The Nerd Degree: WORD Christchurch Festival 2018

The thing I really enjoy about comedy podcast, The Nerd Degree, is that though there's generally a theme running through the episodes, you really never know what you're going to get. And neither do the panelists, for the most part. But a safe bet is that there'll be amazing facts, nerdy knowledge and plenty of laughs.

If you've never experienced The Nerd Degree either in person, or in podcast, then the best way to describe it is as a local comedy quiz show for nerds of all stripes (there are many varieties). It's QI meets the MCU (or MMORPG or... LARP) . There are two teams, the host asks the questions, and points are distributed in a rather haphazard fashion.

The nerds at last month's very special episode at WORD Christchurch were local YA author Karen Healey and Jolisa "Tell you what" Gracewood competing as team Comparatively Literate with scary movie specialist Dr. Erin Harrington and Ngāi Tahu writer and artist Nic Low as Essentially Illiterate. With Brendon Bennetts in charge of time-keeping and correct answers.

The Nerd Degree
Karen Healey, Jolisa Gracewood, Brendon Bennetts, Nic Low and Erin Harrington at WORD Christchurch Festival 2018. Sunday 2 September August 2018. File reference: 2018-09-02-IMG_0374

The theme of the episode was "adventure" and we sure were taken on a journey. It's hard to talk about the content of the episode without spoiling it though I can say that Nic Low is a man who has an amazing story about seemingly everything (if he ever writes a memoir it will be a must-read), that Karen Healey has missed her calling as a writer for Macgyver and that apparently Armadillo tastes a bit like duck.

But it's probably best if you just have a listen yourself, which you can do via iTunes or on the Nerd Degree website.

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