The Nerd Degree showcases the seemingly inextricable relationship between the worlds of improv and nerd culture, proving it to be a mostly beautiful yet sometimes disturbing thing. With two teams pushing their knowledge of superheroes and scientists to the limit, this funny and informative show takes the audience on a quest to find “the wittiest nerd” or “the nerdiest wit”.

In one corner sit team Dianne Pulham, Rik Brown and Jennifer O’Sullivan who channel and combine their former lives of Batman obsession, Under 13 walking race glories and pro wrestling into the formidable Team Capulet. In the opposite corner, Jason Geary, April Seymore and Matt Powell form Team Montague, fuelled by a passion for action figure hoarding, doodling and typeface. 

Ever wonder what famous book series is celebrating their 10^th anniversary by gender swapping their characters? Jennifer O’Sullivan, who claims to be currently at war with the patriarchy (“if you see it, hit it for me”), reliably informs us that it’s Twilight. 

Or how about that famous scientist rivalry that resulted in the electrocution of an elephant? For the record it was Edison and Tesla however this topic swiftly deteriorates into team Montague hypothesising about electrocuted elephant snuff porn. 

Under the steady guidance of MC Brendon Bennetts, questions move from bizarre topics such as these and beyond, with his thorough research on nerdy topics being a real strength of the show. In the particular, the section on movies with ‘vs’ in the title was particularly mind-expanding with a seemingly infinite number of films ending in ‘vs zombies’. My favourite ‘vs’ movie title would have to be Nosferatu vs Father Pipecock & Sister Funk however. 

Special mention should be made of Dianne Pulham who openly talks about her pubescent obsession with erotic Dragon Ball Z fan fiction for the first time; however she is definitely not alone in letting her freak flag fly. By the time we reach the climactic debate of “who would win: Wile. E. Coyote vs Predator?” it becomes obvious that sanity has given way to pure nerddom and both sides’ arguments are highly compelling.

In addition, Andrew Todd’s booming voice announcing the scores adds to the quiz show feel, Darryn Woods keeps the set appropriately lit for this heated battle of wit and Oli Devlin continues to bring sweet music and sound effects to many shows in the festival. 

Check out the Nerd Degree podcast for more antics along these lines. 

http://nerddegree.com/

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