Tim Minchin: Storm
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN commenters link it as a funny, quotable takedown of alternative medicine and cite its lines (such as 'alternative medicine that works is called medicine') in threads on homeopathy.
Recommended by 1 people across 1 different months, 2016 to 2025.
What it is
Tim Minchin performs his comedic beat poem 'Storm', a roughly nine-minute rant against homeopathy, alternative medicine and woolly thinking. It is delivered as a fast, rhyming monologue built around an encounter at a dinner party.
What people said
Recommends balabaster · 2016-11 · Hacker News · on “Homeopathy 'treatments' must be labelled to say they do not work, US gov orders”
Slightly off-topic, but I can't help but recall a rather hilarious 9 minute beat poem by Tim Minchin "By definition", I begin "Alternative Medicine", I continue "Has either not been proved to work, Or been proved not to work. Do you know what they call "alternative medicine" That's been proved to work? Medicine." [this video]
Cites bitwize · 2024-07 · Hacker News · on “Research into homeopathy: data falsification, fabrication and manipulation”
"It's a miracle! Take physics and bin it! Water has memory , and whilst its memory of a long lost drop of onion juice seems infinite, it somehow forgets all the poo it's had in it." --Tim Minchin [this video]
Cites gcanyon · 2025-03 · Hacker News · on “Do viruses trigger Alzheimer's?”
The actual quote (from memory, but I just listened to the monologue a minute ago): "Do you know what they call alternative medicine that's been scientifically proven to work? Medicine!" In other words, the quote is exactly referring to your "pipeline." Tim Minchin's "Storm" monologue: [this video]
Cites atombender · 2025-07 · Hacker News · on “Big Data was used to see if TCM was scientific (2023)”
Are you trying saying the quote is misattributed? Because it's from Tim Minchin's comedy act/poem "Storm" [1]. [1] [this video]