Can you make science and research funny?

I've spent the past few years training researchers to perform comedy about their work, and some of the funniest talks I've seen have started with research that sounds incredibly technical, complicated or dry.

Taylor Szyszka’s talk is a great example. She's a bioengineer at the University of Sydney who completed my Science Comedy Program, which I run through Future Science Talks.

She completed the course a few years ago and has performed with me at several comedy festivals since then. Her comedy material focuses on protein engineering and molecules.

On The Science of Being Funny podcast, we talked about how she makes scientific research funny, how humour can help researchers communicate complicated ideas, and whether there are some areas of research you simply shouldn't joke about.

How can humour help communicate science?

Taylor attributes her interest in comedy to being a middle child who needed to find a way to be heard.

As a junior researcher, she was initially more cautious about bringing that personality into her professional communication. She wanted to be taken seriously.

But rather than making her science seem less serious, humour has enabled Taylor to be more human when she’s discussing her work.

During our talk, she discussed how when people connected with her, they found it easier to connect with her research as well.

I've seen the same thing with many researchers I've trained, and when I was working at Neuroscience Research Australia before founding Future Science Talks.

Using humour to communicate research can be a way of lowering the stakes, building rapport and keeping people interested in your presentation.

Taylor has experienced this directly, with many audience members coming up after her shows, to discuss her science with her.

How do you make science and research funny?

Taylor was interested in how science and research interact with humour.

When I'm working with researchers, the funniest material is often about the person conducting the research.

Experts naturally want to talk about their expertise. But audiences are also curious about the human being standing in front of them.

I find the journey of each researcher fascinating, and this topic is often ripe for humour. Better yet, it helps humanise the speaker, showcasing some of their personality rather than focusing entirely on the research itself.

Taylor's own experience is a good example.

She describes herself as a protein engineer, before revealing that her dad likes to remind her she isn't a "real engineer".

She's finding familiar human reference points inside unfamiliar science.

This is often much more interesting to audiences than trying to develop a joke inside a technical scientific explanation.

Humour can help scientists to communicate more effectively

One thing I've found particularly useful in the Science Comedy Program is giving researchers joke structures they can follow.

Researchers tend to like formulas.

And once they realise there are repeatable ways to construct humour, something that initially seemed mysterious can become surprisingly easy for them.

Taylor said comedy training also changed something very practical about the way she communicates - she learned to pause and use silence more effectively.

Utilising humour can help us to see our presentations from the perspective of the audience, helping us to present with greater impact and influence.

Can you use humour with every topic?

This is probably the most interesting thing I've learned from running science comedy programs.

A research subject being boring doesn't make it difficult to make funny.

Often, it’s the opposite.

Topics that seem inherently funnier, such as talks about drugs or sex, are often harder to make funny than seemingly ‘boring’ topics such as bioengineering.

Another thing is the need to tread when talking about a difficult topic - such as cancer - as someone in the audience may have lived experience that we need to be mindful of.

In the discussion with Taylor, I explain how it is much more beneficial to find humour about ourselves, or about pre-conceived ideas the audience might have, rather than making fun of the research itself.

Even in serious scientific presentations, humour can still have a place. A quick joke or observation can lower the stakes, make the speaker seem more human and help establish rapport.

It’s about using humour as a mechanism to support your communication aims.

Useful links

Listen to the episode on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4tKciX16tMdiaioV8r3KDN?si=Cw0__OpbQNC8H6qTLdxTlg

The Science Comedy Program by Future Science Talks and Dave Crisante: https://www.futuresciencetalks.com.au/science-comedy-program

Learn comedy with Sydney Comedy School: https://www.sydneycomedyschool.com.au/

Play Remediate, the science game created by Taylor's social enterprise OnBoard Science: https://remediategame.com/

Watch Taylor perform science comedy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ss1KLc-35N8&t=32s