Dr. Vida Stout

Well, this was all at conference talks.

And I think it was because I love conferences generally, like the socialization part.

But, you know, I have a hard time sitting still and listening to boring talks.

In fact, I have this, someone took a photo of me really embarrassingly, like completely asleep, like drooling, like a crunched up neck at a conference falling asleep because the talksters can be so, so boring.

And so I guess when this particular keynote speaker was making jokes, I noticed from my comedian brain, noticed this palpable shift in the room energetically.

I sort of felt it like almost like a group lean forward.

I was like, whoa, that's actually really interesting.

And I just got on some soapbox, basically, that I believe that scientists should be making jokes.

Admit them to keep me engaged because I am not listening if you're not making jokes.

Yeah.

And like, honestly, humor comes from lived experience, right?

And scientists have had incredibly interesting lives.

Think of their fieldwork that they've done.

They've gone to remote places.

They've worked with, you know, weird animals.

I'm a biologist, so hence that's where my mind is thinking.

But like they've had incredible lived experiences that most people have and don't have.

And I think that is an incredible mine for comedy to like sort of bring that to life.

So it's a little higher.

The humor attempts was a little higher than you would expect.