The Lab: Improv Comedy Inspired by Real Science

Seasoned performers interview a scientist about their most exciting and interesting work, learning right alongside the audience about anything from why speed reading is a hoax, to why crabs make good test subjects. Their very real expertise becomes the inspiration for very made up improv comedy — to hilarious effect.

In this show, we will meet Connor Gibbons, a marine biologist and cephalopod facility manager at Columbia University’s Zuckerman Institute. Connor oversees the culturing of dwarf cuttlefish, a dynamic cephalopod used to study the neural basis of camouflage. His fascination with marine life began in childhood, inspired by tales of epic squid-whale battles he first encountered in Joyce Milton’s book ‘Whales and Other Creatures of the Sea’. Since then, he has worked as an aquarist at Jenkinson’s Aquarium and the New York Aquarium. At the New York Aquarium, he helped launch the award-winning exhibit ‘Ocean Wonders: Sharks!’ and later, as a senior aquarist, opened ‘Spineless’, an invertebrate-themed exhibit where he developed breeding programs for cephalopods and jellyfish. Before joining the Zuckerman Institute, he served as the Species Survival Plan Coordinator of Flamboyant Cuttlefish with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

We’re grateful for the generous support of the Puffin Foundation Ltd., which helps make this show possible.