Template:Did you know nominations/Nick Swardson

The following discussion is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Miyagawa (talk) 22:18, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

Nick Swardson

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... that comedian Nick Swardson (pictured) first performed stand-up comedy at the age of 18 "as a goof" and was selected to perform at the US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado just 2 years later?

Reviewed: Wagner Dream
Comment: 5x expansion. To assist the reviewer with the refs:

The "goof" statement is found in The Portland Mercury article
The fact that he was 18 was referenced in both the Comedy Central press release titled "Six-Episode Series Starring Nick Swardson Will Premiere In 2010", as well as in the interview for Splitsider.
The fact that he was 20 when he went to the comedy festival is mentioned in the New York Times article "The Unfunny Business Of Making the Right People (TV Producers) Laugh"

Created/expanded by Marchije (talk). Self nom at 16:48, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for pointing out where the sources of the hook are. I verify that this is correct and this is a 5x expansion, the pic is free and shows up well at this size, the article is thoroughly sourced, etc. There's a citation needed tag on his name, that needs to be addressed. Also, one line of the prose seems to skate on the NPOV/WTW line: "A mischievous student who struggled with alcohol and drugs, Swardson was expelled from school on four occasions and was also enrolled in a rehab program." What is meant by "mischievous"? And the "struggles"? Please rewrite that line to better conform with policy. – Muboshgu (talk) 20:05, 22 February 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for reviewing the article. Perhaps the ambiguity stems from an attempt to provide a high level overview of what is stated in the referenced interview. As per the text in the referenced article:

BEING FUNNY WASN'T always an asset, not at St. Paul Central High, where outrageousness—not to mention early troubles with drugs and booze—kept a young Swardson in perpetual trouble.

"I was expelled from high school four times," he recounts. "Once for pulling fire alarms to go out and smoke, another for smoking weed in school, one for inadvertent sexual harassment of a substitute teacher, and the other one for fighting."

...Then the article goes on to recount the prank that was construed as sexual harassment and the fact that he went to rehab.

I figured the fact the article states that Swardson used drugs and alcohol in high-school and went into rehab before the age of 19 indicated that he struggled with those substances. I also thought that the information about what got him expelled several times would constitute as mischievousness. However I am more than open to suggestions on rephrasing that paragraph. Do you think it needs more detail to justify the "struggles" and "mischievous" statements? Marchije•^speak/_peek 13:32, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

I hadn't read the source in question, so I didn't know he went to rehab. That's a NPOV fact that's backed up by the source, which gives more context to his "struggles" with drugs, so I believe that would be a big improvement. As for the "mischievous" bit, that can be expanded to say that he was expelled for pranks and other undesirable behavior.
Well done expansion, by the way. This could pass GA. – Muboshgu (talk) 15:18, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for the compliment. It is much appreciated. 8-)

I've tweaked the sentence a bit, I added the reasons for his 4 expulsions as evidence of his mischievousness; a couple of the infractions are actually related to his drug use, so I do think it sounds better now. I have however left the "struggle" comment as-is since, if I'm not mistaken, you are in agreement that the fact he went to rehab is evidence of that he did struggle with alcohol and drugs (as is the fact he was expelled from school for smoking marijuana which is now mentioned in the wiki article). I hope it's okay now.

By the way, I've addressed my reasoning for the "citation needed" tag on his full name on the article's talk page. I actually added the tag myself. I have no problem changing his name in the opening paragraph to simply read "Nick Swardson" if you think it needs to be changed.

Cheers. Marchije•^speak/_peek 19:18, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

I see. A Google search on his (alleged) full name comes up with all sorts of hits, but it's not clear how many of them are straight copied from Wikipedia. For the sake of passing this DYK, I simply removed it. Maybe a deeper search can find verification of his middle name. As for keeping in the words "struggle" and "mischievous", I don't have a major problem with it for this purpose, especially with your tweaks, but a GA reviewer might disagree with its use entirely. Good to go for DYK. – Muboshgu (talk) 20:15, 23 February 2012 (UTC)