To me, Nardwuar is one of the most incredible interviewers, I don’t think people realise he’s as skilled as he is. His interviews are consistently great, there’s not a single person that can say that they’ve watched a Nardwuar interview and didn’t gain some kind of insight regarding the artist he’s interviewing, or even just about the history of music.

What makes him so special is not the subject he interviews – though they always artists I’m a big fan of – it’s that he reveals a real depth to the artists he’s in conversation with. He taps into the music fan within each artist, so you can see that above all else, they adore music.

I don’t think this aspect of interviewing is focused on enough, it’s mostly generic questions or digging for clickbait quotes. Nardwuar is definitely one of the few interviewers that humanises the artists he talks to, making you see that before everything else, they create music for the love of it.

Another part of Nardwuar’s style is the way he gives his interviewees one-off gifts that tie into their favourite artists, a song they’ve sampled or even a CD they grew up on. I think that plays a huge part in why he’s so consistent, the fact that he goes so deeply into his research, finding actual physicals of songs that are so rare. It highlights just how seriously he takes his job.

I have a lot of favourite Nardwuar interviews, but my personal best has to be his chat with Charlie Murphy – R.I.P. – in which Charlie explains how he got the CB4 role by putting a loaded gun to Chris Rocks head!

In terms of my career interviewing artists, one piece of Nardwuar advice that stayed with me came via a T.E.D talk that he did, when he was asked, “Do you still get nervous?” He responded, “I still get nervous after doing interviews for thirty years, if I’m no longer getting nervous, I should wonder if I should even still be doing the job.”

I’d never thought of it like that but it’s an interesting idea. Someone asked me the same question last week after I did a live Q + A with SZA and I told them what Nardwuar said. That statement encourages me to keep exploring the uncomfortable…

Here are some classic Narwdwuar interviews that are definitely worth checking out.