When an AI voice announces towards the end of this show that the problem of mixing comedy and science is that you end up with neither, it’s as if the machine has decided to morph into a harsh critic. Indeed, the production does stumble between humour and education, resorting to fart jokes that overwhelm the information.

The show’s format is simple, with a complicated technological edge. Three humans (The ImpRobots) interact with AI and the audience, inviting children to set up scenarios featuring a scientific question and a punchline. The AI then generates a script, and the performers run through familiar improvisational strategies: the repeated routine at faster speeds, audience banter and self-deprecating wit. The nuggets of knowledge appear and the cast take on scientifically themed characters while attempting to recalibrate their computer to suit the earthlings’ sense of humour, complaining that certain jokes were popular on other planets.

Lively engagement with its young audience and the willingness of our performers to fight past glitches in the AI process lend this production an amiable charm, succeeding in imagining scientific education as more playful than serious. However, the tone veers from silly to uncomfortable, never making the case that the science itself is amenable to comedy. When it seeks to entertain, An AI Show For Kids! commits to the ramshackle chaos of improvisation but routines rarely open up the nature of scientific method. This feels like a show still trying to find the compromise between high-minded intentions and laughter. 

A.L.Ex And The ImpRobots: An AI Show For Kids!, Gilded Balloon Patter House, until 18 August, 11.40am.