History Showoff is an evening of hilarious nonsense about the past, with comedians, historians and archaeologists

Imagine a stand-up comedy show where, instead of talking about airline food and internet dating, we’re laughing at the Tudors, Victorians and World War 2. And even history that isn’t on the GCSE syllabus!

We’re the only comedy night where you can see historians explaining why Queen Victoria was really misunderstood, comedians claiming that Henry VIII was a role model we should all learn from and meet archaeologists who hate Tomb Raider. All archaeologists hate Tomb Raider, by the way. I learned that at History Showoff.

We take over pubs, libraries, theatres, festivals and anywhere else we can put a microphone, and guarantee laughs and learning. Arrive with an interest in history and leave with new found facts to win all the pub quiz rounds, having laughed so hard your insides hurt. Our speakers come from universities and the comedy circuit, and you’ll laugh at professors and PhD students as much as the humour professionals.

Hosted by Dr Steve Cross. Steve is a stand-up comedian, presenter and producer, travelling across the UK helping all sorts of intellectual types share their passions. He founded Bright Club, the international network of academic comedy clubs, and performs at comedy, music, science and tech festivals around the world.

He trains clever people to be funny, through his project CLEVERmakeFUNNY, and has worked with academics, museums professionals, software engineers, architects and lawyers to make comedy part of their lives. Steve plays Chagrin the Fighter on wildly-successful comedy fantasy podcast Chaotic Adequate.

Steve has performed at great comedy venues like the Bloomsbury Theatre, Comedy Store and Edinburgh Festival Fringe, but also great nerdy venues including the Science Museum, the Manchester Science Festival, the Barbican and the British Museum. He’s organised comedy shows as part of professional conferences across Europe, as well as hosting their programmes and speaking after their dinner.

Steve does things that aren’t jokes too. His public engagement consultancy and training can be found at drstevecross.com

Programme

TBC