For as long as I can remember, when I’ve said “Hey, I’m doing an event in this place, and I’d love for you to come,” the Internet has said some version of “come to my place and do an event here”.
On Wednesday, from 5pm to 6pm PDT, I will have a mental health conversation with Katrina DeBonis, MD. Dr. DeBonis is Associate Health Science Clinical Professor, Director of Residence Education in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, and Medical Director of UCLA Student Behavioral Health Services UCLA Health. (I know right? She’s fancy!) Our conversation is part of a series sponsored by The Friends of the Semel Institute for neuroscience and human behavior at UCLA to discuss mental health, childhood trauma survival, and my book Still Just A Geek.
This conversation is open to everyone in the world, for free. All you need to do is register, and show up Wednesday.
If you’ve ever wanted to hear me speak in public, here is your incredibly easy chance! I hope you’ll join us.
I’ve been doing press to promote Still Just A Geek for a little over a month, now. I’ll be honest: I’m getting tired of the sound of my own voice. I’m starting to feel a bit of fatigue, and I have to remind myself that each person I’m talking to is hearing this stuff for the first time, and so is their audience.
I’ve felt awkward about linking to all the press, because it’s a lot. But they are all really good conversations that I’m happy to share, when I can get out of my own way and stop worrying so much about … everything.
This is an incomplete collection of press I’ve done, as of May 12, collected in one place. If I’ve forgotten something, just leave a comment and I’ll update.
Content warning: in nearly every one of these interviews, I discuss child abuse and exploitation.
Wil Wheaton talks with me about his fatherhood journey. We chat about being a step-dad and therelationship he has with his sons. Wil shares some of the values he looked to instill into his sons as they were growing up. He also talks about how he wanted to make sure he didn’t act like his parents and not make the same mistakes they did. After that we talk about his book, Still Just a Geek: An Annotated Memoir and how recording the audiobook version was life-changing for him. We even talk about on comic-con moment that stuck with me for years on the advice he gave someone about being a geek. Lastly, we finish the interview off with the Fatherhood Quick Five.
Wil Wheaton is one of the most genuine human beings I’ve had the pleasure of speaking with. Incredibly thoughtful, funny, introspective and kind we take a deep dive into his life as a childhood actor, what lead him to his new book, “Still Just A Geek” two decades after his first book and how he’s evolved as a person in between, reliving past traumas, the craft of acting, friendships he’s made along the way, embracing nerd culture and reveling in its current state of “coolness”, The Big Bang Theory, His Trek Family, a touching moment he shared with his Stand By Me co-star Jerry O’Connell, board games, video games, Robin Williams, and not being afraid to get emotional as men. Enjoy!
“I have spent an incredible amount of time thinking: what would be going on in Wesley Crusher’s universe?” Wheaton tells Inverse. “And for years, I have thought space and time and thought are not disconnected the way people think they are. I mean, that’s just a Time Lord [from Doctor Who] with more steps.”
Game over, Moon Pie! Wil Wheaton is our guest this week. He’s stopping by to talk with us about his book -“Still Just a Geek” an annotated release of his 2004 book – “Just a Geek”. Wil also talks with us about the lessons learned in life and how working on this book helped him confront some of the issues that he was facing, head on. We talk about advice he has for others who are enduring some of the same things, and what they may be able to do to move forward in life. But we are all geeks, and so of course there is some Star Trek, Big Bang Theory and Role Playing Games talk as well. We talk about others roles and his book narration as well.
What would Wesley Crusher think if he discovered The Big Bang Theory?
Wil Wheaton: Do you mean the theory or the TV show?
The TV series.
Wil Wheaton: That’s an interesting question. I don’t know if he would get the humor because Wesley’s from the 23rd century. We look back at humor from 300 years ago and some of it still works. But a lot of it is based on idiomatic language and cultural references that none of us could possibly understand. He would think, Oh, that’s interesting. There’s a guy there who looks an awful lot like me and they talk about me like I’m a real thing. That’s weird. I don’t understand any of these jokes. What’s Star Wars? I’m very confused. Who is this Iron Man? I’ve never heard of him. I don’t know what he wants.
Thank you. I look forward to reading your updated book.
Join us as Wil Wheaton, who had leading roles in “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and “The Big Bang Theory,” discusses revisiting his 2004 memoir “Just a Geek,” which he recently re-released as “Still Just a Geek.”
Every page is filled with footnotes and parenthetical comments talking to his younger self, and in many cases decrying his previous racism, homophobia, and misogyny. How did he manage to confront his younger self without dying of shame? Listen now to find out.
Just gonna jump in here really quick to point out that the comment about “previous racism” doesn’t make sense to me. I’ve never been racist, I am not racist, and I don’t know why the author asserts that in the description. I hope it’s just a rhetorical error that they’ll correct.
In his memoir, he opens up about his life, love, his battle with depression and about coming to grips with his past work, his career choices and his birth family. He also describes how he found fulfillment in the new phases of his career, and came to terms with a painful childhood.
‘The man who was my father wasn’t a dad to me at all,” Wheaton told me. “My mother made me her thing when I was a kid, and she used her thing to fill up the emptiness in her life that she didn’t get from anywhere else.”
Before writing his book, the dad of Ryan and Nolan Wheaton said he had to “unlearn the toxic, hurtful behaviors that had been modeled to me,” and therapy helped him deal with chronic depression, something he’s blogged about.
Wil Wheaton is best known for portraying Wesley Crusher on the science fiction TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation and Gordie Lachance in the film Stand by Me. He appeared regularly as a fictionalized version of himself on the sitcom The Big Bang Theory, and other television credits include Leverage, Eureka, The Outer Limits, Diagnosis: Murder, Criminal Minds, Supergirl and S.W.A.T. Wheaton has also worked as a voice actor in animation, video games and audiobooks.
On April 12, 2022, Still Just a Geek: An Annotated Memoir, was published as an updated version of Wheaton’s 2004 memoir, Just a Geek: Unflinchingly Honest Tales of the Search for Life, Love and Fulfillment Beyond the Starship Enterprise. In Still Just a Geek, the celebrated actor, personality and all-around nerd, reexamines one of the most interesting lives in Hollywood and fandom.
The actor/author was disappointed by the sexism and insensitivity of his 2004 memoir ‘Just a Geek,’ so he decided to revise it. He talks to MEL about getting a do-over, living with the anger of how his parents mistreated him and why he still stands with Chris Hardwick
There’s no place like Zenescope! This month, on Volume 2, Episode 5 of Everything Zen, we take the yellow brick road to OZ and dig deep into Dorothy’s adventures with creator, Jenna Lyn Wright. Plus, the wonderful WIL WHEATON stops by to talk about Star Trek and all things geek in anticipation of his latest book, STILL JUST A GEEK. We’ve also got the Zenescope Calendar of Events, Las Vegas Fun Facts, and a bevvy of OZ prizes! Length: 68 Minutes.
Actor, personality, and all-around nerd, Wil Wheaton beams up to the show to discuss his new book, “Still Just a Geek: An Annotated Memoir.“
During the interview, we cover a lot of Wil’s amazing career. Wil shares stories from his time starring in Stand By Me, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and The Big Bang Theory. We also discuss The Wil Wheaton Project, The Ready Room, The Family Guy TNG reunion, and Tabletop.
Wil shares one of his favorite moments while on The Big Bang Theory and shares an amazing story about William Shatner from that episode. We also discuss Wil’s story of the first time he met William Shatner on the set of Star Trek V.
We also discuss Wil’s love of Sharknado (and how his tweets helped launch it into infamy) and his guest spot in Sharknado 2 where tragically he was eaten by a shark.
We end by discussing the meta experience of narrating the book Ready Player One (which references Wil Wheaton).
Enjoy my conversation with evil Wil Wheaton, Gordie Lachance, and Wesley Crusher.
Rob, Joe, and Nick had the incredible honor of sitting down and talking with Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher-STNG). In an interview spanning a variety of subjects from mental health, pop culture, pizza, and everything in between.
On June 24, 2004, my author’s copies of Just A Geek arrived. According to the metadata, I picked the first box up at 8:32pm. What a weirdly granular bit of information to have.
There’s an essay in Still Just A Geek called “Do something kind for future you.” When I was the guy in these pictures, I didn’t understand what that meant. I couldn’t think about future me, because present me needed everything I could give him just to survive.
But the guy in these pictures, who can’t believe he’s a real, published author, who going to spend way too time feeling like a failure, has no idea that he’s giving a gift to future him. He’s holding a Maurader’s Map that I will eventually use to find all the things that were deliberately kept from him, and me. And when I find them, and I tell his and my and our story, he becomes a New York Times bestselling author, because he isn’t alone.
I want the guy in this picture to know that I can remember everything he hopes for at this precise moment, how scared he is that it isn’t going to happen, and how much that prevents him from just enjoying it. I remember his pain, and how he blamed himself for all these things he couldn’t control. I need him to know that he’s going to be okay.
Buddy, you aren’t and weren’t and never were a failure. At ANYTHING. You are enough. You were always enough.
I’ve been doing these very long days of press and promotion for Still Just A Geek. It’s a lot, and it’s exhausting, but it’s awesome and I’m grateful for all of it. I haven’t had this much fun doing late nights followed by early mornings since I was in my 20s.
I’m also still doing Ready Room, so today is a day that featured me getting up at are you fucking serious o’clock, putting myself together for a webinar I was part of for Microsoft, then going straight to the set, where we did a couple episodes for Strange New Worlds (OH MY GOD I WANT TO TALK ABOUT STRANGE NEW WORLDS SO MUCH IT IS KILLING ME THAT I CAN’T).
I am so happy, y’all. I am content, I am grateful, I am proud of the work I have the privilege to do.
… and I am so physically and mentally exhausted. I feel like I’m going to cry.
I’m taking the rest of this day off for religious observance, and I really hope I can find a nap in there, somewhere.
After I posted that, Anne and I had lunch together, and then I went into my gameroom, where I could sit quietly and just … not do anything.
Some time passed. I’m not sure how much, but it was enough for me to start feeling sleepy. I leaned my head back, closed my eyes, and did one of those long exhales that starts in your shoulders and rolls down your body.
Then my phone rang.
Okay. In 2022, few things make me as suspicious as my phone ringing. Nine in ten times, it’s bullshit. This time, I saw that it was my lit agent.
“Hello?”
“Do you have a minute to talk?”
“I do.”
“Okay. I am connecting you to a conference call.”
Over the next thirty or so seconds, literally everyone at my publisher announced themselves. Then my manger announced himself.
Oh fuck. I thought. I’m in big trouble. I dont’ know what I said or did, but I must have REALLY fucked up.
Yeah, I heard it correctly. Still Just A Geek, one week after publication, is on THREE bestselling lists. OMG.
I thanked everyone for being part of this. It’s a blur, but I think I said something like, “it’s important to me that everyone who can hear my voice right now knows how grateful I am for your support and for everything you’ve done to help me get here. I know this isn’t the first time for you, but it is for me and I just don’t know what else to say or to feel.”
I called Anne and told her. Then I called my sister and told her. Then I texted my TNG family and told them. Then I walked around in a circle for what felt like an hour while I tried to process what this all means. I’m still working on putting it all together.
When I wrote Just A Geek in 2004, I knew it wasn’t ever going to chart, but I still held out hope, you know? Like, maybe if this book charts, it will Prove To Everyone and so forth. So there was this disappointment baked in from the very beginning that was identical to the disappointment I allowed to infect everything I did back then. Feeling like you aren’t ever going to be good enough for your dad will do that to you.
So when I wrote and did all the work for Still Just A Geek, I redefined my expectations, and my conditions for success.
I decided that I woudn’t have any expectations, at all. I just hoped that we would somehow communicate to anyone who would be interested in my story that it existed. I wasn’t going to let sales or reviews define for me whether it was successful or not. Just getting to tell my story was enough for me.
But I’m not gonna lie: I’ve been joyfully walking around for about 18 hours, obnoxiously reminding Anne and Marlowe that they now live with a New York Times bestselling author. I have every intention in the world of signing my friends’ cards and stuff, “New York Times Bestselling Author, Wil.”
This is objectively cool and exciting. It is a big deal. I get to update my bio, and for the rest of my life I get to carry this achievement. I love that, and I love that this means my chances of having another book published went up. But more than anything, I love that this can be amazing, and wonderful, and exciting, and such a beautiful gift, without it affecting how I fundamentally feel about myself or my work. I was already proud of the work, and grateful I was supported while I did it, and I am so incredibly happy that I didn’t need this to happen to get there.
When I turned in the final draft, what feels like forever ago, I wrote myself a note that says, in part, “Whatever is going to happen when this is published has already happened. You just haven’t observed the results. What is important and what matters is everything you did to get here. Don’t fall into the trap of letting someone else’s definition of success affect how you feel about your work. No matter what is in our future, we did something special that nobody can take away from us.”
I am so glad that past me consistently looks out for future me. It’s such good advice! I love that guy.
Nerds, I have to be honest with you. I suck at self-promotion. There was a time in my life when I was reasonably good at it, but now I’m just terrible.
My memoir, Still Just A Geek, is going to be released in like 34 days. Today, I will finish the audiobook narration. I have lots and lots to say about it, and I will when I have time to catch my breath and reflect.
Until then, though, I wanted everyone to know about this thing we’re offering everyone who has pre-ordered (or pre-orders in the next 33ish days) the book, as posted on my Facebook before the weekend:
When you pre-order (or if you have already pre-ordered) Still Just A Geek, you can get an early audio chapter of my book. All you do is go to this link, and fill out the form. Something something something then you get it like magic!
Okay, self-promo completed, as long as I have your attention, I wanted to share some stuff. I think most of you know that I’ve been narrating Still Just A Geek for audio two weeks. I’ve been given permission to add in occasional thoughts as they occur to me, and because I am working with my favorite director in the industry, who I trust implicitly, I can be as vulnerable as the material deserves and in places demands. I’m emotionally wrung out, and physically exhausted, so I know that I am leaving everything in the booth, putting everything I am capable of putting into this narration.
Still, we (the director and I) felt like the audiobook needed its own introduction, so I wrote one yesterday that I literally just now realized is kind of a good pitch for the audiobook, if someone is on the fence about it. Here it is:
Hey nerds! This introduction is specifically for this audiobook. There are a few things I want you to know before we get started that are obvious to readers, but not to listeners. The first half of this book is my 2004 memoir, Just A Geek. All the material in that book is from around 2000 to about 2004, when I was in my late twenties. The second half is essays and speeches I’ve written in the last handful of years. If I did this right, you will hopefully see how I grew and changed as a person, and as a writer.
I’ve heavily annotated and reflected on who I was and what I wrote in the early aughts. In the print version of this book, it’s very easy to see where almost-50 me is talking about the experiences of almost-30 me. In audio, I suspect it will present a challenge, at least at first. I’ve worked to lower my voice and clearly indicate when 2022 me is speaking, and not 2002 me. When I feel that isn’t clear enough, I’m just going to tell you that we’re going into footnotes.
I’ve worked with this director and this studio for over a decade, and this is unlike anything we have ever done together. Industry professionals tell me this is kind of a new thing for audio memoirs, and I wanted to offer a suggestion that may help ease you into the whole experience.
I suspect it will help if you imagine that we are sitting in a room together, and I am just telling you my story. I’m reading to you from the book I wrote 20 years ago, occasionally looking up to reflect on it. I’ve adopted a more conversational tone, then, for this narration than I do when I’m narrating someone else’s words. This is a conversation. It isn’t a performance.
I’m actually writing this introduction the day before I finish recording the book. I’ve been working on it for two weeks, saying most of it out loud for the first time in 20 years. It turns out that saying it all out loud woke up stuff in me that stayed asleep when I was writing it, and while I narrated it, I had additional thoughts I wanted to add, additional context or whatever which came up that wasn’t there until it was. You can identify this entirely free bonus content because it is usually preceeded by something like, “this is just for this edition” or “here’s something I’d forgotten until just now,” and so on. I make a joke a couple times about how I’m going to annotate the annotations in another 20 years, but it turns out I have already done that.
There are also a few footnotes from the print edition that I cut, because they really only work in print, and are almost entirely jokes that I don’t think you’re going to miss. But, you know, full disclosure and all that.
Finally, a content warning. I talk a lot about my traumatic childhood. I talk about experiencing abuse, neglect, and exploitation. A lot of that was incredibly hard for me to read, much more challenging than it was to write. I need you to know that this book gets raw, vulnerable, and intense in a few places. If any of that sounds like it could be difficult for you, I want you to know ahead of time, so you can be prepared.
We’re going to spend a little over 20 hours together, if you stick with me to the end. I want you to know how grateful I am that you are giving me so much of your time, that you are listening to my story. You’re going to hear about a son who just wanted to be seen and heard, from the father that he grew up to be; a father who will do his best to give that kid, that teenager, that struggling twenty-something the voice he never had. On behalf of every person I’ve been at every stage of my life, I want to say thank you, from all of us for listening.
I feel like the audiobook will be something special. At least, it will be to me, and if anyone else feels the same way, that makes me really happy.
