that blind people can still hear, right?

Even crazier, about blind people: They have voices.

I know, I don't believe it either.

Patrick, just let them hate and watch the money pile up!

Also, Nolan North

@RVonE said:

@Rewcastle said:

@RVonE said:

@Rewcastle said:

Argh, Patrick... what the hell man, isn't it a school night or something?

Says the guy who is younger than Patrick.

Ohh a little profile stalking in order to find SOMEthing to reply back with? Nice goin + me being younger than patrick has zero to do with anything. Well done ;)

Maybe you forgot that you have a profile picture. Gleaning your picture is enough to see you're younger than Patrick.

And I'm sorry you feel that my reply has nothing to do with what you wrote. I guess that's what you get when your own remark has nothing to do with anything to begin with. I mean school night? That's the best you can come up with? SICK BURN, MAN!!

Please.

Hah, i love how you bring it up TWICE that i'm younger than him. Not only that, but your evidence is based purely visually. Why not do some facebook stalking or something if you really want to go for gold?

My original remark was to do with the fact patrick was acting like an immature jackass around one of the biggest celebrities Giantbomb has ever had. I really didn't think i'd need to lay it out for you like that, but there you go buddy. Now you understand my deep joke. In next weeks lesson we cover why that damned chicken crossed the road..

@Stubee said:

One question....why does a blind person want a voice actors book ?!

You realize that blind people can still hear, right?

This was fuuuuuuuucking amazing.

Brono wouldn't have said that.

I like the interview. I wish someone had asked him about his thoughts on the voice and acting work done for L.A. Noire and if he would be interested in doing something similar to it. I think he would have given some interesting incite, especially after completing that book.

"Don't be shy." Oh Nolan.

STEVE BLUM...Love that guy!

This is a great interview! Very cool guys, very cool.

Fuck, all I here is Nathan Drake. Its like hes not even a real person anymore, my mind is forever deluded.

Nerdgasm....! So excited!

That was tad awkward as pointed out already.

Hm, Nolan North is the biggest loser in the Northies ... That blew my mind!

@Nethlem:

Listen to the podcast then come back