Blog – Stand-Up Scientists: Lessons from Comedy

Over the years, I’ve had the pleasure to share a line-up with many incredible scientists, but only one stand-up comic. His job? Teach scientists how to communicate using tricks of the trade from comedy, bringing the humour and humanity into science in order to engage an audience. The truth we rarely seem to acknowledge is that people who are entertained tend to listen a lot more. And that applies to lecture theatres just as much as it applies to stadiums. No one owes you their attention, you have to know how to grab it.

But how exactly does one ensure the people in the back row are listening to your hard-earned results, and not daydreaming about opening a small bakery named Doughpaminergic Delights? Well, let’s take some lessons from comedy. When I asked the ever-dubious ChatGPT for some top tips on becoming a stand-up comedian, the first was to get writing. To carry a notebook around and make sure to jot down thoughts throughout the day. As scientists we’re already experienced at keeping track of our research, but can this also be used to aid our science communication? It’s true we rarely think of jokes while sat running analyses – except of course the one about the p-value, but that’s insignificant. However, when I started my PhD and was desperately trying to wrap my head around new information, the method I eventually settled on was to translate the problem into something more every day and then immediately write it down. Every ‘aha!’ moment that finally made me understand something nefarious was noted down so that I could return to it when I inevitably lost the thread again later on. When it came to writing my first presentations months later, it was these notes I returned to. You have already gone through the same process of learning that needs to be condensed for your audience. You know what made sense to you and crucially, what didn’t. Don’t perpetuate the cycle of talking points that made a concept difficult to understand – instead why not try opening up your talks using the same thought processes that made it click for you all that time ago.

This ties quite neatly into another feature of comedy – the power of observation.

Great comedians have this wonderful way of turning the habitual into the hilarious. Finding common threads amongst audiences thousands strong.

If you want to grab someone’s attention, you don’t only want your science to be accessible, it needs to be relevant. As neuroscientists we already have an inroad – everyone has a brain! Make it snappy, make it concrete, make it understandable. Start your memory talk by asking if anyone has ever walked into a room and forgotten what they came in for. Start your language talk with a query about that tip of the tongue experience we all find so frustrating. Explain the Bayesian Brain using the dreaded scenario of a forgotten birthday. Get your audience, be they lay or academic, to buy into the problem you’ve spent years focussed on. Dementia research is perhaps one of the easiest topics to motivate interest in as almost all of us know someone who has been through a dementia diagnosis. But dementia is also something people sat in your lecture theatre rarely have themselves, and so tying your talk into common experiences of humanity can be a great way to introduce some levity and get your audience invested.

So you’ve hooked them from the offset with an accessible and relevant introduction drawing on common human experiences and your own learning journey… now what? Well another top tip from the comedians is to understand people’s reactions and keep honing your set. The odds are that the talk you’re giving is either one you’ve given before or one you’ll give again, in part or its entirety. While presenting, keep an ear out for the moments that land and those that don’t. Take note of what questions people ask at the end and sections when the audience may have gotten lost. My favourite barometer of new scicomm material… the under tens. Many academics seem slightly terrified over the under tens, but their uninhibited listening habits can actually be a useful boon. You don’t have to wonder if little Sarah in the back row is daydreaming, because not only will she be out of her seat and playing in the sand box, but she’ll also tell you very loudly that she’s boooored. Every comedian (and every scientist) bombs, and I’ve certainly given talks in schools which left me laughing at the absurdity of explaining computational neuroscience to six-year-olds, but it has left me with a better understanding of what clicks and what needs to get kicked. I find lay audiences can similarly be a useful barometer for academic talks as they will often be more candid about what they’ve understood. Hone your talks like a stand-up set and it’ll help you develop your own sense of style as well as boost your confidence. By the time you get to that next big conference, there won’t be any surprises left…probably.

Of course there are always surprises and the best comedians also know how to improvise. Working the audience is a classic part of many gigs. I would never advise scientists to ask attendees in the front row “how they’re liking the show so far”, but I think remembering that the barrier between you and your audience is as strong as you’d like it to be is a helpful thought. Just as humanising the science is an important job of ours, humanising the audience makes it easier for me to speak with confidence. No-one in that auditorium wants you to fail. Just like no-one at a comedy gig wants to sit stony faced. Everyone has come to engage. They don’t owe you their attention, but they are primed to give it. Remember that whatever happens, you and your audience are fundamentally on the same side.

Alright what else do we have here: be authentic, learn from the best, write a strong closer, confident body language, practise makes perfect. I think that’s about it.  I mean, you’re also welcome to actually throw a joke or two, but definitely non-essential. And so I suppose it’s time for a strong closer of my own.

Being a stand-up scientist isn’t about the number of laughs you get, but rather a slightly different perspective on presenting.

You are an amazing speaker, and your audience is clearly very lucky to have you… but they don’t know that yet. A lot of the time the onus really falls on us as speakers to be engaging, accessible and relevant so that our audience truly listens to the science we’ve spent so long working on. Though we might not have started out expecting to be entertainers, there’s certainly a lesson or two we can take from those that are. So crack open those slides, grab a mic, and let’s try to have some fun with our presenting.

Rebecca Williams

Author

Rebecca Williams is a PhD student at the University of Cambridge. Though originally from ‘up North’ in a small town called Leigh, she did her undergraduate and masters at the University of Oxford before defecting to Cambridge for her doctorate researching Frontotemporal dementia and Apathy. She now spends her days collecting data from wonderful volunteers, and coding. Outside work, she plays board games, and is very crafty.

Follow @beccasue99