麻豆传媒

With his heavy eyeliner and quirky act, comedian and musician Tim Minchin considers himself a 鈥済ateway drug鈥� to science, philosophy and rationalism

Your comedy is often about scepticism and rationalism 鈥� why?
Any understanding of science I have is reverse-engineered from my suspicion about belief systems: I don鈥檛 think this medicine works, and how can I prove that to myself? Over the last 10 years I educated myself in science and stats a little bit. For some reason it sits very nicely for me in what comedy should be about.

What made you such a fan of science?
I was educated at art college in Western Australia in the 1990s, where relativism was sort of a given. My problem with relativism 鈥� the idea that there is no absolute truth 鈥� is that, in the end, you have to say so what? It doesn鈥檛 matter that you can鈥檛 prove that we鈥檙e not the dream of a genie because it鈥檚 functionally uninteresting. I get frustrated that it鈥檚 culturally acceptable to place opinion on a pedestal that doesn鈥檛 seem to relate to information. Science is a structure in place to stop people imposing personality onto the pursuit of knowledge. Pragmatically, it鈥檚 the best system. Nothing else predicts anything, or generates anything.

With so much information out there, how do you decide who or what to trust?
It is entirely appropriate to appeal to authority, in life. For pragmatic reasons, you can鈥檛 know everything. If you say 90 per cent of scientists believe this, that鈥檚 an appeal to authority. Sure, that鈥檚 not good enough on its own, but you always have to appeal to an authority. Your job is to figure out what a good authority is.

So, what makes a good authority?
People in newspapers constantly put inverted commas around the word expert, and it irritates me. We have experts on stuff, and they don鈥檛 deserve scare quotes. They鈥檙e experts because they are the people with the credentials to examine something who have also examined it most closely. In the absence of my own knowledge of a particular thing, I am going to find the best authority I can. Science as a tool allows us to try and generate a really good authority. Now, there are a whole lot of problems with funding and vested interest and the anthropological principle but pragmatically, it is the only system that even bothers to try to minimise bias. So as an authority it is head and shoulders above the rest.

Are you on a mission for science?
I鈥檓 a gateway drug into philosophy and scepticism, because I鈥檓 the moron version of it. But I use terms like causation or confirmation bias that kids can go and look up if they鈥檙e interested. I refuse to hold a banner up too much, though. It鈥檚 incredibly obvious that I鈥檓 an atheist and a rationalist and a sceptic, but you won鈥檛 often hear me calling myself one. The longer I can just be quirky, wacky and arty in the public eye the better. I play piano and I make people cry, and people don鈥檛 walk out calling me an atheist. And that鈥檚 incredibly valuable, because I get to sneak in the message. It鈥檚 naughty really.

鈥淚鈥檓 a gateway drug into philosophy and scepticism, because I鈥檓 the moron version of it鈥�

So you use comedy as a back door to introduce your ideas?
Absolutely鈥� I鈥檓 the back-door man, ideas-wise. Anti-magic ideas don鈥檛 look as nice at the outset. So you鈥檝e got to find a way to get past that. All people want is to feel good about what they think. Music and laughter both disarm foreground defences. We鈥檙e incredibly susceptible to taking in messages that come in song or make people laugh: you want to get laid, you make someone laugh. It鈥檚 an opener.

Which of your songs has had the biggest impact?

, [a song about a dinner party encounter with someone who believes in pseudoscience] is one of my gateway videos in the US. The majority of my fans over there are screaming atheists, and incredibly emotional. I had people with tears in their eyes come up and say, 鈥淚 flew up from Kentucky to see you. We鈥檙e both school teachers and we鈥檙e the only people in our whole town who are atheists. We鈥檙e basically outcasts.鈥�

Sounds like you have a loyal following鈥�
I鈥檓 exactly what a preacher is. The difference between me and a preacher is that I didn鈥檛 start out intending to change people鈥檚 minds. I鈥檓 just saying here鈥檚 a place where I鈥檓 going to talk about my ideas. Do you want to come? There鈥檒l be lights.