From Harry Hill to Helen Sharman, Ince’s Christmas mashup of comedy, science and music – Nine Lessons and Carols for Socially Distanced People – reached dizzy heightsIt’s Sunday morning, and Robin Ince is feeling dizzy after twentysomething hours of hi…
Continue ReadingThe comedian has written his first play – on whether science can prove that the Almighty exists. But first, there are some hecklers to deal with … Schrödinger’s cat can be both alive and dead – so surely David Baddiel can be both a comedian and a pla…
Continue ReadingFrom micro pigs to the doping dangers of a poppy seed bagel, how life may be imitating the US sitcomWhen Jerry Seinfeld starts his UK tour, listen out for a science joke. From early on in his TV career, the comedian poked fun at science. In his 1981 HB…
Continue ReadingTommy Cooper’s fez and Paul Daniels’ saw-in-half box part of display at Wellcome Collection Tommy Cooper’s fez, a gorilla mask used by Derren Brown and a wooden box and saw that Paul Daniels used to saw Debbie McGee in half have gone on display at a mu…
Continue ReadingConway Hall, London
A joyful lucky dip in which secular sermons and Christmas messages quoting Kurt Vonnegut make for a silly but rousing celebration of rationalism
It’s hard to believe this is the 10th year of Nine Lessons and Carols for Godless People, an endearingly shambolic, joyful lucky dip of a show described by its creator, Robin Ince, as what would happen “if the Royal Variety Show was put in a matter-transportation machine with the Royal Institution Christmas lectures”.
If this revival after a three-year hiatus lacks the headline names of its Hammersmith Apollo heyday, when Brian Cox, Richard Dawkins, Dara O’Briain and Jarvis Cocker were regulars on the bill, it still serves up a Christmas feast of eclectic performers, held together by Ince’s scattershot observations and infectious curmudgeonly enthusiasm.
Continue ReadingConway Hall, London
A joyful lucky dip in which secular sermons and Christmas messages quoting Kurt Vonnegut make for a silly but rousing celebration of rationalism
It’s hard to believe this is the 10th year of Nine Lessons and Carols for Godless People, an endearingly shambolic, joyful lucky dip of a show described by its creator, Robin Ince, as what would happen “if the Royal Variety Show was put in a matter-transportation machine with the Royal Institution Christmas lectures”.
If this revival after a three-year hiatus lacks the headline names of its Hammersmith Apollo heyday, when Brian Cox, Richard Dawkins, Dara O’Briain and Jarvis Cocker were regulars on the bill, it still serves up a Christmas feast of eclectic performers, held together by Ince’s scattershot observations and infectious curmudgeonly enthusiasm.
Continue ReadingThank you for visiting the Hayden Panettierium at the Rose Center for Earth and Space at the American Museum of Natural History. I, planetarium director Hayden Panettiere, am delighted to welcome you to our Department of Astrophysics. Former director Neil deGrasse Tyson has taken a full-time position trolling nerds online, and as his successor I […]
Continue ReadingThe comedian tells us why Francis Crick, Brian Cox and Stephen Hawking are the butt of his jokes in his new book and radio series
When I meet Robert Newman, he is wearing a homemade brain scanner on his head. He had it built as a prop for his most recent show about neuroscience. Newman is a writer and comedian who had a hugely successful career as part of a duo with David Baddiel in the 1990s and has since been doing his lecture-cum-standup style of high-brow comedy. His previous topics have included the history of oil, the war on terror and evolution.
Off stage, Newman is the only comedian to have been cited in the science journal Nature and he has written about neuroscience and robotics for Philosophy Now. He’s here to talk about his new book, Neuropolis, and its accompanying BBC Radio 4 programme, in which he guns for an unlikely bunch of targets – neuroscience writers – for having, he says, a reductionist view of the world.
It’s like there’s a competition among science writers – who can say the most horrible thing about humanity
Related: David Baddiel: ‘I have no gene for shame. I just want to tell people the truth’
Continue ReadingDear Potential Donor: Unfortunately, your application to donate sperm to the New York City Cryobank has been reviewed and rejected. While we cannot disclose the specific reason your sperm was not accepted, we can provide recurring issues that have kept us from accepting donors in the past. In some cases, the cause of rejection is […]
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