


Revenge of the nerds

Sacha Molitorisz
December 31, 2007

Building on the success of their witty stage show, radio's resident science buffs Dr Karl and Adam Spencer are set to challenge TV viewers, writes Sacha Molitorisz.

As far as eggheads go, Karl Kruszelnicki and Adam Spencer are pin-up boys. They're the Lara Bingles of Aussie science. So it's a little surprising to hear them arguing that they aren't really scientists.

"Dr Karl and I consider ourselves far more scientific storytellers than scientists," says Spencer, a mathematician and radio presenter.

"We are storytellers, which is an ancient and honourable profession," says Kruszelnicki, a lecturer and bestselling author. "I saw that on a documentary; it was called Xena, where the ancient storytellers would wander from village to village, be fed, have alcohol, have sex with all the nicest women, and men, and then go on to the next town."

Give or take a few details, that sums up the origins of the pair's new TV show, Sleek Geeks. An anarchic mix of experiments and entertainment, the format is based on a stage show of the same name, which began as a one-off lecture and grew into a national tour.

"We did the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Perth, Broome, Albany, Darwin, the Alice," Spencer says. "After a few years that became too exhausting, so the temptation was there to do a TV show based on the same philosophical and ethical principles ..."

"Yes," interrupts Kruszelnicki, "and based on Kimba the lion, who believes in doing right. We don't grab people by the neck and say, 'Here's Einstein's theory of relativity and the theory of Fitzgerald-Lorentz contractions."'

They can explain, for example, the workings of global positioning systems "because I reckon with rationality and truth you go further in life".

With the modest aim of taking viewers further in life, each half-hour episode is structured around a theme. Episode one is about the senses. For sight, Kruszelnicki and Spencer show how a man dressed as a gorilla can be rendered invisible. For sound, a soprano tries to shatter glass. For touch, the two hosts attempt a firewalk.

In episode two, Mind Games, an Aussie memory champion is interviewed, Spencer is hypnotised and Macquarie University experts analyse Kruszelnicki's prosopagnosia, or inability to remember faces and names. "Faces to me are just like bricks in a wall," he says. "I've only got it to relatively mild degree. I met a guy in Maroubra who couldn't recognise his son at soccer."

This is a large part of the show's appeal; Kruszelnicki and Spencer regularly play the role of guinea pig.

"The challenge is to do a show where the hosts are immersed in doing things but there is some science involved," Spencer says. "Karl and I both demand a very high scientific content, which is difficult to do on television. Take Mythbusters. That just depresses me, especially when it has phrases in its ads like, 'Beware, science happening!' There's no science happening in Mythbusters. I would say it's constructively anti-scientific."

Don't even mention Brainiac.

"That was embarrassing," Kruszelnicki says. "That was women jumping on trampolines."

With Sleek Geeks, then, Kruszelnicki and Spencer are aiming to be the Mythbusters-busters.

"We'd been talking about doing a show like this for quite a few years," Spencer says, "such is the slow-moving beast that is television. If you go back and look at various incarnations of things we've proposed, I'm pretty sure we pitched Mythbusters a long time before anyone did Mythbusters, partly out of Karl's Mythconceptions that he does for the newspaper [the Herald's magazine, Good Weekend]. We arrived at the Sleek Geeks format because it's the only thing that hasn't been attempted yet, unless there are some guys in Finland who are gonna sue our arses off."

The pair enjoyed making the show, even if TV presents peculiar challenges. "Everything takes so long," Kruszelnicki says. "It's like trying to push a pyramid. Also, the only time I've ever met amoral people are in the psychiatric wards, when I was a medical doctor, and in other TV stations. By amoral, I mean they do not know when they're telling lies."

Sleek Geeks is amusing and impressive, its gags and silliness underpinned by substance and info. Watching it is like eating a tasty meal, only to realise suddenly that it's healthy, too. And the presenters, who both have formidable CVs, complement each other.

A surfer and ex-hippie who drives a hybrid car, Kruszelnicki first appeared on radio in 1981, when he began presenting Great Moments In Science on Double Jay. In 1984, he published the first of 26 books, a spin-off from the radio segments; in 1985 he began his TV career as a presenter on Quantum; and in 1995, he took the position of Julius Sumner Miller Fellow at Sydney University.

A pedal-pushing sports lover, Spencer won Triple J's Raw Comedy competition in 1996. He began appearing on air more regularly and landed a co-host role opposite Wil Anderson on Triple J from 1999 to 2004. He has also presented on Quantum and, since 2006, has been hosting breakfast on ABC 702.

"He's really smart," says Kruszelnicki of Spencer. "Look at his head from side on. See how it bulges forward, that's extra brain that I don't have. We have different skills. Adam can do crosswords."

"Karl's scientific knowledge vastly outstrips mine," Spencer says. "But coming from a stand-up impro background I've got more of an idea of what works as a story and how to perform it. With the stage show, and to an extent the TV show, Karl tells me something really interesting, and I ask a series of dumb-arse questions that approximate what the audience might ask. I work more on the structure of the story, but 95 per cent of the scientific info originates with Karl. I have no formal scientific qualifications. I failed a year 8 chemistry test but Karl's got multiple PhDs."

"A masters is my highest," Kruszelnicki says. "I've got one masters and three bachelor degrees, and several non-degree years."

Spencer: "Wasted childhood."

Kruszelnicki: "I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the Australian taxpayers for paying for it."

In conversation, these two break speed limits with their words per minute. Both are funny, smart and quick-witted but their personalities are contrasting. Kruszelnicki is the excitable infomaniac, his brain travelling so fast he wants to explore every alleyway, byway and cul-de-sac all at once. Spencer is more brooding and circumspect, standing back and taking it all in before letting rip.

But both have a passion for learning and for encouraging learning. That's why they're offering the Eureka Schools Prize, which invites university and school students to make short videos about science (see The best entries may screen on future episodes of Sleek Geeks.

As Kruszelnicki says, "We're trying to work ourselves out of a job by encouraging the next generation of science presenters."

Do they think Australia has an anti-intellectual streak? "No, but the balance is slightly too much for sport," Kruszelnicki says. "I love that in Australia we have lots of sports but the Greeks were right when they [idealised] a healthy mind and a healthy body."

Sleek Geeks premieres on the ABC on Thursday at 8pm. 

