On 24 April, Tim Hirsch performed stand-up comedy at the Brisbane Comedy Festival—on the topic of his PhD thesis. What sounds like the start of a nightmare was, in fact, the finale of the Science Comedy Program, which was generously funded by EQUS.

The Science Comedy Program serves as the training pipeline for Future Science Talks, a national initiative that brings science-themed comedy to festivals and events around Australia. When the Brisbane Comedy Festival callout appeared in late March, Hirsch was deep in the final stages of submitting his thesis. “In a decision of pure maximalism,” he recalls, “I told myself I could use the distraction.”

The program’s time commitment was manageable, even amid thesis deadlines. Hirsch joined eight other Brisbane-based STEM professionals for two group workshops and two one-on-one sessions. The group workshops focused on public communication, comedic structure, and audience engagement techniques. “A lot of the material is gold,” he says, citing the ‘inverse pyramid’ structure as a particularly useful framework for public science communication. During the one-on-one sessions, participants refined their material with a professional comedian.

Despite initial nerves, Hirsch describes his time on stage as a “truly superlative, ‘pinch me’ experience.” The performance is expected to be published on YouTube around mid-June.

Hirsch encourages others to apply for the program when it next visits their city. “It is not a big time sink, and you will be incredibly proud and glad you participated,” he says. “I can’t imagine a better way to inspire self-confidence, and I am definitely going to re-use the techniques I learned.”