My name is Brian Wecht. I'm half of Ninja Sex Party, a third of Starbomb, a theoretical physicist, and the newest cast member on Game Grumps. Ask me anything!

Granted that you have a P.H.D. in theoretical physics (which is really cool), what made you want to partake in a band duo singing about sex and dicks?

I've done music and musical comedy for most of my life, so NSP is really just the latest incarnation of that. It's also the most fun thing I've ever done. And when I started dressing up as a ninja, I found out that had a previously undiscovered talent for staring creepily at people, so there's always that.

Brian: Would you say that enhancing your chakras is a good way to get rid of free radicals, or should I go full homeopathy?

Don't. Just don't.

How glorifying is it to be the top player in the world at Burger Time?

it's pretty dope bro

How does it feel to now be an official member of RoosterTeeth?

It's fantastic! Gavin's the best!

Of all the things you've done / said to make Danny uncomfortable, which is your proudest achievement?

I like to wait until he goes into the bathroom and then sneak up and stand right in front of the door so that when he opens it and sees me he screams. I've done this a bunch of times and it's hilarious.

Hey Brian! How often were you recognized by your students as a murderous, reality-bending ninja?

All the time, but I think a lot of them were afraid to ask me about it. And that's just how I liked it.

So how many mind-blowing physics facts are we gonna hear on Game Grumps now?

A shit-ton!

Just how many people have you killed?

All of them, except you. But you're next.

What is your favourite, and least favourite NSP memory?

Favorite: Performing with Steel Panther at the last-ever show at the House of Blues in LA.

Least favorite: Freaking out after I thought I lost my wedding ring in the green room when we were performing at a sketch comedy festival. (We eventually found it.)

How did you come up with the "Ninja Brian" persona?

Ninja Brian is basically me, just much more of an asshole and significantly more likely to murder you.

Hi Brian!!! here's a good question for you: How many questions about Chakra's do you expect to see in this AMA? How many do you intend on answering?

1. Too many.
2. Just this one.

Hi Brian! How has the transition from full time professor to full time bad ass comedy song writer been?

It's been amazing! It's mostly a relief, since I was essentially working two full-time jobs before (professor, and musical sex ninja), and now I only have one. So that definitely relieved a lot of the pressure I was feeling. On the other hand, leaving such a secure job for a fickle industry (entertainment/music), was a pretty risky move. But I'm excited for the future!

Hey brian, big fan! I have 2 questions--

Is your snoring always as bad as Danny's video shows, or were you just having a bad night?

Are you still planning on having a career in academia in the future or are you going to do music full time from now on?

1. That was an especially bad night, but I definitely do snore.
2. Unless something radically changes, I'm done with academia, at least as a researcher. Once you leave that field, it's very hard to stay up to speed on the latest research, so it would be essentially impossible for me to get another job. But I absolutely love teaching, so I hope that I'll be able to keep doing that in some capacity!

Has there ever been a time where you've actually blinked on video?

In "If We Were Gay", when Danny puts the party hat on me when I'm holding the rainbow flags, you can see me blink. But THAT'S IT.

Hey Brian! Who in your opinion has the better butt. Daniel Avidan or Arin Hanson?

It's a two-way tie for first place!

What do you think about the scientific accuracy of Naruto?

please don't do this

How did you guys decide on the name Ninja Sex Party?

We thought of the three most awesome things ever and then just wrote them down.

How was the moment when Dan ask you to be on NSP? Did he told you something like "Hey!, wanna dress up like a ninja and play the keyboard while i sing about my dick?"

That's pretty much it. Seriously.

have you and Danny ever docked?

I don't know what this means, but I'm definitely not going to answer it.

Beej?
EDIT: Correction, Beej dramatic reading?

Arin actually did one! We have no idea what to do with it, though. Edit: by "did one", I mean a dramatic reading, not a beej.

What is your proudest achievement in the scientific world, and what is your proudest achievement in the artistic world?

I was lucky enough to have produced a few significant results theoretical physics, but my most well-known is this paper, which enabled people to do all sorts of calculations that hadn't previous been thought possible.

Artistically, it's definitely 6969!

Can you explain that paper in terms someone with an Bachelor of arts and only cursory physics knowledge can understand?... heh XD

No.

How did you manage to eat a pepper of 1.5 - 3.0 million scoville units, then stare at a screen without blinking for 3 minutes?

A little something called "skills".

Will you be willing to make Dan absolutely rage at the things you say in any future episodes you're in? I've heard you can get under his skin in the most beautiful of ways.

Definitely. It's basically the main reason I wanted to be on Game Grumps.

Hi, Brian! Congrats on your first Grump episode. You really killed it today. Are there any games in particular that you'd like to play on the show?

Thanks! One game I'd love to play is an old Sierra title called "Manhunter: New York." Ross and I were talking about it the other day, so it'll probably happen some day. I'm also a big fan of Braid and both Portal games, so I'd love to do those too!

How was being the roomate of MR. Barry Kramer?

Every bit as amazing as you'd think. Barry is a magical unicorn sprite covered in rainbows, and sharing a room with him is like having all your dreams come true at exactly the same time.

Are you a sexy wittle baby?

I'm a sexy widdle baby

Shit I'm too late again I won't fuck up this time. Brian, why am I always late for these?

Not sure, but next time please try to get it together and be on time.

Brian. Would you please describe the perfect night with Danny?

Thank you for this question.

We start at his house, where I pick him up in my '67 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme at precisely 7 PM. We go to a sushi dinner and share many of our favorite rolls, including at least one rainbow roll and dragon roll, along with one spicy tuna hand roll each. I have some Nigori sake but will not allow him to share; we both laugh about this. After dinner, we attend a marathon of all four Alien movies, and make a point of praising the aesthetics of Alien: Resurrection while simultaneously lamenting its less-then-rigorous plotting. After the film festival, I drop him off at his house and we share a firm but friendly handshake.

This is my ideal evening with Dan.

Hey Brian! How's it feel to be an official Grump now?

It's incredible! I know that it's a dream job for many many people, so I feel amazingly lucky to have the chance, and I'm very grateful to Arin for bringing me on board. Hopefully I'll be able to live up to everyone's expectations!

You made quite the career change by going from teaching physics (I hope I got that right) to focusing on NSP, Starbomb, and now Game Grumps full time. With a young child (HI NINJA AUBREY!), how crazy did you - and your wife - feel that this sort of career move was?

Honestly, not that crazy. If it was too crazy, we wouldn't have done it, since we knew that we were risking our family's future! But I worked through the numbers, and it seemed like the right move. Part of that decision was that being a professor in London didn't pay very well compared to the cost of living (it's a super expensive city!), and we knew if we stayed in London we would be constantly worried about being able to get by. So that was part of the decision for sure.

Hello Mr. Ninja Brian man, how did you think up the Mr. Wilson song and write it down so fast?

Sincerely: A person

Just a little something called being a supergenius, nbd.

What video games do you play in your personal time, if any?

Right now, Shovel Knight!

Do you ever plan to teach Audrey how to be a master at Burger Time? Will you carry on the legacy?

I don't need to teach her -- that shit's genetic.

So I've been listening to NSP for quite a while now. I was wondering if you and Danny might ever do a Tour in a few cities across the US, maybe even bring Arin and do like an NSP/Starbomb tour?

That is absolutely something that's going to happen! We're aiming for next summer (2016), and doing a joint tour with TWRP.

Hey Brian! What made you decide to be a fully-fledged member of Grumps?

Arin was like "hey do you want to be a grump" and I was like "ok cool"

If you could take one movie from the 80s and revamp it into a Broadway musical, what movie would you choose?

Big Trouble in Little China. Obviously.

What do you do to relax? With being a rock ninja, physicist, grump, and a dad, it seems like you wouldn't get much time to relax.

I have a few things I like to do to chill out. Mainly I read a lot, and right now I'm on a big Saul Bellow/Philip Roth kick. I also like to watch TV shows -- right now I'm watching the new seasons of Fargo, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and the Muppets (though I'm not totally sold on the last one yet.)

Dead serious, what's Ninja Brian's favourite subatomic particle?

Neutrinos, because they're everywhere but essentially impossible to detect.

Did you ever come close to accidentally tweeting things about butts and boners in your personal twitter acount rather than in the NSP twitter?

How difficult is getting into the mindset of those two accounts?

It's not really that hard to keep them separate, and I've never had any close calls because I'm very careful to double check which account I'm tweeting from before I do anything!

When you say "newest cast member", does it imply you're actually gonna be a regular on the show now?

And if so, what kind of frequency are we looking at? Ross- and Barry-levels of regular appearances, or more like an occasional Suzy or - God beware - Danormous sparsity?

I'm a regular! No idea what the frequency will be yet, but it will not be a rare occurrence.

Hey Brian! What is the absolute funniest fan encounter you've ever had?

The weirdest one was right before a physics seminar I was giving, when just as the prestigious professors were entering the room some guy in the back row stood up and shouted "I LOVE YOUR WORK WITH NINJA SEX PARTY". That was pretty uncool.

Hey Brian,

I'm currently studying chemistry and physics in college with the hopes of one day doing research in theoretical physics, specifically particle physics, string theory, and supersymmetry. Any words of advice and motivations that you could share from your experiences as you went through the process of getting to where you are today?

Yes: It's very, very, very, very, very hard, but it's a lot of fun. One piece of advice I was given about academia was that you should do it because you love it, but not because you want to become a professor. Professor jobs are exceptionally hard to get, and most people who try to get one won't. BUT if your whole motivation is just to keep thinking about interesting things as long as possible, knowing that it might not last forever, have fun! That was always my attitude, and although I did end up getting a professor job, I was always prepared for the fact that I might not.

Despite being a grump are you gonna still dable in physics? Also what are your favorites books? Looking for recomendations.

It's hard to dabble in physics research, so probably not. But one thing I will continue to do lots of is public speaking about science, both with lectures as well as with my science storytelling show The Story Collider.

How did you know you wanted to be a theoretical physicist?

It just seemed super interesting, so I kept doing it. That's basically what my life philosophy is: do whatever seems fun & interesting, and work hard at it, and you can't go wrong.

Hey Brian, what's your favorite dessert? Don't say pudding, please.

pudding

Just WHO or WHAT is, the Manticore?

This is the Ultimate Question, and if we ever find out, it will mean the Beginning of the End.

Hey, Brian! How are you this fine Thursday? My question is super simple, what is your favorite Ninja Sex Party song title? Could be one you've used or one you're still writing for!

FYI I Wanna F Your A, which was one of mine. I think it's simple and catchy!

What synthesizers do you guys use for nsp/ star bomb?

I use Logic software to write the music, so it's a combination of the synths that comes with (all digital), and a bunch of other patches. I like the Massive synths a lot and use those too.

Do you have any physics "pet-peeves"? Such as, common misconceptions by the public about something regarding physics, or anything of the sort?

My main pet peeve is people selling speculative results (time travel, warp drive, etc) like they're established facts.

'Sup Brian. What will you do now that you're part of Game Grumps ? Does that mean that you will appear frequently or just that you were officially introduced on the channel ?

I'll be appearing regularly from now on!

I just want to to know I literally squealed when I see you on Grumpcade today. I'm so happy you got to be on the show (or rather, you finally appeared in person!)

Question: What question would you like to be asked today?

Not this one, that's for sure.

Hey Ninja Brian, did you actually eat a freaking pepper all casually on that Youtube gaming channel and not even blink while chewing that, or did you lie to my face?

I straight up owned that pepper. Ate the shit out of it right there on camera.

How nice is Dan's butt?

mad nice

Thanks for doing this AMA Brian, looking forward to you being on more Game Grumps.

My question is, did you find it annoying that Dan had a lot of his time consumed by Game Grumps/Steam Train? How did it affect NSP? Love you.

No, because I always had so much of my time consumed by physics teaching and research. Between the two of us, we had roughly the same amount of time to work on NSP, so it worked out perfectly!

Have you been a part of any bands before NSP? Do ever feel like experimenting with music outside of comedy?

Yes, lots! I was in a bunch of bands in college (mostly cover bands that played at parties), but the main "real" band I was ever in after that was called "Agave", and they're still performing in San Diego, albeit in a somewhat different form than they were when I was a member. (If you come to their gig on Nov 21, they might have a surprise guest.)

How did it make you feel to join the Grumps after all this time? Seeing as your band mates and friends are in it, was this planned long ago?

Also, I love you.

It's been in the works for a while, but wasn't a definite thing until very recently.

Also, I love you too.

At what age do you intend on showing NSP to Audrey?

My age or hers?

What is the Recording process like with NSP/Starbomb, do they different any? Also, how involved are you in the recording process, do you write any of the music, or mix/edit it?

I write and arrange all the instrumental music, but I don't do any of the mixing. That's an entirely different skill, so we always hire a mixer to take care of that.

Dumb question I suppose but are you basically gonna be in the Steam Train/Grumpcade rotation? Like the two Danny/Arin Grump episodes are still gonna be at the beginning and end of the day right, with Steam Train/Grumpcade in the middle?

Yup!

Hi Brian,

I was just wondering what was going on in your life at the time that made you decide to quit what society would deem a suitable and respectable job to join in on a bunch of people that play video games for YouTube? Was it scary? How did your family and friends react to the decision?

Some of my friends thought I was having a mid-life crisis, so that was pretty uncool for sure. On the other hand, if I was having a mid-life crisis, this would definitely be a pretty sweet thing to do.

Hey Brian! Super big fan of your work! You're pretty musically inclined right? You've played a few notes in your day. What music do you listen to? Also, what's your music composition process like?

Right now my composition process is very improvisational. I try to start with a variety of different things -- sometimes a drum beat, sometimes a bass line, sometimes a piano lick, and then just build it up from there. I try to write a verse and chorus and then let it set for a day, and if I still like it when I come back to it, I work on it more. But it's always amazing to me how many things where I'm like "holy crap this is awesome" when I'm writing them end up being very VERY lame when I revisit them a day later.

Hey Brian! When it comes to Ninja Sex Party songs, who writes more of the lyrics? Some lines were obviously written by you, while others were clearly written by Danny. Also, what lyric are you most proud of coming up with?

Danny writes most of the lyrics, but they're very collaborative. More often than not, he'll do the first draft, and then we'll both keep it going from there.

Hi Brian! Thank you for doing this AMA. Where did you get your degrees? Did you go from Bachelors to Masters to PhD?

Bachelor's: Williams College, math & music double major

PhD: UC San Diego, physics

Brian, have you ever considered starring in a sitcom called "Dr. Wecht and Ninja Brian" where you play a wacky family man scientist who has an alternate personality of a master killer who takes on assassination jobs?

No. But now that you asked...still no.

Have you ever encountered fans (or anyone in general) who had difficulty separating the "real" you from the Ninja Brian character?

Not really -- most people don't think I'm actually about to kill them. The ones that do probably don't hang around me for very long.

Hey Brian, thanks for doing this! What are your favorite albums? Like, 5 or so albums you'd pick if you could never listen to anything else.

In no particular order, and these are really just 5 of my favorites as opposed to my top 5: - Ben Folds Five, The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner - Tom Waits, Swordfishtrombones - Frank Zappa, The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life - Okkervil River, The Stage Names - David Bowie, Hunky Dory

Hey Ninja Brian! Big fan! How're the attempts at doing a co-lab with Weird Al going? Have you or Danny tried to get in contact with his people? I think seeing the three of you make a song together would destroy us all with the sheer amount of happiness generated.

Doing something -- anything -- with Weird Al is seriously a major life goal of mine, so I would love for this to happen! We did get in touch with his people, but I have no idea if they passed it on to the man himself, so I don't really know what the status is. Danny & I would definitely like for it to happen though!

Now that you're an official Grump, what does the initiation ceremony for Game Grumps look like?

At precisely midnight, we all gathered in a cave in the middle of the desert while wearing pitch black robes. A sheep was brought in and tied to the sacrificial altar. Then a goat was brought in and tied to the sacrificial altar. Then a couple piggies were brought in and tied to the sacrificial altar. Once we had enough for a petting zoo, we released the animals and took selfies of ourselves cuddling with them. It was pretty sweet.

I was talking to my physics teacher and he told me that string theory is old news and long since debunked, any comment?

(Also I <3 you with a value equal to the density of a dying star)

He's totally wrong. It's legit to say that many people don't think string theory is correct, but calling it "debunked" is simply not right. It's a very active field of research, and there are lots of interesting results that come out every day! Ultimately it may turn out to be wrong, but it really is the leading contender right now for a quantum theory of gravity.

Hi, Brian! I love your musical work, and congratulations on joining the grump crew!

I was just wondering, when are you, Danny, (and i think also TWRP) are going to release "NSP: Under the Covers"?

In February! Our goal right now is to release on Feb 19, but that might change.

What does Danny's hair smell like?

Heaven. Just heaven.

How did you handle going from a very steady scientific job, to a more 'uncertain' creative job? How did you handle the transition and what kind of sacrifices did you make?

I'm early in my career as an engineer, but I also have an interest in creative outlets and I'm wondering what it might take if I one day pursued those interests. Is it possible to make both work?

It is possible, but at some point it just becomes a matter of having a limited amount of time. You can always make time for creative stuff, but that time is coming from somewhere else! One of the skills I've learned over the years is how to manage my time, and a big part of that is learning when to say "no" to stuff people ask you to do -- there are only so many hours in the day!

How are you so cool?

Wish I knew, baby.

Will we get another video of you playing Burger Time, but this time on the arcade version?

GOD I HOPE SO

Will you be at the livestream saturday? I need more of you in my life.

Yes! All day!

Are you worried about Ninja Aubrey finding your music before she's age appropriate for it? How would you go about handling it?

My main worry about Audrey is that people will constantly misspell her name, not that she'll listen to my music.