How to Make STEM Funny—and Go Viral Doing It

Wait, I saw that. You posted a video of someone in the crowd telling you they were a vet and then you said “OK, some things might not be right…” and that got a laugh.

Yeah, definitely.

I normally start shows by saying I have a degree in chemistry, then ask who else has it. If there’s anyone in there who has a chemistry degree from a higher level or from a better university, I’m done.

What’s the worst heckling you’ve ever experienced?

I did a work in progress show last Sunday, and I made a joke about exothermic reactions.

It’s the joke where you ask if the audience wants to hear about exothermic reactions and then say you don’t have the energy.

Yeah, and in my head, I swear it’s true. But I just hear a little voice saying, “Actually, I think if you change this to activation energy, it will work a lot better.” »

OK, that’s fair, but yours works too, so…

I make a joke where I draw a line that fits best. In Edinburgh I drew it as a straight, linear line of best fit, and then after the laughter died down, someone said, “Actually, it’s an exponential curve of best fit.” »

What’s worse is that I made this joke several times and it wasn’t until someone said it that everyone in the audience was like, “Yeah, they’re right.” It’s like oh no, I’ve made this joke 20 times…

Do you consider your sets educational? Or at least informative?

Maybe a little. But I would probably put that energy into something else. For example, I’m currently writing a book about the periodic table, and it’s like a young adult book. So it’s between 10 and 15 years. It’s actually truly educational where I’ve divided the book into groups of the periodic table, and then each group is related to its characteristics and properties as an element, and then I’ve sort of fictionalized them into personalities that correspond to those properties. So that East educational. But it might lead me to hopefully produce more educational content like the book.