Might climate-change comedy help tackle the movement’s messaging problem; serve as an onramp to collapse-awareness?
Using humor to face up to tragic or difficult times is nothing new. Now, some comically minded people are taking up climate change as a topic for their humor.
(Aha, so there are others besides me! I’ve attempted some stand-up comedy in my local club, and I’m in the process of writing a humorous novel on zombie apocalypse / climate doomer type theme.)
“Climate Change Is No Laughing Matter. Or Is It?” (Hilary Howard; nytimes.com)
“Comedians, no strangers to tackling difficult and taboo subjects with humor, are increasingly turning their attention to the climate crisis. …
” … Mr. Williams, who lives and works in Brooklyn, now makes comedic videos about the environment. He is part of a growing movement that takes on the climate crisis with humor. From Hollywood movies like Adam McKay’s ‘Don’t Look Up’ to independent sketches on YouTube and TikTok, comedians — no strangers to tackling difficult subjects — are increasingly looking for punchlines in one of the greatest existential threats ever to the planet. …
“‘Academics are trained to write in their own language, sending you to the dictionary every three words,’ said Sarah Finnie, the founder of the 51 Percent Project, an initiative at Boston University that aims to help people communicate better about climate change. ‘Humor is a really great way to kind of calm the Doomerism and the panics that can paralyze people.'”