It’s been documented that inserting comedy into lesson plans can aid learning by keeping pupils interested.
Now one professor at the University of Alabama believes the principles of stand-up comedy can further engineering research as well.
The process of creating stand-up jokes often includes misdirection and non-liner thinking. That same kind of outside-the-box thinking, when applied to engineering research, can produce new and interesting theories that wouldn’t occur during conventional scientific method research. It could also produce a funny-looking bridge.
Today’ Stand-Up Spotlight includes news that Ricky Gervais continues to aggravate people; a profile of Dominican comedy and a dive into the Columbia, S. C., comedy scene. It concludes with news of the passing of British comedian Tony Allen – dubbed the godfather of alternative comedy.
Get out there and find the funny.
STAND-UP SPOTLIGHT – December 5, 2023
Finding the humor: Comedy inspires UA professor’s engineering research
Pete Ludovice, a chemical and biological engineering professor and recent addition to The University of Alabama’s faculty, is exploring ways to use humor to solve engineering problems.
Ludovice, who describes himself as an engineering professor by day and stand-up comedian by night, believes that traditional brainstorming can lead to repetitive lines of thought. His work studies how humor can be the catalyst for innovative solutions to engineering problems, as well as how it can impact the teaching process.
Ricky Gervais slammed for joking about terminally ill children: ‘Some things are not funny’
They wish he would just go away.
Ricky Gervais, 62, is under fire for labeling terminally ill children “baldies” and calling them “retarded” in his upcoming Netflix stand-up special “Armageddon.”
‘Morir Soñando’ Proved Dominicans Are Having Their Moment in Stand-Up Comedy
Dominican comedians took over New York’s historic United Palace for the “Morir Soñando” show. Part of the New York Comedy Festival, the show is the first in the festival to feature an all-Dominican lineup. It even sold out in the first few weeks of ticket sales.
But this was not the first time Sasha Merci, and Glorelys Mora shared the stage with other comedians. They started the show in 2019 with dreams of making it onto a historic stage.
Column: Columbia’s stand-up comedy scene is flourishing. Here’s why locals should check out a show
Columbia is not well-known for its standup-comedy scene. But various comedians and comedy venues are slowly changing that narrative.
Locals should check out Columbia’s standup-comedy scene because the variance in venues allows performers to experiment with their brand of comedy in front of different audiences while giving locals multiple places to discover them.
Alternative comedy pioneer Tony Allen dies at 78
Tony Allen – widely hailed as the godfather of alternative comedy – has died at the age of 78.
The comic had been diagnosed with cancer, and was suffering a number of age-related health problems.
He was instrumental in creating the modern comedy scene when he and Alexei Sayle set up a collective of politically motivated performers called Alternative Cabaret in 1979, with an ethos borrowed from punk and radical theatre.
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