CERN lab becomes a comedy club

Particle physics lab CERN is to become a comedy club.

The Swiss-based research centre, home of the Large Hadron Collider, is to host its first stand-up night on Friday.

Scientist Sam Gregson, who organised the LHComedy night, said: ‘Comedy promises a fantastic and innovative new way for us to present the work going on at CERN, to engage with the public and to have fun.’

The night will be hosted by stand-up Helen Keen, from the Radio 4 programme It Is Rocket Science, and feature cabaret comic Jonny Berliner, former Chortle student finalist Pierre Novellie and Belgian comedian Lieven Scheire – all of whom will perform in English.

They will be performing alongside six scientists who will explain their research ‘through the medium of stand-up comedy’. The evening aims to strengthen links between scientists and other locals, and to ‘break down the stereotypes associated with being a CERN scientist’.

The gig is like a neutrino – there’s no charge – and free tickets are available here. The event will also be streamed live on the web here.

Published: 28 Aug 2013