21 February 2013

Comedy and brains to collide at next Bright Club

A physicist, sociologist, geologist, and three psychologists walked into the pub...

And the punchline will be revealed when researchers from five universities experiment with the world of stand-up comedy at the next Bright Club event to be held in Dundee.

Professor Trevor Harley (University of Dundee), Dr Malcolm Cook (Abertay), Carla Washbourne (Newcastle), Daniel Re (St Andrews), and Dr Lewis Mackenzie and Alison Eales (both Glasgow) set out to dispel the stereotype of the stuffy academic with two hours of fresh and inventive stand-up at Braes, Perth Road on Tuesday, 26th February.

Bright Club is a movement established by scholars whose thirst for knowledge led them to hypothesise what might happen if research and comedy were mixed and left to ferment in front of an audience. This is the fifth Dundee date for the series, and will be compered by the relentlessly funny Sian Bevan.

Dr Jon Urch, Public Engagement Co-ordinator at the University of Dundee, is organising the event and says humour has an important role to play in communicating research to a lay audience.

"Academics have to be able to think of new ways of getting their message across and it sometimes making people laugh is how to do this," he said.

"It is a fun way of making people think about research in a different way. The academics taking part in the next Bright Club show have all received training from professional comedians and we're really looking forward to seeing how the laughter of the lab translates to the stage."

Bright Club Dundee #5 takes place at Braes Below from 7.30pm on Tuesday, 26th February. The full line up is:

• Lewis McKenzie - 'Mad Scientist In Training'
• Alison Eales - 'Two Blocks From The Edge'
• Malcolm J Cook - 'My Job Will Be The Death Of Me'
• Trevor Harley - 'Why I'm Going To Live Forever'
• Carla Washbourne - 'Digging The Dirt'
• Dan Re - 'All Over Your Face'

Tickets, costing £5, will be available at the door or can be booked in advance by visiting http://tiny.cc/BrightClub5, emailing brightclubdundee@gmail.com or calling 01382 386669. More information is available by visiting www.brightclubdundee.org.

For media enquiries contact:
Grant Hill
Press Officer
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: g.hill@dundee.ac.uk
MOBILE: 07854 953277