When choosing the most appropriate art form to explain statistical significance, Dan Attfield settled on hip-hop as having the most educational value. He cites his main point of evidence as the success of Hamilton -The Musical. His one man musical comedy show might be aiming too high in this comparison, but it certainly has it's educational moments.
It's an enjoyable hour, just not really about what we were told it was going to be about
Starting off with entry level maths and the use of “mother flipping data”, he explains the concept of Google Correlate. This is a function that can be used to discover relationships between internet search terms. There is for example, a 97.7% correlation between searching for Winnie the Pooh and illegal street racing - leading to the pun “Pooh fast, Pooh furious”. The show is full of witty little moments that come out of nowhere like that. The songs are extremely funny and the clever; a filthy ode to love on the London Underground was one of the best received comedy songs I've seen performed.
Attfield's quest is to use search data to predict the apocalypse. It's a funny concept and started well, with audience members being assigned as the four hobby horses of the apocalypse. I really struggled to see how this theme developed though. Usually that would be the death knell of a show, but I'm not sure it mattered too much here. It's an enjoyable hour, just not really about what we were told it was going to be about as he meandered through Google Analytics and mathematical puns. His audience involvement was excellent and I was seriously disappointed not to go home with a hobby horse as the chosen horsemen all looked as if they were having a great time. The final horseman, Death, was covered through Pingu's Lament, which recalled the dark periods in our favourite little penguin’s life. The show could have been just this song and I think people would have left happy.
Attfield has produced a slick, well put together show here. He uses his Gibson SG and loop pedal to good effect, giving the show a quality veneer. Too often performers can be tripped up by the details of a show, despite having good material. It's pleasing to see someone who has clearly put a lot of thought and work into something and managed to pull off a show to be proud of.
