A show that gathers different academics, doctors, scientists and the like to intellectually entertain has real potential and if the hour had been filled with funny facts from entertaining individuals it could have been a real hit. Instead, it resembled something a lot closer to a painful slap in the face.
The energy and smiles of compere Cat Wade constitute the show’s best parts. Her friendly banter and jolly quips got giggles that were sorely missed when she was not on stage. If you love Miranda Hart you’ll love this younger version (but if you don’t, the whole show is going to leave you with a lot to be desired). Cat’s endeavours to maintain the energy of the audience may have been admirable, but they became increasingly detrimental when it distracted her from delivering clear introductions to each of the acts.
To Bright Club’s credit, it had obviously attempted to create a show of informative variety, as the performers ranged from an equine vet to a nuclear physicist. Each act’s ten minutes of fame had been carefully practiced, but unfortunately nerves got the better of most. Even with the audience’s best will to enjoy the show, moments of nervous laughter and awkward pauses from those on stage made for some uncomfortable viewing. What a relief then when the more confident acts rose to moments of gentle humour, as mathematical puns snatched a couple of appreciative chuckles.
There may have been no uproarious laughter, but at least the acts revealed the jovial side to academics- apparently the best use of liquid nitrogen is for chilling beer and wine in the office. Nevertheless, the show failed to find a comfortable ground between intellectual subject matter and humour. At least if the quality of acts varied slightly in this show, this could bode well for the future. With a different set of performers that hit the right tone of light-hearted learning this show could be completely transformed.
