Category: appearances

The Man in the Media

I’m popping up in a few places this week, so look out if you’re up for a dose of enthusiastic science geekery!

Matt Smith – no, not the new Doctor, but the lovely man putting together The Pun’s PunCast interviews – spoke to me the other day about the [intlink id=”85″ type=”page”]Melbourne Museum Comedy Tour[/intlink], the Anarchist Guild Social Committee and Graeme Garden. It was excellent fun, and I hope you’ll enjoy listening to our conversation, which you can find in PunCast Episode 9.

Also, if you’re in Melbourne, be sure to tune in to Channel 31 on Monday, April 20 for Yartz, where the irrepressible (but no less lovely than Matt Smith) Ralph McLean asked me the hard questions about dinosaurs at Melbourne Museum. This one will probably also end up on YouTube, I’m told – I’ll be sure to link to it when it does!

Speaking of the tour, you do all know that it begins this Thursday (April 16), right? And that the first week is nearly sold out? Book your tickets now or get them at the door (there are still a few left for Friday and Saturday), and we’ll see you there!

Comedy Festival news

It’s been an action-packed first week of the Comedy Festival, not least because it culminated in my 30th orbit round the sun. As we head off on another elliptical, gravity-powered journey, I think back on the last thirty years in wonder. Who knows where we’ll be in 2039?

Let’s focus on a smaller interval of time, though. First, I must report that the first night (Thursday April 16) of the [intlink id=”85″ type=”page”]Melbourne Museum Comedy Tour[/intlink] has sold out! A couple of the other nights look set to go the same way, so be sure and book (via comedyfestival.com.au) to avoid missing out. Watch out for myself and the other tour guides popping up in various media over the next week or so, as well!

I’m also appearing in the Anarchist Guild Social Committee show, A Fine Selection, on April 12 and 19. This may well be the last hurrah for these sketches, so come see them while you can!

If like me you’re not just a science geek but geeky in general, you may enjoy my column for Comedy Festival paper The Pun. It’s titled Ben McKenzie’s Geek Comedy and it’s about…well, geek comedy! The first article explains everything so don’t be afraid.

Finally, for those who don’t know, your favourite lab coat wearing man about town can now be found talking nonsense on Twitter. No, not Rob Morrison: me! Find me under the fairly obvious user name labcoatman, where you can read what I’m seeing at the festival and watch me exchange nonsense with my friends and celebrities I don’t know – par for the course, really.

The Man returns for National Science Week!

Ben McKenzie, the Man in the Lab Coat, makes two appearances in August for National Science Week!

First, he returns to Melbourne Museum for Not the Nobel Prize on Friday, August 22. Following on from last year’s hit show, Ben will join fellow a panel of fellow comedians as they pit their wits against actual scientists to sort science fact from science fiction.

And, from August 22 to 24, Ben launches a new show, A Brief History of A Brief History of Time, at the Royal Society of Victoria. He’ll prove you don’t need 12 degrees to understand Stephen Hawking’s great unread classic, A Brief History of Time.

Check out the show page for more details, and visit the National Science Week web site to see what else is happening in Melbourne and all round Australia.

Last days for the Melbourne Museum tour

The Melbourne Museum Comedy Tour finishes this week, and after some of the great reviews we’ve had from The Groggy Squirrel and UK comedy site Chortle, our last two nights are sure to be a great success. So come on down! Tonight, Ben McKenzie, Bec Hill and Sue-Ann Post will be your guides, and on Friday, Ben and Bec will instead be joined by Kent Valentine.

It’s the last days too for A Record or an OBE, the what if play about hit 70s British comedy group The Goodies. OBE plays this Saturday and Sunday, the 5th and 6th of April, and then every night next week until the 13th of April, with no show on Monday; there are also plans for a late show at 11 PM on Friday, April 11th; watch Shaolin Punk for details!

The Man is Graeme Garden…again

Ben McKenzie’s short play A Record or an OBE – in which Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke-Taylor of famous British comedy troupe the Goodies try to carry on after Bill Oddie’s (fictional) departure in 1975 – returns for seasons at the Adelaide Fringe and Melbourne International Comedy Festival! A Record or an OBE stars Ben as Graeme and Rob Lloyd as Tim, and is directed by Scott Gooding. Tickets are one sale now; check out the Shaolin Punk web site for more information.