How did Grain of Truth begin?

It was inspired back in 2006 by this man, DR ANDREW PRENTICE. He was teaching Multivariable Calculus (a second year Maths subject) and in one lecture attended by David Innes, some upstart first year condescendingly derided Prentice's need to go through each step of the problem. To which Prentice replied:

"That may be so, but if you got Sine Frog Over Frog Squared Times the Cosine of Frog, you might find it difficult."

To which David turned to his friend Josh and said "I want to know what the sine of frog is". Thus the inspiration for the show. 

Dr Andrew Prentice. (Photo source: http://adm.monash.edu/)

Assoc Prof Martin Burd - "Humans didn't evolve from apes, but from cheese." (Photo: Andre Tan)

Originally called "Battle of the Academics" (later renamed "Clash of the Titans", again inspired by Prentice who looked at the lineup of cast and say "Oh my, it looks like it'll be a real Clash of the Titans!"), which was a live show featuring four science lecturers each answering silly questions relating to their chosen field; a branch of Science. 

Competitors in the original show included: Assoc Prof Martin Burd, Assoc Prof Andrea Robinson, Prof Roy Jackson, Dr Ross Thompson, Marion Anderson, Dr Bruce Schaeffer, Prof Peter Junk, Dr Steve Siems, Dr Leo Brewin, Dr Richard Reina, Dr Bob Wong, Prof John Lattanzio and, of course, Dr Andrew Prentice.

Dr Prentice's topic for the first show was: "Pluto is not a planet, but a large novelty cupcake that was launched into space. Discuss.". 

There were five shows - one per semester - and an additional special show performed for high schools at the BMW Edge Theatre at Federation Square. The last show was hosted by Benjamin Timms. 

David then graduated and has always been keen to bring the show back. In the meantime, he became a successful high school teacher and was reunited with his love of the impro art form. David ran The Impro Box for two and a half years, developing brand new work for an eager Melbourne audience. When David left the company, he decided it was time to bring back the show with a brand new twist.

LTR: David S. Innes, Scott McAteer and Rob Lloyd. Recording of Episode #2 of Grain of Truth (Photo: Willy Cerda Jr)

David S. Innes on the final episode of Grain of Truth, eating the turnip from "Turnips of Death". (Photo: Asher Cameron)

Grain of Truth ran for two years at The Wesley Anne. During this time, the show evolved and developed into a speedy, witty and silly show. There were a number of special episodes recorded elsewhere, including at Swinburne University, the New Zealand Improv Festival in Wellington and in Christchurch, New Zealand. Audiences loved the surreal games and scenarios posed to players.

In December 2015, the final recording of Grain of Truth took place. David decided to rest the format in the hope of maybe turning it into a TV show. He decided to shelve this idea, with the oversaturation of panel game shows currently in the ether.

In March 2017, after much persuasion, a new version of Grain of Truth was put in the works. The Grain of Truth Network is the spiritual sequel to Grain of Truth. This format is more character driven and was inspired by the favourite moments of the former podcast, where players would get to become brand new characters and develop stories in those voices. 

​Recording of the new program begins on July 1st, 2017.