Global warming isn’t funny. But more comedians are using humor to bring awareness to it[html]
Esteban Gast performs during Stand Up For Climate, a comedy show at Flappers Comedy on Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Burbank, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)2025-04-11T13:41:30Z
BURBANK, Calif. (AP) — Esteban Gast remembered feeling ashamed in high school while calculating how much carbon dioxide, the main driver of climate change, his daily activities created, known as a carbon footprint.
“Have you ever driven a car or flown in an airplane?” were among the long list of questions posed by the calculator.
Gast, who said his “Catholic guilt” compelled him to keep adding activities to the calculator, thus raising his footprint, recently told the story during a show at Flappers Comedy Club in Burbank, Calif.
Then he hit the crowd with a twist: It was the oil and gas giant BP that popularized the idea of tracking individual emissions to shift the responsibility for climate change from companies that produce oil, gas and coal to people.
“That’s like your friend who is addicted to cocaine telling you not to have a latte,” he said. The audience roared with laughter.
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A light with the name Flappers Comedy is visible as Ashley Brooke Roberts performs during Stand Up For Climate on Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Burbank, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
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A light with the name Flappers Comedy is visible as Ashley Brooke Roberts performs during Stand Up For Climate on Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Burbank, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
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Esteban Gast laughs during Stand Up For Climate, a comedy show at Flappers Comedy on Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Burbank, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
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Esteban Gast laughs during Stand Up For Climate, a comedy show at Flappers Comedy on Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Burbank, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
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Gast continued: “BP, famous for data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://apnews.com/article/gulf-spill-lawsuits-bp-health-chemical-exposure-ac4577066789a59eb931d46406fbeeba">spilling oil into the Gulf of Mexico, was like, ‘Hey, Esteban, do you ever drive?’ And I’m like, ‘I don’t know, sometimes.’ And they’re just like pouring oil into a turtle’s mouth.”
Gast is among a growing group of comedians using humor to raise awareness of climate change. On the stage, online and in classrooms, they tell jokes to tackle topics such as a major U.S. climate law passed in 2022, called the data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://apnews.com/article/inflation-reduction-act-renewable-energy-policy-economy-d5b0a7f15659930c6c15f0d180b193e8">Inflation Reduction Act, fossil fuel industries and convey information about the benefits of plant-based diets that data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://apnews.com/article/grassfed-industrial-beef-carbon-emissions-climate-change-ecf55f5cdf674cbfe68a463fb53e6eae">emit less planet-warming emissions. They hope to educate people about the climate crisis, relieve anxiety with laughter and provide hope. And although the impacts of climate change are deadly and devastating, experts say using humor to talk climate is an important part of the larger ecosystem of how it’s communicated.
Comedian Brad Einstein thinks of it this way: “How do we look that horror in the eyes and let it look back at us and then give it a little wink?”
Raising awareness
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From left, Kaycee Conlee, Ashley Brooke Roberts and emcee Corinna Yee prepare before Stand Up For Climate, a comedy show at Flappers Comedy on Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Burbank, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
