Transcript:
Climate change and comedy are not a natural pairing. But a few years ago, comedian Stuart Goldsmith started to feel depressed about climate change.
Https://www.tiktok.com/@stuartgoldsmithcomedy/video/7386687443522620705
Goldsmith: “I just found that I couldn’t really talk about anything else. I wasn’t thinking about anything else. And as a result, I brought it on stage with me.”
He began filling his routine with jokes about everything from the challenges of remembering a reusable food container to feeling smug about having a lower carbon footprint.
Goldsmith: “In comedy, we talk about the problems. The problems are the material.”
Climate change can be a depressing topic.
Goldsmith: “It is so easy to feel like, ‘Oh, God, you’re not going to mention the climate again.’ My wife, bless her, she’s had to put up with so many versions of me being asked about it in a social event.”
But he says that talking about it as part of his show has reduced his feelings of dread.
And he wants to help his audience feel empowered to find their own way to take action on climate change.
Goldsmith: “I think if we all feel as bleak and hopeless and despairing as I have sometimes felt … if people feel like that, I would like to give them some comfort and to feel better because people who feel better and happier and more united and mobilized can take more action.”
Reporting credit: Ethan Freedman / ChavoBart Digital Media
Only 28% of U.S. residents regularly hear about climate change in the media, but 77% want to know more. You can put more climate news in front of Americans in 2025. Will you chip in $25 or whatever you can?
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