Lecture style comedy shows are always an interesting watch. We have had plenty of these over the years at Fringe covering all sorts of different topics, but none quite like David Benaim and his self-proclaimed love for spreadsheets. Excel Comedy and Mathe-Mantics comes straight off the back of a smash-hit run in Edinburgh, and opened here at Kaffe Kid to a sell-out debut.
Full of math puns and groan-worthy data puns, Benaim really does use Excel live on stage as his main prop. Benaim holds the official Microsoft MVP Award for Excel and is considered by Microsoft to be among the top 100 Excel people worldwide. As a current advisor to Microsoft on future directions for Excel, Benaim shares his knowledge, tips and tricks with a cheeky twist. He had the audience laughing before the show even started with an interactive data form full of relatable questions and silly multiple choice options. What is the most annoying corporate phrase? I went with ‘my door is always open’.
The show was intercepted with surprisingly tender and emotional moments, including an homage to Alan Turing, the so-called ‘father of modern computing.’ For those who may be unaware, Turing broke the German Enigma code that ultimately helped England win the war and was later chemically castrated for being gay. The show literally would not exist without him. As an out and proud gay man, Benaim became visibly emotional during this part of the show and encouraged all the LGBT+ audience members to make themselves known.
The show was a big hit with an equal mix of spreadsheet geeks and math nerds. Benaim had the audience laughing, pondering, and participating all the way through, and had nearly half of his tickets sold before the festival even started. That being said, if there is one demographic that is most likely to pre-book!
Ceri Taylor
