Simon Pampena is pumped about maths – he’s so pumped he’s crunching out moves to Survivor’s Eye of the Tiger and encouraging kids to scream, “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie – Maths, Maths, Maths!” The premise of Pampena’s family-friendly show is that Australia’s record at the Maths Olympics is so tragic that we need to apply the dedication and enthusiasm we have for sport to the mathematical arena.
In some ways I guess I am the worst kind of person to review a maths-themed show given that I struggle with anything beyond my four times tables. In fact my husband once grew so frustrated with my inability to comprehend the most simple of mathematical problems that he screamed, “If you could just understand triangles then everything would make sense.” So I took along a ten year-old to help me out. Maybe if Simon Pampena had come into my life when I was in grade five I would have developed a love of numbers because this guy can break it down and makes maths fun, interesting and believe it or not – humorous.
Pampena has put together a creative multi-media display to accompany his energetic show that really assisted the imbeciles like me to comprehend the mathematical problems he posed. He weaves AFL and maths together for some bogan sudoku and switches rabbits with rumours to make maths problems more applicable to his audience volunteer. When kids heckle it doesn’t always make sense and this threw Pampena a little bit but he was quick to get back on track and fire up the crowd. Pampena is the only comedian who has successfully managed to put together a show that caters for the older kids and finally a stand-up comedian for young folk who doesn’t feel the need to resort to fart jokes!
Pampena’s enthusiasm is contagious, he makes maths (and nerds) look cool. This show is recommended for kids in grade five and beyond.
Visit the comedy festival website for bookings and further details