About | Bahfest

What is it?

The Festival of Bad Ad Hoc Hypotheses (BAHFest) is a celebration of well-argued and thoroughly researched but completely incorrect scientific theories. Six speakers take the stage and present their theories to an illustrious panel of judges in front of a packed house.

BAHFest has celebrated terrible ideas for four years on three continents.

Sarah Hird – Why do Mammals Sleep?

Matt Inman – Jibbers Crabst

Tomer Ullman – The Crying Game

About Zach

BAHFest is the brainchild of sometimes artist, always curmudgeon Zach Weinersmith, the auteur behind SMBC Comics. Inspired by a comic, BAHFest started as a live event in 2013 at MIT. Since then, BAHFest has held shows across the globe.

The First Hypothesis

The idea for the festival originated in a popular cartoon that Weinersmith drew, depicting a scientist presenting the argument that babies are shaped like footballs so that they can be punted over mountains and thereby share hereditary material with more genetically-distinct populations living in nearby villages. On a whim, he polled his Facebook fans to see if anyone might be interested in attending an event in which he turned this comic into a pseudo-serious academic talk. Zach is still surprised thousands of people attend this dorky show.