Seizures, Science, Rockets, Radox & The Bristol Stool Chart

I find myself indebted to the Science Festival that was the cause of the comedy night that I had the privilege of attending last night (Sunday 7th). It fashioned itself as an experimental night, an attempt to discover whether Science & Comedy can be mashed together in a sweet & sour mix of information and hilarity.

The night was itself was a bit like a campfire. A stuttering beginning could have led to a regret of ever going camping, but after awhile we were all very glad to have made the trip. By the end of the night there was a veritable bonfire of hilarity to be witnessed, though, as comedy is a subjective thing, I may not be speaking on behalf of all attendees.

The line-up was a good one then, and though we had seen one comedian, Henry Widdicombe, perform on the Tuesday previous, seeing him go through the same set made it funnier, rather than tedious, perhaps due to the nature of the particular audience. Though the material hadn't gone down badly in the Union, it went down particularly amazingly in front of a crowd of scientists (or at least a pro-science audience).

The compere, Mark Olver, was masterful in his ability to stoke the audience, especially considering the unique nature of the crowd.

The opening act then was Dan Mitchell, who we'd also seen recently, and his material this time around was just as good. We found particular glee in his use of Welsh translation as a comic tool, and we agree that jellyfishes are indeed Conts Y Mor.

The specifically scientific comedy was brought by Helen Keen, Dave Steele and Dean Burnett, each looking at both science and comedy quite distinctly from each other, and yet each teasing the comedy out of their subjects well.

Overall it was an absolutely hilarious line-up, each quite different from the other and yet all styles fused together wonderfully. The audience certainly were a bit static at times, and it was mused on by the acts that perhaps comedy and science weren't wholly compatible due to this, however for me, the times where the audience were slightly awkward simply aided the comedy. At the very least, I wholly enjoyed myself.