Debuting tonight as part of Dunedin’s New Zealand International Science Festival, scientist and comedian Alanta Colley promises all the poo puns and smelly facts you could want, and will teach you a thing or two about our microbiomes.
Combining Australian comedian Ms Colley’s two loves, science and comedy, On the Origin of Faeces is an hour-long excrement extravaganza, which runs at Otago Museum until Friday night.
After finishing her studies in international public health, Ms Colley worked around the world in international development and sanitation.
Having spent her 20s looking down hundreds of latrines, nobody was more qualified to teach people about the weird and wonderful world of poo.
"The more I learnt about the role of parasites, viruses and bacteria in the human body, the more interested I became in our gut microbiome and how critical it is to our health and wellbeing," she said.
Coming back to Australia, Ms Colley became "obsessed" with comedy, and wanted to combine her passions into one.
"I was curious to do comedy that was a bit more than bad Tinder dates and the difference between men and women.
"I ended up bringing my two loves together and it turned into science comedy."
However, On the Origin of Faeces was not just an hour of poo puns, it was also an opportunity to learn all about your microbiome.
"Over the last 50 years, we’ve started to realise bacteria isn’t always harmful, and it’s not just positive but crucial to our health."
