Richard Karn says "I don't think so, Tim" to NFTs
After announcing an NFT, Richard Karn, who recently starred on Hulu's Pen15, decided it's simply not something he needs to do
Less than a month after Keanu Reeves and Brian Eno respectively bodied the practice of coveting easily-reproducible JPEGs of funky monkeys, also known as NFTs, another cultural heavyweight has entered the ring. Richard Karn, best known as Tim “The Toolman” Taylor’s competent sidekick, Al Borland, on the long-running sitcom Home Improvement and as the former host of Family Feud, has reversed course on NFTs and decided they’re not for him.
The turnaround happened overnight, it seems. Yesterday, Karn announced plans to release a series of NFTs with “Superfandom,” a company that partners with celebrities to create and sell NFTs. However, Superfandom’s approach seems a little more involved than others, allowing their clients to connect with buyers personally. For example, one proposed Karn NFT included a 30-minute phone call with the actor; another offered a golf game with him. Other options featured one of Karn’s prized guitars for some reason, casting Karn as an actor for the buyer’s project, and a game of Family Feud with Karn over Zoom.
However, while some may have been excited to see Karn join a fake economy built on easily replicated, ecologically disastrous digital trading cards, Karn announced he wouldn’t be following through with the project. “I’ve thought long and hard about NFT’s and I’ve decided it’s not something I need to do,” Karn tweeted, along with a very nice picture of the actor, whose nonfungible smile is worth a thousand Tom Colicchio pizza guy NFTs.
Karn didn’t go on to drag the crypto marketplace down. That simply isn’t his style. Fortunately, Keanu Reeves recently gave a hearty laugh to the idea that NFTs were somehow exclusive and valuable, while legendary music pioneer Brian Eno described NFT makers as “hustlers looking for suckers.” Consider Richard Karn the opposite of a sucker.