Excel Comedy and Mathem-antics by David Benaim is an hour-long, nerd-tastic celebration of everyone’s favourite Microsoft application: Excel! Complete with live demonstrations, storytelling, puns, and even a sprinkling of PowerPoint tricks, this is a hilarious yet unexpectedly powerful celebration of computing, with a message of community and finding your people at its core. David expertly weaves together a wonderfully moving workplace stand-up comedy routine that will also leave you with a useful toolkit to becoming “a real piece of sheet.”
I think it is fair to say that, if you asked a crowd of people what subjects at school would be least likely to be the focus of a show at one of the world’s biggest theatre festivals, most would come up with maths and computing. However, David (who we were actually lucky enough to chat to on our YouTube channel ahead of his arrival at the Fringe, which you can watch here) is able to delicately tread the line between being an informative masterclass and a hilarious stand-up show perfectly! The audience are greeted by David on stage at Just Up The Road at The Caves, sitting behind his computer and making passive-aggressive notes on his spreadsheet about everything around him (including the venue itself, the crowd, etc.). This was a clear play on the stereotypical ideas some people have about the world of computing, particularly given that holding the MVP award for six years , David has been recognised by Microsoft as being amongst the top 100 Excel people worldwide. The early stages of the show focus on David’s insane knowledge of Excel as he invites the audience to suggest the most efficient solutions to various problems. He is expertly able to not only attempt these solutions and describe in layman’s terms why they would not work, but also share with the audience the best course of action, giving them some useful shortcuts to use wherever Excel appears in their everyday lives!
In my personal life, it is fair to say that I have often been referred to as “The Excel guy”, as I am constantly finding spreadsheet-assisted ways to make day-to-day operations more efficient and effective. On top of this, I am someone who holds an A-level in both computing and mathematics (I am not going to mention what grade, but I can boast about having them), and so when I discovered David’s show, I knew this was something that I could not miss! Despite my own experiences with using Excel and similar software, David was able to provide so much helpful advice that I am definitely going to implement in my next spreadsheet. It is not only these shortcuts that David is able to showcase throughout the show, as he also sprinkles a collection of brilliant jokes throughout, including my favourite bit about how Excel appears to struggle with formatting dates — and that’s because no one at Excel has ever been good at dates. It is not only brilliant, but also hilarious! The show then takes a much more personal and honest direction as David begins to highlight computing pioneers, and in particular the contributions of Alan Turing. This not only shows his deep passion and knowledge of computing as a concept, but also shines a light on how this queer computer scientist was a major contributor to our victory in the war, something which many people seem to forget. This then transitions into a powerful and moving story where David writes a letter to his younger self akin to the iconic Lil Nas X , highlighting his journey not only to his passion for Excel but also to the world’s biggest theatre festival. There is a particularly moving moment towards the end of the show which I will not spoil, but it is fair to say that almost everyone in the audience was moved to the verge of tears as David truly opens up about his life.
In conclusion, Excel Comedy and Mathem-antics by David Benaim is a hilarious masterclass that not only gives you helpful tips and tricks for the workplace, but also demonstrates how important it is to find a community of like-minded people to surround yourself with. Due to the plethora of dick jokes and the fact that the basis of this show relies upon this legendary workplace software, this is absolutely a show for a more mature audience. Those who attend will walk away not only empowered, but also with a greater appreciation of the power of spreadsheets in everyday life. If you feel the need for practical and productivity-improving spreadsheet tips, I would recommend not only checking out this show, but also subscribing to David’s own YouTube channel at Learn Spreadsheets. I would rate this show five out of five stars!
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