Just a reminder that if you want to go to one of the four live U.S. performances of the hugely popular British BBC Radio 4 science-and-humor show, “The Infinite Monkey Cage” (they’ll be in New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles between March 5 and March 13), you’d best buy your tickets now, as I’m told they’re moving fast. The show will, as always, be a live conversation between the two hosts, physicist Brian Cox and comedian Robin Ince, and a panel of four: two scientists and two figures from the entertainment world, often comedians.
The scientists have all been lined up, and a few of the entertainers as well. Joe Rogan’s going to be in L.A., and there will be a special guest performance there (presumably musical) by Eric Idle. I’m jealous, for though I’ll be one of the scientists on the Chicago panel (along with my paleontologist colleague Paul Sereno), we get no Python.
However, they just announced the first “entertainer” for our show, and I’m delighted to see that it’s Peter Sagal, author, playwright and host of the popular National Public Radio show “Wait wait. . . don’t tell me!”—one of the few NPR shows (beside the news) that I actually listen to.
You can buy tickets for the Chicago event here, and for the other events at the first link above.
I was alerted to this tw**t about the event that Sagal emitted yesterday.
Though it thought that this surely must have been a joke, I still had a moment of panic. How could this Harvard-educated polymath possibly be a creationist? So I did some frantic Googling and of course found that Sagal clearly accepts evolution:
And in fact fact Sagal wrote a play about Holocaust denial. From Wikipedia:
In April 2007, his play Denial received its New York premiere at the Metropolitan Playhouse on the Lower East Side. The play, which portrays a Jewish lawyer who represents a Holocaust denier, has also been recorded by the L.A. Theatre Works company. Sagal is also credited as co-writer of the movie Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights.
Sagal is a marathon runner who completed the 2007 Boston Marathon. He ran a portion of the Chicago Marathon in 2011. He was present near the explosions at the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings.
I bought a ticket for NYC as soon as they went on sale. Should be a great evening, been a fan of the show for a long time. Hope you have a great time with the Chicago taping!
Wait, Wait … Don’t Tell Me is my favorite NPR program. A recent episode with Dame Edna Everage as the guest for Not My Job was very funny. My favorite panelist is Paula Poundstone. My favorite game is Bluff the Listener.
I have a trick for solving Bluff the Listener. If a panelist mispronounces or stumbles over a name or word in the story, that’s the correct answer. It’s unlikely they’d do that in a story they made up.
Yes, I heard that one with Everage; it was fricking HILARIOUS.
Wish they were coming to Toronto!!
I was only half listening, but Paula Pound just said something about “we atheists” on todays show!
I was bummed when
Lord of the Ringsoops I mean religion scholar Reza Aslan was on WWDTM a few weeks back.WHAT????
Yeah, it happened! In fact I just rechecked to make sure it wasn’t a nightmare. Check it out:
http://www.npr.org/2015/02/07/384524138/panel-round-two
Yes, Jerry if you get a chance please ask Peter Sagal how they ever ended up with Aslan as a panelist?
Safe prediction : “[mumble mumble] production team!”
(And, to be fair, this sort of show does have a significant production team behind it. Of necessity.)
I will know tomorrow if I will attend. I may come solo if my SO cannot make it.
Shame they’re not going to make it to the desert….
b&
I think this is the first US tour by a BBC podcast. They are playing it safe. Sagal’s show, WWDTM, initially was done in studio starting in Jan of 1998. And Sagal was not the host. It was not very good. Sagal took over in May 1998. It was still done in studio until 2005. I am not sure when they started doing shows outside of Chicago. Initially, they stuck to cities with big NPR audiences but now they sell out wherever they go. It is an interesting phenomenon.
The shows in Chicago are always sold out. Chase Auditorium only seats about 500. The Athenaeum Theatre seats 984. There are tickets available but I think the addition of Sagal (with all due deference to Jerry and Paul Sereno) will help move the remaining tickets.
Now that I live in the Bay Area again, I can go to things like this more often. Unfortunately, I still can’t afford $55/ticket! Oh well, that’s why they make TV, internet and radio…for peons like moi.