An academic who had never so much as cracked a joke in public until three months ago is about to perform her comedy act to a potential audience of hundreds at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Nikki Cassie, 26, a 黑料网 PhD student, only got involved in stand up as part of a project that saw academics train to be comedians.
After a resounding success at her first show at a small club in Aberdeen in May, the obesity researcher is now set to perform at one of the biggest comedy festivals in the world.
鈥淚 thought the whole stand-up thing would be a one off,鈥� explained Nikki. 鈥淚 agreed to take part in Bright Club which sees researchers become comedians for the night with tutoring from professionals, and originally it was just because I thought it would be a good experience and a bit of fun. I thought if I can stand up in front of a room of people and start telling jokes, then I should never be afraid to give a lecture at a seminar ever again!鈥�
After going down a storm at the Bright Club event, Nikki was asked if she鈥檇 be interested in taking on a few more shows.
鈥淚 played at Belladrum Festival in front of about 120 people which was great and next up is the Edinburgh Comedy Festival at the Fringe. It鈥檚 pretty mad that my third ever show will be at the festival. It feels surreal that people from all over the world may come see me perform.
鈥淢y show is based around my work which is in obesity and metabolic health 鈥� so I talk about how as a society we are absolutely obsessed with obesity and about the countless television programmes about eating and diets.
鈥淚 also talk about myself as a scientist and the stereotype that we鈥檙e all introverted and awkward!
鈥淚 feel I鈥檝e learned a bit from both my performances and I鈥檝e already changed some bits around to make it flow better, and hopefully get more laughs.
鈥淧ersonally I like the comedy of Chris Ramsay. He does 鈥榥ice鈥� comedy which I like. He isn鈥檛 cruel or overly crude and i hope like him people walk away from my act with a smile. In my show I like to take after Dylan Moran and perform with a pint of cider in my hand.鈥�
Nikki鈥檚 not sure if she will take her stand-up career further but hasn鈥檛 ruled it out either.
鈥淚鈥檝e been asked to do some straight comedy shows but I don鈥檛 know if I want to try and be a 鈥榬eal鈥� comedian. At the moment I鈥檓 still under the guise of 鈥榮cientist pretending to be comedian鈥� which I think takes some of the pressure off.鈥�
Nikki will perform at the Edinburgh Fringe at the Assembly Rooms on Sunday August 18 at 3.45pm.