PowerPints

PowerPints is back at Radio/East on Friday, July 24, for another night of PowerPoint-based comedy. The premise is simple: presenters get five minutes each to deliver a presentation on any subject they want, and the audience votes for the best one. It's a competition, but the real draw is the range of things people decide to talk about.

Past subjects have run the gamut from a beginner's guide to hypnotism and the Boston Molasses Flood to the 2002 Olympic ice-skating scandal and the dietary requirements of Sonic the Hedgehog. Because the presenters choose their own topics, you never quite know what's coming next—one minute it's a deep dive into a historical disaster, the next it's a breakdown of a video game character's eating habits. The five-minute limit keeps things moving, and the audience vote decides who takes the night.

There's a penalty for running long, too. Anyone who goes over their time is dealt a pickle-shot punishment, so the clock is as much a part of the show as the slides. It adds a bit of tension to the mix, especially when a presenter is right on the edge of their time and still has a few slides to go.

It's a good way to spend a Friday night if you're into the kind of comedy that comes from people talking passionately about things they're obsessed with. The show starts at 8 PM at Radio/East, 3504 Montopolis Dr. in East Austin.