20/09/2024 Dundee Fringe
‘Is anybody the Excel person in the office?’ David Benaim asked the audience during his show at this year’s Dundee Fringe. It was one of the more unusual premises for a comedy performance that I have seen this year, but Dundee Fringe never disappoints.
I had some trepidation upon first sitting down- I am most certainly not the Excel person in this office- as the projector displayed a spreadsheet behind David and he began showing off some Excel tips and tricks. David is an Excel expert, who runs a YouTube channel on the ins and outs of Microsoft Excel. It’s a niche interest, but his knowledge is certainly impressive, and he has combined it with another passion: comedy.
Not the most traditional pairing, but the show had plenty of laughs throughout as Benaim fired off more Excel puns than I had ever thought possible. A few of which went over my head, but Benaim’s delivery and setup made for easy translation to an Excel-ignorant audience member like me. In fact, I had never dreamed that an Excel cell joke would make me laugh, but perhaps the whole experience has softened me to the software.
I can see this show killing at a conference, but even in the Keiller Centre it was a lot of fun and I do hope to see more of Benaim’s comedy. It’s not every show that you walk away knowing more about Mr. Clippy fanfiction, how to insert tick-boxes and pictures into spreadsheets, and about the Microsoft Excel World Championships- which is an actual thing that happens, believe it or not. Benaim is informative and funny, whilst also giving a heartfelt performance which is, again, not what I expected from this show but nonetheless found enjoyable to watch.
All in all, an Excel-lent night (the jokes were of a much higher caliber than that, but what do you want from me? I’m not the Excel person). I’d recommend catching Benaim’s next show or finding him on YouTube to learn something new yourself, especially if you are also a ‘sheet-head’.
Written by Hannah Linda Hamilton, Editor-in-Chief of The Magdalen
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