This is in addition to what he feels the future may look like depending on the economic path we as a people choose to take. Bauman's comedic talents weren't always visible and actually didn't come to the forefront until one day someone saw a published copy of a parody Bauman wrote when he was in grade school. This actually led to a live performance that was held at the American Association for the Advancement of Science convention. The riff was about Greg Mankiw's ten principles of economics, and it was so good that it eventually led to further gigs in conference rooms, auditoriums, and comedy clubs across Washington State and the country.
Yoram Bauman graduated from University of Washington with a Ph.D. in economics and has spent most of his studies in the area of macroeconomics. He understands a great deal about the current economic conditions, and because of this he has been able to talk about it in a way that makes people laugh. When it comes to his theories on economics, he can help people see that there is just as much confusion in the economist's world as there is in Government. This is because there are no two people that agree on how the country found itself in its current predicament, or how it plans to dig itself out. Although this may seem dire to many, it is quite funny because people in general can relate to the confusion.
The world’s first and only stand-up economist has been touring the country with his take on the current economy, and how he perceives the current conditions but not without a lot of practical thought. You will discover that just because Bauman will have people in stitches for an hour, he also has some pretty sound thoughts on where the economy is, and where it should be headed. This is unlike any comedy show anyone has ever seen. They are not only sitting down and having a few laughs, but they are also learning more about the current and future economy by a true educated economist. For many, this is different and truly refreshing because finally there is a bit of insight into what has happened, and what may happen if people don't begin to wake up.
If you are interested in seeing one of Yoram Bauman's comedy acts, if you don't live in Seattle, WA you can check his website http://www.standupeconomist.com for more information. If you live in Seattle, you will find Bauman as a regular performer at the Comedy Underground. He runs a non-profit comedy show every Tuesday evening, and it's said that just because he doesn't keep any of the profits, this doesn't mean you shouldn't come out and enjoy a night filled with economic laughs.
Recently "The Standup Comedy Center" had the privilege to interview Yoram.
The Standup Comedy Center: Yoram is an unusual name, is there a special story behind it?
Yoram: It's a Hebrew name. My joke about it is that my parents---like my American parents---wanted their kids to have what they didn't have, and they didn't have weird names. Their names are Joel and Holly, and their kids are Yoram and Yuval. (Both Hebrew names... my father spent many of his formative years in Israel/Palestine.)
The Standup Comedy Center: When do you get more bookings, when the economy is good or when it is bad?
Yoram: All I know for sure is that I've gotten a lot fewer calls from banks since the financial crisis hit.
The Standup Comedy Center: What is you prediction for the US economy? For the US Comedy?
Yoram: Everyone seems to think it will be a tough road ahead for the U.S. economy, at least for the next few years. As for comedy, well, even without money people still want to laugh.
The Standup Comedy Center: Your comedy is very intellectual, does it limit the amount of places you can do your act?
Yoram: Yes. But I like to think that I could do well in any venue. Different jokes for different folks.
The Standup Comedy Center: What is your new book "The Cartoon Introduction to Economics, Vol. 2: Macroeconomics" all about? Did you draw the Cartoons?
Yoram: It's an introduction to the big ideas and personalities in macro: Keynes, Milton Friedman, inflation, free trade, all that stuff. The book was illustrated and co-authored by Grady Klein, who I also collaborated with on the micro cartoon book.
The Standup Comedy Center: What will you prefer: winning the Nobel Prize in Economics Science and do your act in Carnegie Hall?
Yoram: Carnegie Hall... because I have a better chance of that happening. Plus... everybody wins the economics Nobel Prize.
The Standup Comedy Center: What do you think about the book "Freakonomics
"?Yoram: I thought it was interesting, but more as a statistics book than an econ book. In econ there's a trend (which Freakonomics is part of, together with books like "More Sex Is Safer Sex") to convince readers than econ is oh-so-counterintuitive, and I think that's unfortunate. There are some counterintuitive parts of econ, but also plenty of parts that match common sense, and for the general audience I think the common-sense stuff is more important. Plus the oh-so-counterintuitive angle got the Freakonomics folks into trouble with their follow-up book, when they wrote a chapter on global warming that was terrible. (see my email conversation with Steve Levitt; also funny is the post on Real Climate by Ray Pierre-Humbert.)
The Standup Comedy Center: What is your favorite joke from your act?
Yoram: There are some crowd-pleasers (e.g., that the Tea Party is full of folks who believe in social Darwinism but don't believe in Darwin) but my favorite jokes are actually ones that don't often do very well, or that I'm still struggling to connect on. I have a joke about quinoa that I love... but even my email spell-checker has no idea what it is! (The joke is about how jokes about quinoa don't work because 90% of people have no idea what it is and most of the rest think it's pronounced "kwai-noah"... the only place I can successfully do jokes about quinoa is at the food co-op, because at the food co-op not only does everybody know the substance named quinoa, at the food co-op everybody knows a _person_ named quinoa.) I also have a joke I dearly love about the metric system (you can see it in my most recent YouTube video)... it took me forever that figure out how to get that joke to work, and even now it's hit and miss.
The Standup Comedy Center: What is the best economic advice you can give someone?
Yoram: Try to keep your expenses low. That gives you more flexibility to pursue interesting opportunities and hobbies. Or at least retire early.
The Standup Comedy Center: Who is your favorite Stand-up Comedian?
Yoram: I like Jon Stewart, and old comics like Shelley Berman. (My godmother gave me his albums; his first was one of the first comedy albums ever.) And I like Tom Lehrer, who wrote fabulous songs about math and science.
The Standup Comedy Center: What drove you to deal with the changes in the environment?
Yoram: It's an important issue where I can see a promising path forward in terms of policy and politics. Environmental tax reform (having higher taxes on things we want less of, like pollution, and using the revenue to reduce existing taxes on things we want more of, like jobs and investment) is an idea that appeals to lots of folks across the political spectrum, and of course almost all economists love the idea too. So I hope that I can contribute value-added by spreading the gospel.
The Standup Comedy Center: Can you elaborate on nonprofit comedy show?
Yoram: We partnered up with the Comedy Underground in Seattle, which was having a hard time drawing audiences on Tuesday nights. And we partnered up with local non-profits, which were looking for fun and easy fund-raisers and friend-raisers. Every show we have a different non-profit partner (some repeat once every year) and the non-profit's job is to bring people to the show. In return they get half of the ticket sales, plus a fun night of comedy. We're actually closing it down this year (for a variety of reasons) but over the past 6 years we raised almost $100,000 for local non-profits, which is not bad.
The Standup Comedy Center: Will the gold price continue to rise?
Yoram: I doubt it, but just in case I'm accepting payment in gold (along with or instead of fiat currencies) during my 2012 "Gold Standard" World Tour.
The Standup Comedy Center: Complete this joke: "Two economists walk into a bar."
Yoram: Sorry, I can't. The premise is totally implausible.
The Standup Comedy Center: Any final words of wisdom?
Yoram: Good luck to us all!
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