John Roderick wears many hats: The Long Winters front man, writer, stage banter expert, alt-weekly writer, Seattle music scene aficionado, podcast conversationalist, and even red knit ones (see: his Twitter avi). The sum total makes him one of the more entertaining fellows in town. On October 29, he’ll host “John Roderick and Friends” at Showbox at the Market. It’s billed as a night of comedy and music, and features a formidable lineup of friends/collaborators: geek culture singer-songwriter Jonathan Coulton (whom we chatted with as part of our Points of Reference series), comedian John Hodgman (The Daily Show, Bored to Death, “I’m a Mac. And I’m a PC” ads), and podcasters Merlin Mann and Scott Simpson. We’re not exactly sure what they're going to do on stage, but we’d be willing to wager it'll be hilarious.

That lineup may seem like a motley crew of fellows, so let’s make the connections:

*Coulton took Roderick on tour as his opening act earlier this year. Roderick provided guest vocals on Coulton’s song “Nemeses.”

*Roderick and Mann record weekly phone conversations and send them out into the world as the Roderick on the Line podcast. #supertrain

*Hodgman and Coulton are friends who compared notes while working on their last major artistic endeavors: Coulton’s album Artificial Heart and Hodgman’s book That Is All.

*Simpson and Mann comprise two-thirds of the monthly comedy podcast You Look Nice Today.

*Other connections TBA (lab work pending).

The contingent’s main reason for being in town is to speak at the Seattle Interactive Conference, a two-day event featuring tech entrepreneurs, social media geeks, and general Interweb stars. Roderick and company will host a panel (Oct 29 at 11:30am, Washington State Convention Center) on how the five friends use technology to connect with each other and their fans, aka the amazing power of the Internet.

John Roderick and Friends
Oct 29 at 8:30, Showbox Market, $20–$25