Watch the teaser: What happens when a comedian walks into a volcano?

Ben Miller of New York City has a degree in materials science and engineering from Columbia University. He’s worked with electron microscopes, was a teacher on a science bus and even 3-D printed cookies.

But he doesn’t work in a laboratory, office or even a workshop. In fact, he’s been known to diffuse more bar fights than atoms, ions or molecules.

Miller is instead drawn to the stage, almost as if its a proton, he’s the neutron and the laughs he elicits with his brand of witty — and nerdy — stand-up comedy the electrons that balance the humor equation.

He has worked for the past 8 years as a comedian, performing at all the top clubs in the New York City, including Broadway Comedy Club, Stand Up NY, Dangerfield’s, Carolines and The Stand. He was once even ranked as the top roast battler in the city.

But what happens when a comedian walks into a volcano?

Miller was selected by the National Parks Arts Foundation as artist-in-residence for February 2023 at Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island. He was the first stand-up comedian ever selected for the program, which typically picks painters, poets, Grammy-nominated musicians — you know, real artists.

Somehow, a silly joke boy managed to secure the coveted spot.

He spent the entire month experiencing the national park, learning from volcanologists, entomologists, archeologists and Native Hawaiians about the science, culture and history of Hawai‘i.

Almost every night, he gazed into the fires of Kīlauea and the burning lava lake in Halema‘uma‘u Crater. Oh, he also wrote some jokes.

Incredibly grateful for the opportunity provided to him, Miller decided to take the residency seriously — and turn it into an hour of stand-up.

“Stand-Up Science Presents: Volcano” continues to develop Miller’s nerdy yet approachable style.

The multimedia science comedy hour drills deep to the core, delivering explosive laughs with fire-tested and sharp jokes.

It also builds off the experience of his previous science comedy hour that had a 50-city tour across the United States and Europe, as well as a completely sold-out 23-show run at the 2022 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the world’s largest performance arts festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom.

You can catch “Stand-Up Science Presents: Volcano” twice this weekend:

Kona Elks Lodge
Where: 75-170 Hualālai Road, Kailua-Kona
When: 6:30 p.m.; doors open at 5:30 p.m.
Date: Jan. 18
Price: $20
Click here to purchase tickets.

Hilo Palace Theater
Where: 38 Haili St., Hilo
When: 3 p.m.; doors open at 2 p.m.
Date: Jan. 19
Price: $20
Click here to purchase tickets.

“Have you ever seen a comedian cite their sources?” asked one previous audience member. “Ben Miller does. Check it out, it’s worth it.”

Winnipeg Free Press wrote Miller’s “nerdy and vivid comic mind erupts” in the hourlong set, while The Mumble calls his show “a real and rare treat.”

“Ben had us laughing until we cried — very funny and very clever!” said another past audience member.

“THIS GUY IS JUST GREAT,” hooted someone who has seen the show before, adding Miller is funny, unique and “so so likeable.”

Miller also once was called “one of [New York City’s] best pound-for-pound joke writers,” which considering how much he weighs, well, you know.

Anyway, don’t miss your chance to erupt with laughter and work out Miller’s scientific method for comedy while he shows off his perfect equation for laughter.

Learn more about the scientist-turned-comedian by visiting his website.