Press & Reviews

"Harnessing a sharp comedy sensibility to an arsenal of fascinating facts, she's a treat for anyone who matches a sense of humour with an inquiring mind."
Please scroll down - and (where there's an online version) if you click on the logo/image you'll be taken to the full article.
* * * * * "Perfect... highly intelligent, accessible stand-up"
* * * * "Great fun, smart, and a little bit daft, this is an uplifting, unique hour of comedy"
* * * * " In this exceptional hour you will laugh so hard your abs will feel like they’ve been beaten to within an inch of your life, and you will come away wiser and educated. There are several science-based shows on this year, but none of them manage to pull it off quite like Keen"
* * * * "The mixture of Keen’s engaging storytelling and the cleverly constructed puppet-shows works like rocket-fuel, allowing the show to take off to new heights of wonder."
Independent Blog about Robot Woman & living on Mars...
Interview with The Pod Delusion about the new show (approx 48 mins in).
(Please scroll down and click on the logo/image for the full article)
"Beautiful... a fifteen minute gem"
“Gleefully irreverent”
“A sort of stand-up version of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy”
"A pithy sweet programme... with a joke-stuffed script" Miranda Sawyer in The Observer
* * * * “Informed, enthusiastic and funny”
“Quirky, offbeat and original, this four-part history of space travel and rocketry adroitly blends comedy and science. There are plenty of jokes, but also sharp sketches... Helen Keen is clearly someone to watch”
“Shamelessly nerdy... deeply silly"
“Irreverent comedy and aerospace engineering don’t seem an obvious fit, but It Is Rocket Science! proves that fact-based boffin buffoonery works”
"'Onwards to Mars!' was a catchphrase for 1920s rocket club members and Helen Keen demonstrates a similar enthusiasm...romping through the often surprising history of rocket science"
"Clever, offbeat... she guides us through the universe with help from Peter Serafinowicz who is tremendously good value as The Voice of Space"
“Factually accurate yet funny”
Gillian Reynolds: This week's radio choice
This week's radio choice
Reviews of the live show
Edinburgh Fringe August 2010: ***** “It's a spellbinding hour. Her passion for the subject is genuine and she has an uncanny ability to turn obscure details into hilarious anecdotes.”
"Startlingly fine entertainment throughout... crisp, sophisticated comedy"
Edinburgh Fringe August 2010: **** “This show was of such a high standard I would be hard pushed to find a show I have been as fully engaged with and liked as much as this one. Helen Keen becomes your space obsessed, stamp collecting best friend, she’s honest, smart and funny. A 1st class performance.”
Edinburgh Fringe August 2010: ****½ “I completely loved this studious show”
Edinburgh Fringe August 2010: “For the stargazing science geek in all of us… Keen is a joy to watch”
Edinburgh Fringe August 2010: **** "Charmingly witty... Experience the space race for yourself!"
Edinburgh Fringe August 2010: **** "Keen’s stand-up is flawless, and her endearing naivety of presence means the shards of adult humour interspersed in the show stab us between the eyes. That’s a good thing! As is Helen’s audience interaction, which from the beginning has the audience enthralled."
Camden Fringe July 2010: "Adorably eccentric... A marvellous fusion of laughs and learning, It is Rocket Science! embodies all the best things about intellectual comedy. Smart without being elitist, and with just the right amounts of sincerity and sarcasm from its host, this should hopefully be the first of many delightful fringe offerings from the talented Keen."
Camden Fringe July 2010: "If you like Robin Ince's School for Gifted Children you should love this show. Keen mixes fascinating offbeat facts about rockets and space travel with funny and wry observation, as well as throwing in some Struwwelpeter-esque shadow puppetry."
Buxton Fringe July 2010 "Edinburgh needs shows like this - comedy with a purpose, inventively staged"
Edinburgh Fringe August 2008 **** "Wonderful imagination... it's charming, interesting, funny and one of the most original shows on the Fringe"
**** "Packed with gags, silliness and science... a fun, fast-paced, gag-filled show"
**** "Refreshingly different... skilful knowledge of visual humour."
"a jolly hour of geeky fun, part way between the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, QI, Blue Peter and some dodgy Sixties Czechoslovakian children's animation... it is, aptly enough, a blast"
"Science humour really taking off!"
"Quickfire entertaining and informative"
"She's full of admiration for those involved in the space race. We're full of admiration for her"
Article I wrote about the show for Time Out. (I sound quite earnest in it.)
Promoting Brighton's Science Festival 2008 on the cover of Latest 7 magazine (free, but it still counts!) (This is not something I would've envisaged aged 11. But then, hey, neither is Photoshop...)
"If you're planning on visiting the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this summer and fancy some light-hearted space-based silliness, then make sure Helen Keen's show - It Is Rocket Science! - is on your itinerary." - Article in Astronomy Now Magazine
(Please scroll down - and click on logo/image to be taken to full article)
"This sophisticated rising star is one to watch"
**** "Verve and energy... constant and unwavering wit"
**** "Entertaining and eclectic; she starts with a puppet show, riffs some Dickens and ends with T.S. Eliot."
**** "Effervescent... bubbly, enthusiastic... This is a show that's had a lot of love put in, and in return a lot of fun is given out."
**** "From the naive to the gruesome... enthusiasm and energy... inventive... innocent"
Ten very important questions... answered!
"geekily amusing, enthusiastically presented... truly brought to life by the intriguing tangents of trivia she allows herself to explore, those little footnotes of eccentric behaviour by big-bearded, earnest men... I found myself consistently rapt. QI fans should find plenty to engage them here"
One of the Guardian Guide's Pick of the Programme: "Fiercely intelligent comedy"
One of the Scotsman's Top 100 Shows to See on The Fringe: "Eccentric historical characters affectionately discussed in humorous detail"
Time Out "Critics' Choice" for December 2009 performance
On the front cover of another magazine, Helen Keen? Well, I reply modestly, it's the Otley Courthouse Spring Programme 2010 (- but it still totally counts!) They very kindly hosted the (sold out) show in January. Review here.
Interview with BBC York about the Arctic show.
(Please scroll down - and click on logo/image to be taken to full article or recording)
'Now and Then' piece in the Newcastle Journal to promote Robot Woman of Tomorrow, March 2013.
Interview with the New Humanist about my set for the Nine Lessons and Carols for Godless People in December 2011.
Interview about the Newcastle Bright Club in the Newcastle Journal, Sept 2011.
Interviews about the BBC Radio 4 series, It Is Rocket Science! March 2011.
Interview about rockets, time travel and bionic-future-legs on the shiftrunstop podcast November 2010.
Interview about the rocket show on the Little Atoms podcast July 2010. Also available on iTunes if you click here.
Sunday Herald Argument of the Week: Should the next Dr Who be a woman?
Interview with The Scotsman during the 2009 Fringe at the Edinburgh Royal Observatory (one of my favourite places & a top terrorist target for the Suffragettes...)
Interview on BBC6 with Nemone about It Is Rocket Science! (3 mins 13 secs)
Interview in Astronomy Now Magazine about It Is Rocket Science!
This is me talking very very quickly about space and other things on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour.
Interview with BBC Newcastle about selective mutism.
Interview with BBC York about the Arctic show.

(Please scroll down - and click on logo/image to be taken to full article or recording)
Article in Metro about the Moonstruck planetarium show
Another piece about the Moonstruck planetarium show in Culture Magazine