Weird Science (What the bleep does God know?)
It is known that sometimes the title and synopsis of a comedy festival show bear little resemblance to the finished product and this can lead to disappointment. Tom Middlebrook’s show was accurately described in the festival guide, however it may still lead to confusion. The title Weird Science (What the bleep does God know?) may have misled some people who came along expecting a show full of science facts but that’s not what Tom was about.
Tom began his show by launching into a monologue about religion that pointed out the inconsistencies, erroneous beliefs and his colourful theories. He had clearly done a lot of research to select the many passages he used as examples, making the material interesting and digestible but he often got bogged own in too much explanation rather than making with the funny. Quite a few of his comments tickled my fancy but I noticed that not everyone in the room was laughing, such a sensitive topic clearly not being to everyone’s taste. It was interesting that he didn’t concentrate on the Catholic faith, spreading his coverage to take in various others albeit briefly.
After at least thirty minutes on religion, Tom eventually went into the drug stories. Not being a user myself I found it difficult to relate, have sympathy or find the humour in most of the tales. In the hands of a better performer, these stories would have brought the house down, but his delivery lacked the animation to bring them to life.
We eventually reached the science portion of the show, encompassing Quantum Physics that Tom had learnt during an aborted university course. He covered Schrodinger’s Cat and the Butterfly effect, but again Tom was bogged down in explanation so the laughs in this section were light on the ground. He tied up the loose ends at the end of the show by showing how religion, drugs and science were interrelated but after the empathy free drug section of the show, I didn’t particularly care.
Tom’s stage craft was very rough around the edges. He was very eloquent and confident yet he was rarely physical, instead remaining behind the safety of the microphone. If he had gotten a little more worked up in his attacking of religion, he would have been able to generate some passion in the audience and we would have been prepared to follow him. Instead his slightly meandering and cheerful performance merely had us stroking our chins in contemplation, quietly agreeing with him.
For a person to relate to Tom for the entirety of his show they would have to belong to a quite narrow demographic. This person would be a heavy drug user, would question religion and have a passing interest in university science. It was an interesting and thought provoking show that wasn’t quite the humour filled hour it could have been.
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