What a silly question! You may as well ask me if I like whiskey more than kittens. They are different things and serve different purposes.

I guess I don’t really know how to answer this! Making friends with the Protomen is not really any different from making friends with anyone else. If it’s advice you’re looking for, I guess all I can say is go to shows and don’t be a dick.

This is a popular question. I’m just going to repeat the advice I gave last time: go to shows and don’t be a dick.

And Gambo’s addition: “Leave the creep factor at the door, don’t try to sleep with any of us, and come prepared with some good handjob jokes. Also, buying us drinks helps.”

Thanks! I should make clear though that I don’t expect everyone I’m friends with to skip PAX. It’s no longer the right event for me, but for people I know and love it might still be fun, or professionally necessary, or a chance to educate.

Cutting ties with Penny Arcade had basically no consequences for me, because I don’t work in the gaming industry and I’m not friends with (very many) assholes. But that’s certainly not true for everyone.

This is sort of an odd question, if you think about it. How does anyone get to be friends with anyone? I suppose people become friends, generally, by spending time in each other’s company and enjoying the experience. Perhaps also by having interests in common and compatible personalities. I think the same is true in this case.

I’m a fan of NY Adorned. They definitely aren’t the cheapest option for body mods in NYC, but I think they’re worth it. In addition to my tattoos (the new one plus my first one, by Brad Stevens), they’ve helped me out with a troubled labret piercing and that was a good experience as well.

The Protomen tattoo you’re referring to was done by Bart Bingham, and I think he’s great. He was referred to me for his skill in detail work, and I appreciated the care and attention to detail he showed throughout the process.

I spent a long time thinking about what I should answer for this one! Between the robot sleepovers at my place in Brooklyn, the ridiculous hotel parties at conventions, the neverending load-in and backstage shenanigans, and all the other crazy shit we have been through together, I have plenty of stories. But I think for the most part they’re the kind of thing that should stay private. The robots feel pretty strongly about keeping their real lives & stage lives separate, so I don’t want to contribute to screwing that up.

I will share one little anecdote, though. At Nerdapalooza 2011, probably late on Sunday night after the second Protomen show when everyone was pretty beat from three straight days of concerts & parties, I was chilling in my hotel suite with some of my friends. It’s possible I was a little bit intoxicated and way more wrapped up in whatever movie was on than I would normally be. Eventually I became aware that I was hearing singing from outside my room, and that it was growing louder. I finally opened the door to see what was happening and realized it was approximately 60% of the band, serenading my drunk-ass self with My Girl from the hotel hallway. Then we all ate pizza and traded backrubs and it was a perfect end to a perfect weekend.

So that’s your fun story; I hope it was sufficiently fun.

It’s not so much of an inside joke as a reference to the fact that I enable band shenanigans by providing booze and food and a place to sleep whenever possible. There is more info in this clip if you care to listen to it.