Of course, last year's winner David Cook was a self confessed "word nerd," and runner-up David Archuleta, though adorably baby-faced, would hardly stand up to a frat house hazing. But the trend reaches all the way back to the show's second season, in which the judges -- and the American public -- crowned scrawny, androgynous milquetoast Clay Aiken the unlikely heartthrob of the year (despite coming in second to chubby teddy bear Ruben Studdard). And who could forget Season Four's darling dweeb Anthony Fedorov, or the dork-dense Season Five, which gave us Elliott Yamin and prematurely gray Taylor Hicks?

AI has been ahead of the Cool Jerk trend almost since its inception -- Christ, it has Ryan Seacrest as a host for god's sake -- and by the look of this week's kickoff audition shows, Season 8 is about to be the dorkiest yet. Case in point, Tuesday night's spectacularly well-adjusted and dry-witted 19-year-old Alex Wagner-Trugman, who deadpanned that he skipped out on a Spanish test to audition for AI and would probably get a B because of it. The kid knows he's nerdy, but he wears it as a badge of honor, and his self-deprecation is equal only to his swagger. He even managed to stick it to Simon Cowell for attempting a lame Joe Cocker Spaniel jab, dispatching the snarky judge with a simple "That would be a good joke if it made sense." Now that's the kind of hot dork we need in the American mainstream.

Then there was last night's big-voiced Anoup(dawg) Desai, a gangly IT goober who dazzled Simon and Co. with his soulful rendition of Boyz II Men. He took a hit from Cowell for his lack of stage presence, (and from me for his decision to wear shorts), but Paula assured him it wasn't no thang. And it isn't. Give this dude a pair of Diesel jeans and he'll be laying down platinum records in no time.

Is it possible that AI is an early-adopter to the Geeks Shall Inherit The Earth ethos that the rest of the country's just now catching up on? What is it about this show, which deems itself an arbiter of talent and mainstream marketability, that seems to cater to the nerd demo that's elsewhere just started to gain traction? I want your academic theories, and while you're at it, tell me who's your favorite AI goofball of all time.

January 20, 2009 Update: Over the weekend I received a lovely Facebook message from Alex Wagner-Trugman's mama, Suellen, who, in addition to being incredibly sweet and grateful for my shout-out, gets major points for sharing the name of my favorite character from Dallas (kinda). Thought I'd share her short and adorable note with you peeps since I got such a kick out of it:

HI Lauren,

I'm Alex's Mom. Thank you for saying my son is spectacularly well-adjusted. Funny writing, and of course, remarkably astute.

Write on!
Suellen

Awwww! Thanks Suellen! You (and several bottles of Polish beer) made my Sunday!