Nerd Nite NYC likes big, well, all butts and we cannot lie. November’s Nerd Nite NYC is all about sitting, as we’ll feature three fun-yet-informative presentations about the history of deck chairs, who killed our comfy commutes on mass transit, and recent and breakable world records – one of which will involve audience members breaking balloons with their butts. Thanks to Kalogon, our sponsor, for helping folks with disabilities sit and move around more comfortably! Tickets here.
Nerd Nite NYC
Thursday November 5, 2026 at 7pm
Caveat NYC: 21A Clinton Street (Lower East Side)
$16 early bird (until October 29, 2026 at 7pm) | $21 standard | $26 at the door
Tickets here: https://caveat.nyc/events/nerd-nite-2026-11-05
Back to the Lectures At-Hand
*Presentation #1
From Tuberculosis to the Titanic: The Unexpected Origins of Deck Chairs
by Elizabeth Yuko
Description: Long before they were used for backyard tanning or lounging around a pool, deck chairs got their start on the porches of tuberculosis sanatoria, where they were an integral part of patients’ care, pre-antibiotics. They enjoyed another wave of popularity thanks to their use on ocean liners, where they lined the decks and were the site of social networking and climbing. Gradually, deck chairs became the ultimate symbol of leisure time and vacations: a far cry from their beginnings at TB hospitals.
*Presentation #2
What Killed Mass Transit in America? Or, Everything You Learned From Roger Rabbit Was Wrong
by Jake Berman
Description: Public transit in the US is a lot worse than in other industrialized countries. And it wasn’t a conspiracy that killed it. The real story – of monopoly power, corruption, and the law of unintended consequences – is a lot more complicated.
Bio: Jake Berman is an attorney and historian who teaches urban planning at Columbia University. Jake is the author and illustrator of the book “The Lost Subways of North America.” He is originally from San Francisco, and lives in Manhattan.
*Presentation #3
Weird and Potentially Breakable World Records Set Since September 2024
by Ben Taylor
Description: While none of you can become the world’s tallest person or the grow the longest fingernails in the next few weeks, you can learn about 10 world records that have been set in the last two years, a few of which you could potentially be able to break yourselves, and one of which (or maybe even two) we’ll all try to break together at Nerd Nite tonight — involving audience members’ butts!!! Quick, get Guinness on the phone!
Bio: Ben Taylor (he/him) is the host and creator of Sage Match, the world’s greatest competitive powerpoint show, and the guest host of Nerd Nite NYC. He works at the American Museum of Natural History. He has been stung in the face by bees, three times, on a single occasion.
