Matt Parker is a best-selling author, YouTuber with over 100 million views and the first person to use an overhead projector at the Hammersmith Apollo since Pink Floyd. He is a regular on is a regular on Discovery’s Outrageous Acts of Science and BB Radio 4’s More or Less.
As one third of science-comedy phenomenon Festival of the Spoken Nerd, Matt has appeared on BBC2’s QI, created the BBC Radio 4 comedy show Domestic Science, performed at Shakespeare’s Globe, The British Library, TED, The Royal Institution, Latitude, James Randi’s ‘The Amaz!ng Meeting’ in Las Vegas enjoyed sell out runs at the Edinburgh Fringe and Soho Theatre. Matt also co-created the sell out show Edinburgh Fringe show Your Days Are Numbered: The Maths of Death (alongside Timandra Harkness).
Matt Parker Humble Pi is at Pleasance Dome 31st July – 26th August.
Humble Pi is coming to Pleasance Dome what can you tell us about it?
The show is a comprehensive guide to all the maths mistakes ever made by humankind (within reasonable error bars). I became obsessed with maths mistakes because they are the perfect combination of funny stories and interesting mathematics. That obsession lead to me writing a book and a stand-up show at the same time. The book was unexpected a #1 Sunday Time best-seller, so the stand-up show is now doomed to underperform by any relative measure.
What inspired you to write Humble Pi?
I’d been keeping a collection of maths mistakes as a hobby. Then one day I was in a meeting with Penguin discussing my next book and I pitched a comedy of maths errors. It felt like a fun way to tell entertaining stories and also explain some interesting mathematics. So much of our modern life is underpinned by numbers but we only notice when it goes wrong! Penguin agreed and as soon as I started researching I was amazed at the wealth of stories. I couldn’t help but start writing a stand-up show at the same time.
What’s the most challenging thing about performing in this show?
There is so much going on. As always I’m doing a lot of mathematics on stage, which takes up a decent amount of brain space. And in this show I complete the hardest level of Pac-Man on while simultaneously explaining how the next level with glitch and crash. Plus all the usual overly complicated tech which automates the show. And lasers. I need to not stand in the wrong place at the wrong time or I’ll get lasered. It’s a lot of fun but mentally exhausting.
Have you had to make any changes to the production to suit the space you have?
It is not the show that bends, it is only the venue. The 10 Dome crew have been excessively accommodating. Installing a screen for my slides was only the beginning: my show automation system seems compatible with their set-up, I have an interactive Pac-Man arcade machine live on stage and there are lasers. (In increasing levels of danger.)
What’s the one thing about this show that makes it different from all the rest?
More maths than you can poke a slide-rule at. But also jokes. This show is right in the intersection of the maths+comedy venn diagram. I need to keep a rigorous amount of hard core maths in the show because my large nerd fanbase will show up and expect to see my working out. But I am also in a prime comedy slot with a show advertised as stand-up, so I need to make enough jokes to keep normal humans happy. It’s an unstable equilibrium but it seems to work.
Who will Humble Pi appeal to the most?
Nerds and the sci-curious. There is all the maths that regulars at my shows have come to expect: some all-new new derivations and calculations as well as an update on my campaign for accurate geometry in UK street signs (spoiler: it’s not going well). But those who are merely flirting with the nerd lifestyle will also have a great time. It’s a very warm and welcoming environment for even those who don’t view multiplication tables as a recreational activity.
Matt Parker Humble Pi is at Pleasance Dome 31st July – 26th August.
