Origins of Bright Club
The Bright Club event was originally set up by Steve Cross in University College London (UCL) because there was a call for an event that brought the university staff together and did something within the local community.
The event on 28 November will be the forth Bright Club to be held in Cardiff and will celebrate its first birthday in front of an expected crowd of 60-70 people.
The line-up to date
Dean Burnett (neuroscientist)
Chris Chopping (MC)
Horse and Louis (Musical Duo)
Sarah Huws (Historian)
Chris Chopping sneak peek
[youtube width=”200″ height=”130″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NM_TuycSTsY[/youtube]
Partnership behind the event
According to Bruce Etherington, Beacon for Wales Manager, Bright Club is supported by a partnership between Cardiff University, Glamorgan University, Techniquest, National Museum of Wales and BBC Wales.
Booking information
There is no booking required for this event, you just need to turn up to Buffalo, Windsor Place, Cardiff on the night. It is £5 entry and it begins at 19:30 – 22:00.
Dean Burnett interview continued
Q.) Is making people laugh something that comes naturally to you?
A.) I like to think making people laugh is something I’ve become better at over time. I come from a family who loves performing, they’re referred to as the ‘Von Craps’ in my home valley, but I was never musically inclined, so I always preferred comedy.
Q.) Which do you think is easier – teaching students in a lecture theatre or performing stand-up in front of a public crowd?
A.) What’s easier out of those depends very much on the audience you get at a gig. Students at a lecture have to be there, and they’re not expecting laughs, just information, so in a way it’s easier to do this, assuming you know what you’re talking about.
Q.) Without giving too much of your content away – how do you turn your understanding of the mind into comedy?
A.) I plan to focus mostly on the weird aspects of the brain, and laugh at just how flimsy some of our knowledge of it is.
Q.) Described as the ‘thinking person’s variety night’ – does the type of comedy have wide appeal or is it targeted at a specific audience?
A.) I think anyone and everyone can appreciate comedy like this, that is sort of the point of this night, but it’s important for people to have an open mind about these things.
Cardiff hosts an intellectual comedy night
Bright Club is a variety night where university researchers and academics perform stand-up comedy to a crowd in relation to their specialist field.
On 28 November, Buffalo in Cardiff will play host to several brave scholars, many of whom will be swapping the lecture theatre for the comedy stage in the name of entertainment.
Dean Burnett, a Cardiff University neuroscientist, has been performing stand-up for six years but the upcoming Bright Club will be his first opportunity to perform a set about his neuroscience work.
He said, “It’s important, I think, to show that scientists, academics and the like are actually people too, not intellectual pseudo-drones who only talk about their professional interests. Bright Club, I feel, helps with this a great deal.”
Origins of Bright Club
The Bright Club event was originally set up by Steve Cross in University College London (UCL) because there was a call for an event that brought the university staff together and did something within the local community.
The event on 28 November will be the forth Bright Club to be held in Cardiff and will celebrate its first birthday in front of an expected crowd of 60-70 people.
The line-up to date
Dean Burnett (neuroscientist)
Chris Chopping (MC)
Horse and Louis (Musical Duo)
Sarah Huws (Historian)
Chris Chopping sneak peek
[youtube width=”200″ height=”130″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NM_TuycSTsY[/youtube]
Partnership behind the event
According to Bruce Etherington, Beacon for Wales Manager, Bright Club is supported by a partnership between Cardiff University, Glamorgan University, Techniquest, National Museum of Wales and BBC Wales.
Booking information
There is no booking required for this event, you just need to turn up to Buffalo, Windsor Place, Cardiff on the night. It is £5 entry and it begins at 19:30 – 22:00.
Dean Burnett interview continued
Q.) Is making people laugh something that comes naturally to you?
A.) I like to think making people laugh is something I’ve become better at over time. I come from a family who loves performing, they’re referred to as the ‘Von Craps’ in my home valley, but I was never musically inclined, so I always preferred comedy.
Q.) Which do you think is easier – teaching students in a lecture theatre or performing stand-up in front of a public crowd?
A.) What’s easier out of those depends very much on the audience you get at a gig. Students at a lecture have to be there, and they’re not expecting laughs, just information, so in a way it’s easier to do this, assuming you know what you’re talking about.
Q.) Without giving too much of your content away – how do you turn your understanding of the mind into comedy?
A.) I plan to focus mostly on the weird aspects of the brain, and laugh at just how flimsy some of our knowledge of it is.
Q.) Described as the ‘thinking person’s variety night’ – does the type of comedy have wide appeal or is it targeted at a specific audience?
A.) I think anyone and everyone can appreciate comedy like this, that is sort of the point of this night, but it’s important for people to have an open mind about these things.