Dropsafe

by Alec Muffett

comedians and science 1

What is it with this vogue for comedians presenting one or more entire series of science, history or technology programmes on TV? I suspect that Billy Connolly started the trend some time long ago, and now we have:

  • Tony (“Baldrick”) Robinson – archaeology
  • Terry (“Python”) Jones – crusader history
  • Robbie (“Hagrid”) Coltrane – big machines
  • Chris (“Rimmer”) Barrie – bigger machines
  • Mark (“Fast Show”) Williams – steam trains

…at least Bill Oddie has been an itinerant birdwatcher since he was a kid; I gather that the middle two of the above are quite serious gearheads, which may have something to do with it.

ISTR that Rowan Atkinson is another gearhead, maybe Rik Mayall too (?) and Alexi Sayle used to park bizzare cars outside my student residence in London WC1.

Who next? Why comedians? Do they self-select for machine-fetishes? Are comedians largely drawn from a population of frustrated Science and Engineering graduates? Why not Newscasters? Disc-Jockeys?

In fact – with the notable exception of Fred Dibnah – why not get people who do/did jobs related to the field under discussion?

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Comments

4 responses to “comedians and science 1”

  1. Crusader
    re: comedians and science 1

    I’m not sure about Billy Connolly starting it, as I only know of his series on the history of scotland and then australia, both well after the first Time Team with tony robinson which I think was at the back end of the 80s/early 90s, when he still had hair.

    Mark Williams also did Industrial Revelations which was a good series about the industrial revolution, although he did spend quite a long time talking about steam engines of various types. Terry Jones seems to have done programmes on all kinds of historical societies, romans and egyptians among them. His variant on What Did The Romans Do For Us? is pretty good, with obvious Life of Brian references.

    As for why comedians are presenting science/history shows, I’d suggest its because, having been on tv/film a fair amount, they are comfortable in front of the camera, usually fairly handy with a throwaway line or two, and can help keep topics accessable despite the quality of the script and subject matter by being generally funny about it. They also seem to be fairly passionate about their chosen subjects which always seems to help.

    Reply
  2. Geoff
    re: comedians and science 1
    Reply
  3. Geoff
    re: comedians and science 1

    The Terry Jones history series was utter crap.

    Don’t forget Douglas Adams doing “Last Chance To See”… with a book, too. Excellent.

    Reply
  4. Etienne
    re: comedians and science 1

    Rowan Atkinson was studying for an Elec Eng PhD at Cambridge, though I think he never finished.

    Reply

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