Did you hear the one about the 16 comedians who walked into a Creative Climate Communication course at the University of Colorado during a global pandemic?
What: Annual Inside the Greenhouse Stand Up for Climate Comedy production
When: Launches Earth Day April 22, 2021 at 10:00 MDT
Where: online—check here for link when launched!
Description: No joke- this actually happened (okay, the 16 comedians Zoomed in) and will happen again this semester. This is a class project to co-create climate comedy through a partnership between an undergraduate class of 45 students and 16 professional comedians from across the USA. During the Spring semester of 2021-- while night clubs across the world remain largely closed to live standup comedy—Max Boykoff and Beth Osnes-- co-instructors of a course entitled Creative Climate Communication at the University of Colorado-- concocted a plan. We decided to recruit and pay 10 comedians from coast to coast to partner with our students to create climate comedy in an online environment. Through a long-term, climate comedy partnership with New York comedian, Chuck Nice, we put out the call to comedians far and wide. The response was overwhelmingly positive, such that we ended up with 15 comedians instead or our intended 10 (plus Chuck=16). As of this writing, we have divided the class into groups and have matched each with a comedian. Each group chose a specific climate solution from the list generated by Project Drawdown for their assigned comedian to focus on in their comic piece. Students provided a summary of research on the solution, links to media stories about this solution, and ideas for jokes and comic approaches for this solution. The comedians used this material to create an original comic piece. So far, they have only created a first draft which they all shared with their groups online during class on April 1. Multiple visits to our online class are allowing for a collaborative process including feedback, development, inquiry, and fun. Finished comic pieces will be recorded before a “live” Zoom audience of the class on April 13th at 10:00 AM to provide for a laugh track. Select pieces will be included in the annual Inside the Greenhouse Stand Up for Climate Comedy Show that will be launched online on Earth Day April 22, 2021.
More info: Join us for our annual Inside the Greenhouse Stand Up for Climate Comedy production, an online show featuring the comedy of New York comedian, Chuck Nice, select pieces from 15 stand-up comedians from across the nation, winners from our international climate comedy video competition, hosted by Max Boykoff and Beth Osnes, sprinkled throughout with comic antics by our students, and all edited together and ready to launch to the world on Earth Day, April 22, 2021.
Help Spread the Word! Presented by Inside the Greenhouse- a project of the University of Colorado for creative climate communication.