Comedian Chris Hardwick‘s new stand-up special, Funcomfortable, is a hilariously honest portrait of some of the most awkward aspects of the Nerdist founder’s life. Among the many subjects it covers–which the host of every-popular-television-program-that-needs-a-host talked to Uproxx about this week–is the fact that he lost his virginity to a blow-up doll, which stands out above the rest. It’s one of Funcomfortable‘s best bits, so of course Jimmy Kimmel and the crew at Jimmy Kimmel Live decided to tease Hardwick about his post-coital admission during the comic’s appearance on Thursday’s episode.
“We send out a little blurb to our staff about the guests each day,” Kimmel explained while trying not to laugh. “This was the blurb about you today, and it’s referenced in your special.”
“This is the one fact that they’ve chosen to share about you,” Kimmel continued while the audience laughed and cheered. Hardwick broke in with a semi-serious question about whether or not his amorous evening with the sex toy even counted, and things got real.
HARDWICK: Does that count?
KIMMEL: I don’t think it does.
HARDWICK: I feel like it does.
Several “dudes” in the studio audience agreed with Hardwick, which the comedian acknowledged. Humor aside, he talked about fellow performer Mike Birbiglia being the inspiration for Funcomfortable‘s approach, which was to talk about the most uncomfortable and intensely personal things he could think of.
So Kimmel and his staff decided to do what any good host would do and help Hardwick reconnect with the blow-up doll. “Emily,” as the latter jokingly called her, had “put on a few pounds” since their last meeting. But when the grotesquely shaped and dressed sex toy came out on stage, Hardwick graciously welcomed her with a big sloppy kiss on the mouth hole.
We’re pretty sure Lydia Hearst, Hardwick’s fiance and great-granddaughter of William Randolph Hearst, doesn’t mind her fiance’s televised infidelity with an inanimate object. Besides, as the comic confessed to Kimmel earlier in the interview, the love of his life “didn’t grow up like a mortal.”
