Bright Club

“The worst you’ll be is interesting” – Marina Gardasevic’s story (2019)

You can get in touch with Bright Club via Twitter at @BrightClubMcr and with Marina at @MarinaGNeuro

It’s one of the rainiest days of the year, I am in a small theatre in a quaint little pub in Salford, standing on stage about to delivery my first ever stand-up comedy routine to 50 paying patrons. Safe to say I was immensely anxious. Stand-up comedy was something I had admired for years but had never envisaged myself doing. Yet here I was, one of 6 researchers performing material about their research at Bright Club Manchester’s 36th show. How did I end up here?

In the summer of last year a friend recommended me for this opportunity and I was shocked; “Really? Me? What would I talk about, my research isn’t funny?” A part of me wanted to give it a try as comedy was a novel form of science communication for me and I wanted to expand my experiences. But again that question: what in my research is funny to a general audience? I was undecided until a few weeks later when I was telling a friend about a project meeting-gone-wrong and they were laughing – laughing at my story. That was the moment I made up my mind; and lo and behold I had a my topic!

I spent more time and far more stress hormones working on my set than I had for even my PhD interview 3 years earlier. However the Bright Club team were great; they arranged a workshop with all the performers and helped us brainstorm ideas, in addition to providing general tips for performing a stand-up set. They were available by email and in person whenever we needed help. I remember in that first workshop one of them said something that stuck with me: “the best you’ll be is hilarious, the worst you’ll be is interesting”. It was a penny-drop moment and my entire view changed; if level 0 is “interesting” what did I have to lose?

By the time the night came I had run through my set dozens of times, thinking and re-thinking about every line. We were given our performance order; I was to be fourth, immediately after the interval. The audience was warmed-up by the professional compère but I was insanely nervous. That is, right up until I watched my fellow performer deliver his set – the audience were amazing! They laughed and participated and gave such support to the researcher on stage that I was no longer scared; I was excited! The interval ended and it was my turn, I took one long slow breath, and had the best 10 minutes I could have ever expected. I felt I was working with the audience and everyone enjoyed themselves. See for yourself!

I left the stage with an elation that saw me through the rest of the week. Writing and performing a 10 minute comedy set with Bright Club Manchester was one of the most nerve-wracking and rewarding experiences of my life and I recommend it to any researcher; after all, the worst you’ll be is interesting.