Interview: Kevin Pereira's Coachella For Nerds Will Ravage LA On March 1

The host of G4's "Attack of The Show" talks about recruiting some famous friends to meet up at LeetUp.

Kevin Pereira's met a lot of really awesome nerds as co-host of G4's Attack of the Show. So when G4 founder Charles Hirschhorn approached him with the idea to throw a live event here in Los Angeles, Pereira knew he'd be able to pull together a worthy crew. He didn't disappoint; the bill for LeetUp, the nerdy carnival that Pereira's throwing with Hirschhorn and nerd-art collective iam8bit, is full of internet celebs like Felicia Day, Chris Hardwick and Canadian bacon-eaters Epic Meal Time.

It's set to be a night of music, games, technology, art, podcasts and geekery, where you can brush elbows and spill drinks on an eclectic mix of celebrities amid podcasts and panels. We're so excited that we just had to catch up with Pereira himself so he could explain exactly what's going on.

"It sounds insane. It sounds like we could never really pull this off," he told us. "I'm so excited for it, and I just can't believe that this thing has come together."

A Web Celeb Smorgasbord

Like we said, they've got quite a bit of talent on board. The hosts include Kevin Smith, Chris Hardwick, Greg Fitzsimmons, Doug Benson, Jimmy Pardo, Felicia Day, Alex Albrecht, Epic Meal Time, and Ask A Ninja. Basically, Pereira phoned a lot of friends and called in a lot of favors.

"It's an incredible story of the notion 'if you build it, they will come,'" he told us. "On Attack of the Show over the years, I've had the chance to meet so many amazing people, and so many amazing musicians, and artists and companies that are making products that are exciting and fun. So I literally just sort of shotgun-blasted them." Too much Call of Duty aside, it apparently worked.

They're Inspired

Pereira and the gang are pulling inspiration from all the right sources; "I hope to give 10% of what Comic-Con is, and E3 and CES, and Coachella is," he said. "And I think we're going to—you know, I hope and dream that we will deliver way more than that.

"I picked those events because they center around core things that my friends and I like to center around, and I think the audience of Attack of the Show likes to center around," he continued. "And if we can all get out together an extra night out of the month, out of the year, why not? You know? That sounds awesome to me. That would be such a joy."

 

Cats Cats Cats

When we asked what sort of reactions he's been noticing since the event was announced, Pereira admitted that there are ways he'd like to step up the festivities. For example: "I'd like to fill Club Nokia with a bunch of cats," he said. "Cats in outfits. That would be an amazing convention for me."

Besides more feline festivities, we asked, what else can we expect? Will Miss Felicia Day be repeating her cupcake-bobbing capers from the Spike TV Video Game Awards? "I'd rather see her kill Justin Bieber with a lightsaber," Pereira admitted. "Personally. You know, or dress up a cat. Again, I think there's going to be a huge cat following. I don't want to understate that. Bring your cats. It's probably highly against the health code and fire code, but you know, put them in a cage, put them in a purse, put them on your shoulder. Cats everywhere." Understatement appears to be the least of his problems.

It's A Damn Carnival

"It really is a party, a party that's crazy and eccentric," Pereira said. With live DJ sets, game and tech demos, live podcasts and more, we're expecting a true tech-age carnival. And Pereira knows they had better deliver; "We know if it's not up to snuff, we'll find out right away," he said. "We have a very connected audience, and we know that they're going to be honest with us and so we want to make sure that it's amazing for them.

"Either that, or it'll be my Daikatana." We sincerely hope not.

It May Well Be Coming To You

While it made the most sense to host the first LeetUp in LA, where Pereira and many of his cohorts are based, he said they've already had plenty of pleas for events in other cities. "This one is very LA-centric," he admitted. But "the idea from the start has always been: let's create something that we can take to places that don't always get a Comic-Con or an E3 or a CES. Let's bring this to other spots." He mentioned Chicago, New York, Miami and Detroit, though he also stressed that for the moment they're totally focused on making the first LeetUp as awesome as possible: "Fingers crossed, but we are really doing everything we can to make sure it's amazing."

Head to Ticketmaster if you want to pick up some tickets (you can also head to the Nokia Theatre box office and other locations—more info on LeetUp's site). There are regular and VIP passes, the latter netting you access to the hosts and a fancy gift bag. Let us know what you think in the comments or on Twitter, and hopefully we'll see you there.

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