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Stand-Up Comic Makes Science Funny
Hugh Pickens writes "The San Fransisco Chronicle is running a story about Brian Malow, a stand-up comedian who has showcased his science-centric stand-up humor for more than a decade in comedy clubs, at conventions and for corporate clients across the country. Fortunately, club patrons don't need a degree in quantum mechanics to appreciate one-liners like 'I used to be an astronomer, but I got stuck on the day shift,' 'I just started reading, "The Origin of Species." Don't tell me how it ends!' or that he 'attended a magnet school for bipolar students.' While his show is very rational and based on hard science, Malow cleverly infuses it with an abstract or surreal comic twist."
Hugh Pickens continues: "Like observing that whenever his mother would lose weight, his father would gain weight, and then linking the two by a fundamental law of nature. 'It was like the Conservation of Mass within our family,' says Malow, adding that 'fat can neither be created nor destroyed.' Last year Malow performed for colleagues at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena. 'We found his humor delightfully nerdy, and he fitted right in,' said Kevin Grazier, who is a planetary scientist and author. 'It's one thing to make people laugh when they're sitting in a darkened club room, with a few drinks in them. It takes real talent to be funny in the afternoon, in a work environment.' Malow's interest in science and nature also extends to his passion for insects, with Web site InsectPaparazzi, and he has even discovered a species of fly. 'Of course, I found it in Golden Gate Park,' he says. 'So it may have just been a tourist.'"
"How much for a drink?"
The bartender replied, "For you, no charge."
Because the stand-up science comic performing at the theater wasn't very funny.
I think Big Bang Theory does a good job of science jokes.
Anyone wanna summarize the article and let us know how's that working for him?
Is this comedian unionized?
Nope, he's just really positive. :P
I searched for clips of him on YouTube.
Here's a really funny ~7minute video with highlights from a couple of his shows:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn8uzB0eypk&feature=related
The man is a genius.
-"Those who fought today will die tommorow."-
'We found his humor delightfully nerdy, and he fitted right in,' said Kevin Grazier, who is a planetary scientist and author.
Ugh, really? It's hard to keep feeling superior to the artsies when other scientists are using words like 'fitted' in this context.
I disagree. Slashdotters submit hilarious stuff from "work" most afternoons.
Oh, yeah, it's not easy to pad these out to 120 characters.
'I just started reading, "The Origin of Species." Don't tell me how it ends!
Turns out the zebra did it.
"Good morning my good man! How much for one of your wonderful beverages?"
The bartender replied, "You sound positive."
------
beware he who would deny you access to information, for in his mind he dreams himself your master
Punchline: Yo mamma's fat.
I like to place meaningful quotes in my sig, so people will know that I know what meaningful quotes are.
Q: Why did the mathematician have complex numbers on his telephone?
So he could call all his imaginary friends.
The biologist asked the chemist "How do you find the total charge of an ion?" The chemist says "Step #1 - decide if the cation is one showing variable charge. If so, a Roman numeral will be needed. In this case, iron does show variable charge." "If a variable charge cation is involved, you must determine the Roman numeral involved. You do this by computing the total charge contributed by the polyatomic ion. In this case, NO3Â has a minus one charge and there are two of them, making a total of minus 2." "Therefore, the iron must be a positive two, in order to keep the total charge of the formula at zero." "Step #2 - determine the name of the polyatomic ion. Nitrate is the name of NO3Â." "The correct name is iron(II) nitrate. The common name would be ferrous nitrate. " The biologist says "Oh. Thank you."
Whenever I've gotten a speeding ticket, I've thought about arguing with the Judge that the cop was lying on the ticket. He noted both where I was and how fast I was going, and since he can only measure one of those things, he's clearly lying about the other.
-"Those who fought today will die tommorow."-
Wait, is this another "You're The Man Now, Dog" joke?
I like to place meaningful quotes in my sig, so people will know that I know what meaningful quotes are.
Pull harder, mom. I miss you.
Does having a witty signature really indicate normality?
I'd credit Bill Nye with being one of the first to make science funny. Maybe he wasn't as good as this guy, but I always appreciated the dry humor as a kid.
Science rules!
Remember, Math and alcohol don't mix. Please don't drink and derive!
Fascism starts when the efficiency of the government becomes more important than the rights of the people.
This story reminds me of Tom Lehrer, an MIT professor of mathematics that had a penchant for song-writing and performing. And he was really quite hilarious.
e.g. the famous "chemical elements" song :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYW50F42ss8
A: Wait, I can explain Everything! It's not what it looks like!
-- Subvert the dominant paradigm. Repeat as desired. http://ownlifeful.com/
Look up that little ditty -- about a love story between two atoms. "...Sodium cried, 'What a gas - be my bride! And I'll change your name from Chlorine to Chloride..." One of the greats.
Do not mock my vision of impractical footwear
I live for this stuff!
I completely agree. No matter how many times I've told people my signature was part of a larger cmd.exe prank, I was hiding the fact that I accidentally used that code for the real cmd.exe back when I was on the Microsoft NT team. It got me fired, because after the code shipped and users were complaining about freezing batch files, I was fired and since then I have burned my copy of The C Programming Language and started my own company.
My company is devoted to abandoning C, and we write device drivers in pure Java. We are also working on an operating system, codenamed "pleasework", coded from the ground up in java - we already have a GUI and everything, and are now just getting the BIOS and bootstrapping code to work, where we seem to have some trouble. Sadly, my company will be filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy pretty soon, and truth be known none of our Java device drivers have worked, and our OS team members keep leaving, saying the project is "impossible", although some tell me to use JNI, which is nothing but C again.
If things don't get better, I'll have to start another company, maybe this time writing drivers in Perl, but I completely agree - C should never be used, not in userland apps, drivers, operating systems, bootstrappers, or anything.
</sarcasm>
it is better than the usual frosty piss shit. Anyhow, if you google it you will see it is used often, unattributed.
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
he he.
Correction: I didn't discover a new species of fly - but I did take a picture that may be the first known occurrence of a particular species in this part of the world (the Nearctic): http://bugguide.net/node/view/21487 (but it's a species known in other parts of the world)
Do you really think the song 'Fight Fiehcely, Hahvahd' came from an MIT professor?
You're pretty fly for a science guy
Harvard alumnus, MIT prof, eventually UCSC, etc etc etc etc yawn...
FTFA:
And when Malow quips that he "attended a magnet school for bipolar students," even English majors will chuckle, subconsciously recalling some distant high school science fact.
English students don't know that magnets have poles. Geek wars, begin!
*First casualty due to each side's belief that he is a double-agent*
If you look carefully that's a Greek theta in his last name, so the correct transliteration is Malthw.
But, I wanted socialized health insurance!
So many projects would be so much better if your legacy dated language wasn't chosen. Yeah, I'm looking at you Linux and GTK. Writing a successful GUI program in C is just as ridiculous and time consuming as it gets.
This is probably why Gnome recommends writing new apps in Vala, which are later translated into ... ahem ... C before being compiled.
Put identity in the browser.
You mean he regurgitates the same material and then laps it back up after the audience has had a reaction?
Every mans' island needs an ocean; choose your ocean carefully.
Randall Munroe already did it with XKCD. More geared towards the /. audience, but come on:
"Man, I suck at this game. Can you give me a few pointers?"
"0x3A28213A, 0x6339392C, 7363682E."
"I hate you."
Ernie Cline's "Nerd Porn Auteur".
O lord, bless this thy holy hand grenade, that with it thou mayest blow thine enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy.
Which in turn reminds me of this song, by the Klein Four Group: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTby_e4-Rhg
Good call, but it reminds me more of "The Far Side".
A little offtopic, but I remember hearing a few years ago about a professor who had written and/or gathered together a bunch of song parodies and rhymes which served as mnemonics for students. I vaguely recall they were all biology related.
Unfortunately, I can't remember much about his/her name or school, and I figured this was as good a topic to ask the folks here.
Heisenberg was pulled over for speeding.
The cop asks "Do you have ANY idea how fast you were going?"
"No but I know EXACTLY where I am"
I don't know if there are good futurama sites, but I'll tell you who (or rather what) can:
http://www.ovguide.com/
It's a list-of-lists for sites with video content of all forms.
Furry cows moo and decompress.
You forgot NSA spook and inventor of Jello shots...
Don't all comedians?