The “Chuck” star on hosting Q&A panels with Joss Whedon, Nathan Fillion and “Doctor Who’s” Matt Smith and the “little clubhouse” where celebrities can drink, dance and rage on the Con’s Friday and Saturday nights.

Zachary Levi is a nerd. Has been his whole life. Video games, comic books, action figures, the whole deal. His pop-culture breakout came by playing the titular nerd of NBC’s Chuck. But despite growing up in Southern California, the 32-year-old had never been to Comic-Con until 2007, when NBC sent Levi and the rest of the cast to San Diego. “The driver got lost at some point,” remembers Levi, calling from his temporary apartment in New York, where he’s preparing for his Broadway debut in First Dates, which just started previews, and waiting to hear whether Marvel will need anymore of his services for November’s Thor: The Dark World, in which he plays one of the God of Thunder’s devoted Warriors Three. “We look out the window and see three Rebel Stormtroopers and four Harry Potters, and we’re like, ‘No, we’re in the right place.’ ”
After going to Comic-Con year after year, Levi decided to leverage an apparel company he’d started called Nerd Machine — “I always had a bit of a passion for apparel; I like being able to make something that people like enough to wear” — and create what he called Nerd HQ, a convention away from the convention that hosts Q&A panels and signings with celebrities in a smaller venue than the cavernous ballrooms of the San Diego Convention Center. “I wanted to offer something to complement the mothership of Comic-Con, which is amazing and brings together 150,000 people, but to make this little clubhouse where people could decompress a little bit — whether you were a fan or a celebrity — and partake in a slightly more intimate version of what Comic-Con does so well,” says Levi. “I felt like so much of Comic-Con is the fan experience. We as celebrities are, yes, going down to promote our shows and stuff, but it’s really to connect with our fans.” [ Read More ]