"Are you talking to me? On my show? I don't think so!"
-Nate Shapiro, You Don't Know Jack
Nate Shapiro is a You Don't Know Jack host voiced by Harry Gottlieb. He was the original host of the first You Don't Know Jack and Tiger Electronics' Tabletop Version, but has been referenced in later games.
Appearances[]
You Don't Know Jack: Vol. 1[]
Nate Shapiro hosted the first installment of the You Don't Know Jack series. While he does have charm and snark, he is remarkably a lot more well adjusted than a lot of the future hosts added to the series, mostly due to Jellyvision still finding their footing. Following this, Nate would go on to be referenced in future installments while only hosting a select few other games in the series. Many of the staff that work behind the scenes on the show often talk about Nate in whispers, wondering what happened to him after he stopped hosting.
You Don't Know Jack: Vol. 2[]
He cameos in You Don't Know Jack: Vol. 2 as part of the greenroom chatter, where he has a phone call with Buzz Lippman talking about how people keep saying that they sound alike, where Nate comments that it's because they're cousins. This is later disproven with a following conversation between two staff members stating that they don't sound alike at all.
You Don't Know Jack Volume 4: The Ride[]
Nate reprises his role as host most notably the final section of You Don't Know Jack: The Ride. After Schmitty drops Buzz down the trapdoor, he laughs to himself, before getting dropped by Nate. He greets Helen, where she states that it's good to have him back (contrasting her frustrations when greeted by the other hosts). At the final game, Nate goes down the elevator to reach The Bottom (something that has been alluded to all throughout the game), where it malfunctions and beings to fall. The glass shatters as soon as it makes contact with the floor, but Nate makes it out fine, if a little shaken up from the impact, before finally meeting up with the other hosts who have been dropped.
You Don't Know Jack: Full Stream[]
Nate would eventually return as a host in You Don't Know Jack: Full Stream, but instead to a post-game radio show called Truth Talk 23/7. Instead of his relaxed, almost suave way of talking, he's now a full-blown conspiracy theorist. He doesn't use calendars due to not trusting "big calendar", he looks through people's trash (a supposed reference to the Funky Trash question type, yet he's never hosted a game which included said segment), and occasionally takes in calls to ask them if they are sheep, weasels, or a pair of cargo shorts. Yet despite his very "open your eyes sheeple" demeanor, he's oddly critical about the theory that binjpipe's evil, even when he's reserved numerous all-caps e-mails from listeners claiming that binjpipe is evil. Mostly due to the fact that binjpipe, even if they were evil, are really bad at running their streaming service, and they likely wouldn't be able to achieve world domination even if they wanted to.
Trivia[]
- According to Nate's version of the "Gibberish Question" Easter Egg in You Don't Know Jack: The Ride, he only dates people named Rick or Ricky. However, when he starts listing off the names of each individual, different animal noises take the place of the surnames.
- In You Don't Know Jack: Vol. 1 & You Don't Know Jack: Vol. 2, it's confirmed via greenroom chatter that he and Buzz Lippman are cousins. This is further highlighted in You Don't Know Jack: The Ride.
- According to Harry Gottlieb, Nate was named after Harry's middle name and his grandma's maiden name¹.
- He, like many many other characters, appears on the Quixort Forever online scoreboards, ranking number 56 with a score of 10,900.
- He does, in fact, wear a tie.[↑]
- His zip code is 60622, this is also Jellyvision's zip code, which implies that Nate lives at the studio, making him homeless.
- In an interview done with Harry Gottlieb, Harry originally voiced You Don't Know Jack Vol. 1 as a demo, and did not intend for his performance to be in the final game, but due to the people from Berkeley Systems liking his performance: it resulted in his demo becoming the final product.
- This is also why Harry Gottlieb goes uncredited for the voice of Nate Shapiro, as he simply wanted to be known as the creator/director of the program at the time².
- His dad is a sailor².
- One time a dog barked at him and he screamed really loudly³, this implies he's either terrified of dogs or the dog was attacking him.