D.J. Palladino

GEEKING OUT: Indy staff writer D.J. Palladino may be buddies with this week’s cover story star, but he’s also a big fan. Since meeting him in 1996, Palladino has watched Parry Gripp’s career twist, turn, and morph into the new-media monolith it now is. In this issue, Gripp and Palladino sit down and talk shop, touching on everything from YouTube fame and secret celebrity status to Gripp’s unlikely role in this year’s Santa Barbara International Film Festival. The best part of the experience, Palladino said, is that “you can talk to him about anything, from Faulkner to Ewoks, and he’s got lots of interesting opinions—but he’s never self-righteous.”