Stéphane Dion had his first encounter with one of Canada’s most (in my opinion) grating celebrity interviewers tonight.

John Ruskin who legally changed his name to Nardwuar and bills himself as the “human serviette”, stood patiently in line with students at the University of British Columbia town hall last night.

Now for those of you who don’t watch MuchMusic, Nardwuar has an unusual and some might say, irritating style of interviewing. That said, it was his question to Jean Chrétien about whether he supported the pepper spraying of APEC protesters that elicited the famous response, “For me, pepper, I put it on my plate.”

When it was his turn to ask Dion a question, the crowd erupted in cheers.

After briefing Dion about several former Prime Ministers who attended UBC, Nardwuar asked Dion if he had ever been on a game show. Dion laughed, called the question indiscreet and then said that while he never attended UBC, he did write a book with a UBC prof on how bureaucracies work.

While Dion was prepared to move on to the next question, Nardwuar was not deterred. He challenged Dion to a game of “hip flip.” This rather emasculating game involves two people placing plastic braces on their hips and holding a stick between them. The two players must then rotate their hips in sync in order to flip an object over the stick. Look it up on Youtube if you don’t get it.

Dion refused to play.

That leaves Jack Layton and Paul Martin as the only national leaders who have accepted Nardwuar’s “hip flip” offer. That was back in 2006. Again, if you want to watch, check it out on Youtube.

— Alison Crawford