Revenge of the nerds
Adam Dudding investigates why audiences are clamouring to see geeks on stage.
Achair, a jug of water and a microphone. Oh, and maybe a giant screen for the Powerpoint. The props are pretty simple when you’re taking a celebrity brainiac on tour, but you can still get bums on seats.
In July, Auckland’s Spark Arena was packed as American astrophysicist Neil de Grasse Tyson talked to local science champion Michelle ‘‘Nanogirl’’ Dickinson about dwarf galaxies and black holes. The same month British chimp guru Jane Goodall played dates in Auckland, Wellington, Dunedin and Christchurch, and the $249-a-pop tickets for the postshow ‘‘meet and greet’’ sold out.
This coming week UK particle physicist Brian Cox will be nattering with comedian Robin Ince onstage at Auckland’s Aotea Centre and Wellington’s TSB Arena, and tickets for a half-day with Malcolm ‘‘Tipping Point’’
Gladwell in December are on sale for $595. Further out, religion-basher Richard Dawkins and his particle physicist partner Lawrence Krauss (see sidebar) are appearing in Auckland next May (Dawkins was meant to come to New Zealand for the Wellington book festival last year, but cancelled after suffering a minor stroke.)
At a time when science and truth are under assault from the world’s most powerful man, and the internet is awash with fake news and Twitter bots, and local media is focussed on regular updates about some doomed TV marriages, it’s heartening to learn thousands of us will pay handsomely for the
privilege of getting up close and listening to brainy people who actually know what they’re talking about.
Mikee Tucker is New Zealand director and producer of the Australasian events organiser Think Inc, which organised the Tyson, Goodall and Dawkins/ Krauss events.
‘‘Yep,’’ he says, ‘‘I’d agree it’s a new trend.’’
There’s always been an audience for intellectual events, whether that’s book festivals or public university lectures from visiting academics, but in the past few years a confluence of forces have created a bigger, glitzier forum, to the point where it has become realistic to book an actual stadium for a visiting astrophysicist.
Ted Talks created a model for a certain kind of slickly stylised public speaking. Netflix means anyone can glut on the backcatalogue of Tyson’s TV series
Cosmos. Youtube means you can find the obscure 2013 documentary The Unbelievers, which followed Dawkins and Krauss around the world on one of their anti-religion speaking tours. And all of a sudden, agents and impresarios realised there was a worldwide audience who might shell out to see Taylor Swift one week, and Tyson the next.
Tucker, whose many hats include record label owner and cofounder of the music collective Fly My Pretties, dipped a toe into the intellectual-entertainment game when organising TEDx-branded events in Auckland in 2013. Think Inc visits by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and British doctor and sceptic Ben Goldacre followed. (A visit by the Somalian commentator and critic of Islam Ayaan Hirsi Ali this year was cancelled at the last minute.)
Tucker says he sees a real hunger in society for intelligent conversation, and the audience is very broad. Ben Goldacre was big with doctors and nurses – ‘‘we set up a special concession price for nurses once we saw what they get paid’’. Goodall was dominated by mothers with their daughters, as well as lots of greens, while Tyson’s fans were ‘‘from every walk of life’’.
Apart from the simplicity of the water-jug/microphone/ Powerpoint setup, Tucker says touring with these public intellectuals is easier than wrangling a band.
‘‘They’re devoid of ego, and a lot of them feel surprised where they’re at. They didn’t expect to be on such a big stage, but they take it in their stride and remain humble. It’s great to work with people who are such big names but easy to talk to.’’
Broadcaster and Public Address founder Russell Brown has organised numerous local speaking events, and was MC for Ben Goldacre’s event at Auckland’s Mercury Theatre. He says it’s hard to beat the atmosphere of a live event.
‘‘We can see mediated versions of these people whenever we want on our computers or phones. But there is something special about being in a room with that person, and being in an audience with like minds.
‘‘I found the same thing on a smaller scale with the Public Address events. People like to hear intelligent things said in a room.’’
Clearly, some of the allure of the famous visitors is sheer celebrity – we want to breathe the same air as that person who’s become so familiar to us on the TV or online – and that’s just fine, says Brown.
It’s worth noting that shelling out to hear brilliant thinkers from across the seas isn’t an entirely new phenomenon.
In 1895, Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain, included New Zealand in a lengthy world tour designed to pay off his debts.
New Zealanders were very excited about it, and in an era before planes, you can see why such visits were a thrilling rarity: it took Twain five days by train to get from his Connecticut home to San Francisco, then a week to sail to Hawaii, another two weeks to reach Sydney and four more days to reach Bluff.
The tour was a hit, and the coverage in the Wanganui Herald
review would probably still work today – if you transposed it to modern times and imagined that the reviewer was talking about Goodall or Tyson or Cox or Gladwell. ‘‘Little did we think . . . that we should ever have the pleasure of seeing him in the flesh or hearing from his own lips his quaintly humorous talk about this experiences.’’
It’s great to work with people who are such big names but easy to talk to.
Mikee Tucker