Science Comedian

Some­one I met via Twit­ter – Delia the Artist – just inter­viewed me for Current.com.  Cur­rent has a shorter, edited ver­sion of the inter­view but Delia is host­ing the full inter­view on her own site.

And, oh look!  Here comes the full ver­sion now…

Where does sci­ence meet com­edy?
Some­where in Brian Malow’s universe.

From muse­ums to com­edy clubs, Earth’s Pre­mier Sci­ence Come­dian brings the funny to the hilar­i­ous 5th install­ment of Sci­ence is Speaking!

by Delia the Artist

What came first for you, com­edy or science?

Ah, the chicken or the egg, eh?…  Well, in terms of it being a pas­sion and a poten­tial career choice, sci­ence came way before com­edy.  And I joke that I used to be an astronomer who got stuck on the day shift, but I never became a scientist.

Sci­ence was my first love:  dream girl, high school sweet­heart, prom date.  But then I had a long tor­rid affair with com­edy.  We ran off and eloped.  And it may have appeared to the casual observer that I had com­pletely for­got­ten about sci­ence but, if you looked closely you could see the truth…  the heavy bias toward sci­ence geeky top­ics, habit­ual use of the lan­guage of sci­ence for analo­gies and metaphors – a ten­dency to invoke Newton’s equa­tion for uni­ver­sal grav­i­ta­tion, for instance – or to use “molyb­de­num” as a punch line.

These were the signs that I would some­day come run­ning back to sci­ence, if she would have me.  But I didn’t want to give up com­edy, my mis­tress.  Would I have to?  Per­haps not…

Com­edy is both a sci­ence and an art.  And, for that mat­ter, sci­ence is both a sci­ence and an art!

I’m not sure I can even tell them apart any­more.  We apply the same kind of crit­i­cal think­ing in both pur­suits – but we also hope for and rely on those flashes of inspi­ra­tion that come from some­where beneath the level of con­scious thought…  like Kekule’s day-dream that helped him solve the rid­dle of the struc­ture of the ben­zene molecule.

You know, Ein­stein once said, “The only real valu­able thing is intu­ition” and the clas­sic, “Imag­i­na­tion is more impor­tant than knowledge.”

I know:  Easy for you to say, Einstein!

But seri­ously…  it has its sur­real side, but my com­edy has often emerged from the appli­ca­tion of ratio­nal think­ing to the real­ity of the human con­di­tion.  Thus, the name of my first sci­ence com­edy CD:  “Ratio­nal Com­edy for an Irra­tional Planet.”   I like to think I solve small prob­lems that we didn’t know we had.

You were inspired by sci­ence fic­tion authors whom you say “made it easy to under­stand and enjoy sci­ence” – is this your goal as well?

I was refer­ring specif­i­cally to Isaac Asi­mov and Arthur C. Clarke – and to their non-fiction – their sci­ence writ­ing.  They were early influ­ences on me.  I learned more sci­ence from Asi­mov and Clarke than from most of my teach­ers.  And they are still the best explain­ers, by the way – along with Carl Sagan.  They can’t be beat for teach­ing you com­plex ideas with­out los­ing you – and, in fact, engag­ing and enter­tain­ing you.  Their love and pas­sion for sci­ence is well-communicated!  I implore you to find their old, out-of-print books!  Get thee to a used book­store!  (or an inter­net connection).

Any­way, I never set out with such a noble goal as that.  I just wanted to enter­tain, make peo­ple laugh – hope­fully, with my own brand of com­edy (insert Reg­is­tered Trade­mark symbol:  ® ).

But I guess there’s always been a lit­tle teacher in the 4-chambered class­room of my heart.  I can’t help it.  A com­edy col­league of mine once said that my jokes had more infor­ma­tion in them than most comics’ jokes.  I think I can take that as a compliment.

And, what­ever my ini­tial inten­tions…  now, yes, it has become a goal of mine to clearly and col­or­fully explain some sci­ence con­cepts – and cer­tainly to show another side of sci­ence – that sci­ence can be fun as well as mind-blowing.  That hav­ing this knowl­edge, this famil­iar­ity, this under­stand­ing of nature can enrich your life in unex­pected ways.  Funny ways.

Actu­ally, now I think my sci­ence com­edy does func­tion rather like sci­ence fic­tion:  it may teach you a few new con­cepts along the way but mostly it aims to enter­tain you using bits of sci­ence as its raw material.

Isaac Asi­mov once said “The most excit­ing phrase to hear in sci­ence, the one that her­alds new dis­cov­er­ies, is not ‘Eureka!’ (I found it!) but ‘That’s funny…’   What dis­cov­er­ies have you made while find­ing the funny in science?

Well, I dis­cov­ered many years ago that you shouldn’t say, “You can make me go to my room but you can’t make me go to sleep!” if either of your par­ents is an anesthesiologist.

And I dis­cov­ered that sci­ence can, indeed, get mas­sive main­stream media cov­er­age as long as there is at least the sug­ges­tion that it may destroy the planet (cf. Large Hadron Collider).

Avogadro’s Num­ber is well-known, of course, but I believe I was the first to dis­cover his address.

I dis­cov­ered that if, instead of ask­ing strangers, “Where are you from?” you make a habit of ask­ing them, “WHEN are you from?” it will improve your chances of trip­ping up a time-traveling tourist.

I dis­cov­ered that some peo­ple talk to their plants, which is okay.  But you shouldn’t ask them a lot of questions.

And I dis­cov­ered that when­ever my mom loses weight, my dad gains weight.  And vice versa.  It’s like the Con­ser­va­tion of Mass, within our fam­ily.  My the­ory:  You never actu­ally lose weight – you just give it to some­body else.  Fat can be nei­ther cre­ated nor destroyed.  It’s one of the basic laws of the uni­verse.  If you’re gonna live here, you gotta know the laws.

Any advice for upcom­ing come­di­ans out there?

Don’t try to mix sci­ence and com­edy!  Go find your own eco­log­i­cal niche!  Run along!

:: Beats chest, roars, shakes rat­tle, spreads wings threat­en­ingly, gen­er­ally attempts to appear larger and more intimidating ::

(Objects in State of Fear May Appear Larger Than Actual Size)

Hon­estly, the best advice I have is to learn how to be your­self.  Centuries-old wis­dom:  to thine own self be true.  Watch a lot of com­edy.  Study those who do it well – and real­ize you can also learn a lot from those who do it poorly!  And don’t limit your­self to come­di­ans!  Absorb a broader swath of life than that.  But, in the end, don’t let your­self be over-influenced by your influ­ences.  Try to be dif­fer­ent from every­thing else you’ve seen.  Tap into what is unique about you.  Find your own voice.  Tell your own sto­ries.  In two words:  Be yourself.

You’ve enter­tained the likes of Microsoft, Apple and the National Asso­ci­a­tion of Sci­ence Writ­ers – what’s your next move?

I love what I’m doing and it gets more inter­est­ing every year.  I want to per­form at more muse­ums and for more sci­ence orga­ni­za­tions, events, and fes­ti­vals.  I recently per­formed in Eng­land for the first time and I’m anx­ious to return and to do other inter­na­tional events.

I’m doing video pieces for Time Magazine’s web­site (www.time.com), and work­ing on some other tele­vi­sion and mul­ti­me­dia projects.  I should blog more:  www.sciencecomedian.com/blog .

Long-term….  I’d like to be the first come­dian with an extended run at an orbital space hotel.  Or just a one-nighter on the Inter­na­tional Space Sta­tion.  I’d love to be the in-house comic for the first lunar or Mar­t­ian colony.  I’d even con­sider a one-way ticket.  I should prob­a­bly start with Vir­gin Galac­tic…  does any­one know Richard Branson’s email address?

*****

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