A Washington, D.C. comedy club marked Pi Day with a night of science-themed comedy March 14, featuring comedians from the D.C.-Maryland-Virginia area and New York.
At the DC Comedy Loft near Dupont Circle, the performers — several of whom were scientists or science enthusiasts — incorporated a variety of science jokes into their stand-up comedy sets, with topics ranging from climate change to high-level mathematics. Kasha Patel, a stand-up comedian and deputy weather editor for The Washington Post, headlined the event.
Patel said that, while pursuing her master’s degree in science journalism, she fell in love with finding new ways to teach and communicate science through stand-up comedy.
“You joke a lot about what you know, so I found it easy to combine the two: science and comedy,” Patel told The Hoya.
In 2014, Patel created the first “Science Comedy Night” and has since hosted multiple similar events in D.C. each year. Patel said that she tries to cater the comedy events around popular science-related events, including Pi Day, Earth Day, rocket launches and solar eclipses.
“I’m trying to expose the D.C. audience to people who they may not know and topics they may not have otherwise heard about to make it be a fun night,” Patel said.
DC Comedy Loft also welcomed four other comedians: Kyle Marian, a science communicator; Robert Mac, a D.C.-based comic; Benny Feldman, a comedian from New York City; and, Reem Edan, an Iraqi-American content creator.
Marian, a scientist turned storyteller from New York City, also produces “The Symposium: Academic Stand-Up,” a monthly stand-up show that allows academics and researchers opportunities to share their complicated research in a fun, entertaining way. She joked about how, growing up in the Philippines, her love of science began after she watched “Indiana Jones.”
Following Marian’s set, Mac, a comedian who has appeared on Comedy Central, delivered jokes in a deliberate, deadpan fashion, many of which focused on climate change and the environment.
“Experts are saying natural disasters are on the decline, but they have bad news about man-made ones,” Mac said at the event.
In 2022, the United Nations reported that human activity had significantly increased disasters like fires, floods, pandemics and chemical accidents globally.
Feldman fired off jokes rapidly, most of which were related to the science of animals, insects and dinosaurs.
“Did you know whales have a heart the size of a car?” Feldman joked at the event. “Just wait until they uncover the true meaning of Christmas!”
Matthew Jordan (CAS ’26), a Georgetown University student who attended the comedy night, said that the event was well-received by the sold-out crowd and that the audience was energetic, engaged and excited to laugh at every joke.
“I really enjoyed it,” Jordan wrote to The Hoya. “That was my first stand-up comedy experience, and I was really impressed with how each comedian worked the crowd and kept everyone laughing.”
Dori Rosenstrauch (CAS ’27), another Georgetown student who attended the event, said that the night of science comedy made scientific topics more accessible to non-scientists.
“I’ve never been to a comedy show with a specific theme, so I was excited to see them explore that,” Rosenstrauch wrote to The Hoya. “It was also nice to see the different ways the comics went with it. The crowd was definitely mostly scientists, but in general, science is something that is often exclusive. I hope that something like this could make science feel more approachable to some people.”
Patel said she is excited to host more science comedy events in the future, with the hope of continuing to excite audiences about science topics and bringing together a larger science community.
“My goal is to use comedy to bring people from different viewpoints together with a shared understanding and appreciation for science,” Patel said. “Comedy has a really cool power: The same joke can make the president and a fourth-grader laugh.”
