BOSTON, June 2, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WBUR, Boston's NPR news station, will launch a six-week pilot season of You're the Expert, a new science and comedy program hosted by comedian Chris Duffy. The weekly one-hour show begins airing this week, Wednesday, June 3 at 9 p.m. and Saturday, June 6 at 6 p.m. EDT.
Each episode of You're the Expert is recorded in front of a live audience and features a guest expert in a specialized field, such as a doctor who studies Neanderthal DNA or a researcher who examines bacteria from the New York Public Transit System. A panel of comedians then uses questions and games to try and guess what the expert does and why his or her field is important. In the premiere episode, comedians John Hodgman (author, actor, former Daily Show correspondent with a current cameo in Pitch Perfect 2), Wyatt Cenac (also a Daily Show vet with a stand-up special Brooklyn on Netflix and recent cameos on Inside Amy Schumer) and Maeve Higgins (author of "We Have a Good Time, Don't We?") try to figure out what Dr. Julie Shah, an engineering professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, studies.
"The show is a mix of learning and laughter. Our scientists are incredibly passionate about their findings, and they love playing straight man to the comedians – who in turn get a ton of great material to work with. This is the kind of combination that you only find on public radio," said Chris Duffy, the show's creator and host.
"There's an increasing appetite for comedy, and we are thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Chris and bring his style of smart entertainment to radio for the first time," said WBUR General Manager Charlie Kravetz. "Too often only a narrow community is aware of important research and discoveries. This show gives WBUR the opportunity to highlight some of the groundbreaking work being done by the brightest minds in science – research most people would never hear or know about otherwise. I'm confident the program will inspire curiosity among an entirely new audience."
You're the Expert began as a live show recorded and shared as a podcast. WBUR teamed up with comedian Chris Duffy, the show's creator and host, to bring the program to radio. The project was spearheaded out of the WBUR iLab, the station's center for innovation, imagination and ideas at WBUR. You're the Expert is currently in its pilot season with an initial run slated for six-weeks on WBUR. It is scheduled to air weekly on Wednesdays at 9:00 p.m. and Saturdays at 6:00 p.m. EDT. The premiere episode was taped at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts as part of the Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival and the Cambridge Science Festival. For more information visit www.theexpertshow.com.
About 90.9 WBUR, Boston's NPR News Station: Founded in 1950, WBUR began broadcasting NPR programming in 1970, offering NPR's Morning Edition and All Things Considered along with local news programming. One of the nation's most successful public radio stations today, WBUR produces national NPR programs On Point, Here & Now, Only A Game and Car Talk, as well as a local daily newsmagazine, Radio Boston. Located on Commonwealth Avenue at Boston University, WBUR has the largest radio newsroom in New England, dedicated to covering topics that matter in Boston and across the nation. The work produced at WBUR can be heard on 90.9 WBUR, Boston; 89.1 WBUH, Brewster, Cape Cod; and 92.7 WBUA, Martha's Vineyard. Follow WBUR at www.wbur.org, or on Facebook and Twitter, @WBUR.