Dundee Fringe 2025
Excel Comedy and Mathem-antics
David Benaim
Genre: Comedy
Venue: Sweet Venues at Dundee Fringe
Festival: Dundee Fringe
Low Down
Join spreadsheet savant David Benaim, the Excel Comedian on an inexplicably funny and warm exploration of the world’s most popular spreadsheet software. Come for the nerdy jokes and keyboard shortcut tips. Stay for the surprisingly emotional ending!
Review
David Benaim has been officially recognised by Microsoft as one of the top hundred or so Excel users in the world. The fact that this is even a thing that can happen to a person is but one of the things that I learned about Excel during this show. I had previously thought that I had a fairly good grasp of everyone’s favourite spreadsheet software; alongside a handful of other audience members I dutifully raised my hand when we were asked who had been designated “the Excel person” in their office. However, in the presence of a true master, I quickly realised that my own Excel-fu was pretty weak. In between the jokes, Benaim demonstrated a number of Excel tricks and keyboard shortcuts, teaching us quicker ways to perform functions that previously I hadn’t even been aware were functions.
Don’t be mistaken though. This isn’t a dry instructional seminar. It is very funny. Much funnier than a show about spreadsheets has any right to be. The amount of expertise that Benaim has in his subject matter, gained from his day job where he actually does run seminars teaching people to use Excel, means he not only understands the workings of the program itself, but also the common annoyances and pitfalls that schmucks like me commonly run into when using it. This allows him to mine these familiar frustrations to real comedic effect. The jokes are pitched at multiple levels as well. The vast majority of the show is accessible to anyone with a passing familiarity with spreadsheets, but there are also a few real deep cuts thrown in, that only the true Excel nerds in the audience fully understood. These don’t feel exclusionary though, as they are infrequent enough and delivered with enough of a knowing wink that still lets the rest of the audience enjoy them, even if they don’t necessarily fully get the joke.
This is the real beauty of the show. Benaim’s performance style keeps what could be a dry subject matter inclusive and entertaining. He is extremely likeable. The show is delivered in a laid-back, often self-deprecating style that makes it difficult not to be drawn in. At times it feels less like watching a stand up show, and more like a cosy chat with a pal. This is especially true during the sections relating to the secret third, non-Excel, non-mathematics, theme of the show. It would be inappropriate of me to say what that third theme is here, as Benaim, as he explains, has made a conscious decision not to include it in his publicity materials. What I will say though, is that it builds to an unexpectedly emotional and heartfelt climax, leaving a lump in the throat as unexpected as an object variable not set error.
If I was criticise anything it’s that the mathematics aspect to the show is a little underdeveloped in comparison to the Excel stuff, but there’s a solid 3-4 minutes of groanworthy maths based puns that is almost worth the ticket price itself. Overall, it’s a really enjoyable show. I haven’t enjoyed spreadsheets so much since my first successful pivot table.
