Climate Scientists are Pairing with Comedians to Communicate with the Public

Essay by Eric Worrall

This isn’t actually a joke.

Jo Brand translated my science. I’m certain that comedy can connect people to climate change

Published: February 20, 2024 12.59am AEDT
Mark Maslin
Professor of Natural Sciences, UCL

A new comedy project pairing leading comedians with climate scientists presents a novel way to communicate the climate crisis.

“If people like me have to get involved, you know we are in deep shit,” says Jo Brand, renowned British comedian and The Great British Bake Off host. Why? Because she has joined the ranks of other notable comedians such as Nish KumarKiri Pritchard-McLean, and Jonathan Pie in Climate Science Translated, a project that translates complex climate science into accessible and funny content to spur millions of people into action.

Even though climate change is the greatest threat humanity has ever faced, research by the Climate Science Breakthrough team shows that just 2% of the public can name a climate scientist. Nearly everyone knows Jo Brand. Getting famous comedians to translate what climate scientists are saying in a funny, ironic and often blunt way makes the science much more accessible.

And it works. Research shows that humour can be a transformative tool in science communication and have a positive impact on people’s understanding of climate change. So far, my video with Jo Brand has been viewed more than 3 million times and has gained mainstream attention, with celebrities like Ellie Goulding, Gary Lineker, Rainn Wilson and Thom Yorke retweeting the videos. Each time, that brings the core message to a broader audience.

Read more: https://theconversation.com/jo-brand-translated-my-science-im-certain-that-comedy-can-connect-people-to-climate-change-223745

The following is a video from the article above;

All the glaciers will melt and we’re all going to die? Ha ha?

What can I say? We at WUWT have maintained for years that alarmist predictions have degenerated into a farce. After more than three decades of getting it wrong, perhaps it is time to start laughing.

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February 21, 2024 10:03 am

Climate scientists are the commedians… 😀 – not saying the clowns of the show 😀

Russell Cook
Reply to  Krishna Gans
February 21, 2024 11:52 am

Clima-Change™ increasingly causes heads to split over the rising numbers of instances where it is necessary to insert the caveat “this really is not satire” about the latest CAGW lunacy.

strativarius
Reply to  Krishna Gans
February 21, 2024 12:20 pm
Keitho
Editor
Reply to  strativarius
February 21, 2024 10:02 pm

And all extreme lefties. Mind you they wouldn’t be on the BBC if they weren’t.

Reply to  Keitho
February 21, 2024 11:46 pm

They are all about as funny as pancreatic cancer.

Reply to  strativarius
February 22, 2024 5:47 pm

Nish KumarKiri Pritchard-McLean, and Jonathan Pie

🤡 🤡 🤣 😂 🤡 🤣 😂 🤡 🤣 😂 🤡 🤣 😂
Krishna didn’t, so I did.

Greg61
Reply to  Krishna Gans
February 21, 2024 1:10 pm

My thought exactly, how are we supposed to know which one is the comedian?

Scissor
Reply to  Krishna Gans
February 21, 2024 3:53 pm

John Kerry and Al Gore walk into a saloon. Of course the bartender asks, “Why the long faces?”

Reply to  Scissor
February 22, 2024 5:55 pm

Al Gore and John Kerry walk into a saloon.

John says that he talked to the Premiere of China Xi.

Al asks Kerry what the Premiere said?

John replies nothing, I couldn’t get a word out of him.

Rod Evans
February 21, 2024 10:05 am

Can I just say, anyone that considers Jo Brand a comedian/comedienne does not know what an evil witch she actually is.
She even went as far as to say on air (BBC) she wished the person who threw yogurt at Nigel Farage had thrown acid instead.
That is how not funny Jo Brand is.
A complete hard left wing nut, from morning to night.

Phillip Bratby
Reply to  Rod Evans
February 21, 2024 11:26 am

The BBC does not do comedy anymore in case some snowflake gets offended.

Ron Long
Reply to  Phillip Bratby
February 21, 2024 1:52 pm

But, doesn’t the BBC think all of the snowflakes have melted?

Tom Halla
February 21, 2024 10:26 am

About as funny as late night “comedy” shows on late night US network TV. Plonking sermonettes for the woke.

Reply to  Tom Halla
February 21, 2024 3:53 pm

Gutfeld excepted

Gregory Woods
February 21, 2024 10:31 am

I can think of some folks who call themselves ‘climate scientists’. What they really are who knows?

Scissor
Reply to  Gregory Woods
February 21, 2024 4:13 pm

Mann invested a lot of money in a green hydrogen company. It’s a penny stock now, but he overheard an engineer say that it’s sure to explode.

February 21, 2024 10:33 am

Not that I trust YouTube, but according to the link, this claim is overstated by about 3 orders of magnitude: “So far, my video with Jo Brand has been viewed more than 3 million times” (my view of that page says 159 views, not 3 million)

Mr.
Reply to  stevekj
February 21, 2024 10:50 am

3 million was was within their error band.

Reply to  stevekj
February 21, 2024 11:14 am

I’ll take your for it as I don’t want to raise the count which is high enough already

Reply to  stevekj
February 21, 2024 4:34 pm

He was applying the same algorithm they use for ECS.

Reply to  Right-Handed Shark
February 22, 2024 5:57 pm

RCP 8.5 model, they ran it a thousand times, discarded the low runs and averaged the rest.

February 21, 2024 10:35 am

How are we supposed to tell the difference between the comedians and the climate scientists?

pillageidiot
Reply to  Joe Gordon
February 21, 2024 11:20 am

Here is how you can tell.

Link goes to youtube video of Bill Nye the Science Guy singing along with “My Sex Junk”. (Hint: he is NOT a science guy and is certainly not a climate scientist despite playing one on TV.)

https://youtu.be/VtJFb_P2j48

(Video is safe for work. Not safe for your stomach if you understand how chromosomes control human development.)

Paul S
Reply to  pillageidiot
February 21, 2024 1:26 pm

Ugh, that was 3 minutes of my life I will never get back

atticman
Reply to  pillageidiot
February 21, 2024 2:03 pm

Very entertaining. BTW, what language was she singing in?

Shytot
Reply to  Joe Gordon
February 21, 2024 3:19 pm

How are we supposed to tell the difference between the comedians and the climate scientists?

It’s easy – one makes up situations that make you laugh and the other tells jokes!

Reply to  Shytot
February 22, 2024 5:59 pm

I don’t get it…

Dale Mullen
February 21, 2024 10:36 am

“Even though climate change is the greatest threat humanity has ever faced”

Although I generally agree with Eric, I believe that statement to be false from all perspectives.

To this point, mankind has been very successful in adapting to a constantly changing climate and there is no good reason why we should not be able to continue with this success. Our chances are now better than ever before.

The threats are the government policies that have been forced upon a somewhat unsuspecting public who has for far too long, been trusting of governments. Big mistake.

Once that changes and we finally decide to take the reins into our own hands, if we are careful with our exploding populations and purposeful destruction of our environment (limit real pollution, not CO2), we should be good to go for many years.

Ed Zuiderwijk
Reply to  Dale Mullen
February 21, 2024 10:46 am

The quote is from Mark Maslin.

Red94ViperRT10
Reply to  Dale Mullen
February 21, 2024 2:08 pm

“…if we are careful with our exploding populations…”

The “…careful…” as it relates to population has to do with how we, that is this Earth’s human population in general, has put itself into a negative growth trajectory. If the youngsters don’t increase their reproduction rates, and fast, it will be all over for homo sapiens.

…most people now live in countries where fertility rates are at – or below – the ‘replacement level.’…

But don’t take my word for it, do your own search and research.

The Dark Lord
Reply to  Dale Mullen
February 21, 2024 2:15 pm

constantly changing climate ? within the last 100k years (human existence basically) the climate has changed … but very very slowly … I don’t think its gone from one extreme (cold) to the other (not so cold) in a single human lifetime …

Stan Brown
Reply to  The Dark Lord
February 22, 2024 6:00 am

I respectfully suggest that you have not seen the great movie
“ The man from Earth “. It is really good!

MarkW
Reply to  Dale Mullen
February 21, 2024 4:19 pm

What exploding population?
What destruction of the environment?

Many countries are already seeing falling populations. Within 10 or 20 years the population of the planet will start falling.
The environment is improving in most countries, in many, the improvement is dramatic.

ResourceGuy
February 21, 2024 10:39 am

Did you hear the one about the model that fooled a generation?

Mr.
Reply to  ResourceGuy
February 21, 2024 10:54 am

Twiggy was really a bloke?

(well yeah, that has some observational credibility)

Ed Zuiderwijk
February 21, 2024 10:42 am

‘renowned comedian’?

Come off it! Her ‘comedy’ consists of nothing but ridiculing everyone not taken in by her leftie nonsense. A blot on the TV screen.

Reply to  Ed Zuiderwijk
February 21, 2024 11:42 am

A blob on the TV screen.

Ed Zuiderwijk
Reply to  bnice2000
February 21, 2024 1:51 pm

That too.

David Wojick
Reply to  Ed Zuiderwijk
February 21, 2024 1:47 pm

Sounds like anyone watching her will already believe the AGW story. Hence harmless.

MarkW
Reply to  Ed Zuiderwijk
February 21, 2024 4:21 pm

That’s what passes for comedy for most on the left. Insulting anyone who doesn’t agree with the agenda.

February 21, 2024 10:47 am

It’s about time the doomsayers lightened up. They are, by definition, the most humorless people on the planet. This is the therapy that might do the trick.

Oh, wait. The climate “scientist” is still as humorless as a hemorrhoid. Never mind . . .

Reply to  stinkerp
February 22, 2024 6:14 pm

Guest star, M. Manniacal, gloomy Gus of the week.

J Boles
February 21, 2024 10:51 am

The public has been laughing at them for 30+ years, maybe they figure fight fire with fire?
We keep explaining to them why we do not accept their claims, but they do not listen to us and go on changing tactics thinking that we will believe them some day. NO WAY!

Reply to  J Boles
February 22, 2024 3:48 am

Alarmist Climate Science should be renamed to Psychology 101.

Climate Alarmists are reduced to trying to brainwash us better, since they can’t really prove that there is a climate crisis.

It’s beautiful weather in my neck of the woods.

Giving_Cat
February 21, 2024 10:51 am

> Even though climate change is the greatest threat humanity has ever faced, research by the Climate Science Breakthrough team shows that just 2% of the public can name a climate scientist.

Never argue with crazy. That just makes two of you. Besides our Reptilian Overlords say the plan is proceeding as predicted.

Rud Istvan
February 21, 2024 10:53 am

Finally something about climate science that makes sense. It is a joke, so use jokesters to explain it. Good for Maslin.

Mr.
February 21, 2024 10:56 am

Just another “comedy” trope that plays exclusively to rusted-on lefties.

It’s already an overcrowded, over-baked gig.

John Hultquist
February 21, 2024 11:11 am

George Carlin is my go-to standup for climate science.

February 21, 2024 11:12 am

And yet the BBC/UKTV pay comedians to drive gas-guzzling SUVs on the World’s Most Dangerous Roads.

Why aren’t the comics driving EVs?

starzmom
February 21, 2024 11:14 am

So now we are supposed to believe comics?? I thought getting news from Instagram, TikTok and Facebook was stupid, but this news source really takes the cake!

Reply to  starzmom
February 22, 2024 3:55 am

Not much worse than getting your climate news from Nature or Scientific American, or the rest.

It’s all Human-caused Climate Change propaganda, all the time. Based on something other than science.

February 21, 2024 11:32 am

Now we are on the right track. Comedy is exactly the right venue for all the theories of climate Armageddon, not to mention the trillions of taxpayers dollars thrown away on government selected boondoggles when all the evidence told them in advance it was all snake oil. IF this isn’t comedy then it is deliberate societal sabotage.

Richard Greene
February 21, 2024 11:35 am

Al Gore does his stand up comedy routine, and tap dances when a joke bombs:

“Now you take this tipping point
PLEASE”

“A hurricane injured an elderly Jewish man. The paramedic says, ‘Are you comfortable?’ The man says, ‘I make a good living.'”

“How do polar bears keep cool?
They use bear conditioning!”

“The climate scientists gave the planet ten years to survive. Nothing happened after ten years. So he added another ten years”
NO LAUGHS
So Gore does a sloppy tap dance, trips and falls down, Biden style, and gets a big laugh

Reply to  Richard Greene
February 22, 2024 3:59 am

“They played on our fears!”

Al Gore is SO dramatic.

Good jokes, btw. They made me laugh. 🙂

February 21, 2024 11:35 am

In the video, Prof. Maslin – “…we have to pretend…”
There you go.
We have known all along that the “climate” show is not about the climate..

strativarius
February 21, 2024 11:40 am

Jo Brand… the former psychiatric nurse? Yes.

With the rare exception they’re all dreadfully woke and completely unfunny

Reply to  strativarius
February 21, 2024 11:54 pm

Jo Brand is an obese self-righteous Tankie. The British public sector is full of them.

(“Tankies” is the nickname given to Lefties who applauded the invasion of Czechoslovakia by Russian tanks in 1968).

Mac
February 21, 2024 11:52 am

Here’s a little ditty (sung to it’s a Bailey and Barney world)
It’s a Bribem and Barney world
It’s a Bailey and Bribem world
It’s clowns and comedy all day

Make up your own lyrics

Bob
February 21, 2024 11:59 am

What a pitiful bunch of bottom feeders. If you want people to listen to you and take you seriously try speaking the truth for a change. If you think you are right and skeptics are wrong challenge them to a public debate. If skeptics are wrong you should be able to humiliate them easily. The reason you have to resort to comedians and psychologists is because you have nothing. If you dared to debate publicly you would get your backside handed to you. You cowards.

Keitho
Editor
Reply to  Bob
February 21, 2024 10:13 pm

They could, of course, try and develop better and more convincing science but that seems a bit old fashioned I suppose.

Editor
February 21, 2024 12:15 pm

Jo Brand is not a comedian, never mind renowned.

She is just another of the unfunny, far left rebels, who used to rail against the establishment, but now support it.

ScienceABC123
February 21, 2024 12:24 pm

Comedians and jokers. What a pairing!

February 21, 2024 12:31 pm

…just 2% of the public can name a climate scientist. Nearly everyone knows Jo Brand.

I can name climate “scientists” but I’ve never heard of Jo Brand.

markm
Reply to  Paul Hurley
February 24, 2024 2:19 pm

You’re not a UK resident and to the left of Stalin.

February 21, 2024 12:34 pm

Well, the tree ring hasn’t held up.
Why not try a tree ring circus?
“Send in the clowns!”

Chris Hanley
February 21, 2024 12:41 pm

Climate change is the greatest threat humanity has ever faced … we have all the solutions at hand. Renewable energy is cheaper, safer, cleaner and more secure than fossil fuels

🤣
From Professor Maslin’s profile (he/him) on The Conversation website: “he has been awarded research council, charity and Government research and postgraduate training grants of over £75 million [US $95 million]”.
That’s not so funny for UK taxpayers and energy users but it does explain a lot.

Reply to  Chris Hanley
February 22, 2024 4:15 am

Promoting Climate Change Alarmism has been good to him!

MrGrimNasty
February 21, 2024 12:43 pm

Jo was firstly a fully qualified senior psychiatric nurse, I’m glad a ‘climate scientist’ is getting the help that they realise they need.

Reply to  MrGrimNasty
February 21, 2024 4:00 pm

Nurse Ratchet then?

0perator
February 21, 2024 1:11 pm

Is Jo Brand the GB equivalent of renowned comedienne Kathy Griffin?

maxmore01
February 21, 2024 1:28 pm

Clowns pairing with comedians.

February 21, 2024 1:50 pm

This just goes to show how utterly desperate they are becoming as their stinking AGW edifice starts to crumble and sink into its quicksand foundations.

Reply to  bnice2000
February 22, 2024 4:19 am

I think that is exactly what it is showing. The Climate Alarmists have run out of arguments, and all their predictions are proving wrong, so they have to resort to improving their brainwashing techniques to keep the climate crisis meme going..

The Dark Lord
February 21, 2024 2:10 pm

“with celebrities like Ellie Goulding, Gary Lineker, Rainn Wilson and Thom Yorke” …

wait … Who ???



Reply to  The Dark Lord
February 21, 2024 3:10 pm

Gary Lineker.

Being a soccer fan, I know he was a pretty darn good striker and goal scorer for 2 or 3 clubs in the UK, and for England.

Also a very good, if sometimes controversial, commentator.

I would listen to him , and take note of what he says about things to do with soccer.

To do with Climate.. ??? Nope. !

Stick to your lane. !

The other names.. may as well pick up a telephone book!

ntesdorf
February 21, 2024 2:11 pm

Current scores stand at: Circus Clowns 1, Comedians and Comedian Scientists Nil.

February 21, 2024 3:40 pm

Just exactly backwards. The best defense against these jokers is to make them the butt of a joke.
How many climastrologists does it take to change a light bulb?
Doesn’t matter, there won’t be any electricity to run the light bulb.

MarkW
February 21, 2024 4:10 pm

How do you tell them apart?

markm
Reply to  MarkW
February 24, 2024 2:22 pm

One tells unfunny jokes. The other _is_ and unfunny joke.

Seriously, anyone who knows no client scientist names will not know any after watching these shows – they’ll only know the name of someone who pretends to be a scientist while utterly avoiding the scientific method.

Gary Pearse
February 21, 2024 4:29 pm

“Research shows that humour can be a transformative tool in science communication”

But the Left doesnt have a sense of humor. Oh, I get it! This is to convince folk on the the Right.

Here’s my favorite using humor re saving the planet:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7W33HRc1A6c

sherro01
February 21, 2024 4:43 pm

My PC has a file named “Vocabulary Theft” into which I dump bits and pieces of fun and logic, some about climate change and now covid-19. Is any of this funny? Geoff S.
…………

Why is ‘abbreviated’ such a long word
When all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.
“Irony can be pretty ironic sometimes.” William Shatner, Airplane 2.
Yes, and as far as news outlets are concerned, CNN is the mother faker.
Why is there only one Monopolies Commission?
In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.
Farming is hard when you use a pencil for a plow.
I ran out of toilet paper and had to use newspaper. The Times are rough.
Your right to swing your fist ends where my nose begins.
I have kleptomania, but when it gets bad, I take something for it.
Never trust an answer from an atom. They make up everything.
When a man opens a car door for his wife, it’s either a new car or a new wife. (Prince Philip)
I started with nothing. I have most of it left.
…and the geek shall inherit the Earth… Gatthew 5:5
I have a degree in vacuum physics. I know everything about nothing.
Dyslexia is a form of DAHD.
The man that invented predictive text has died. May he rust in piss.
You can eat at the Lunar Cafe restaurant, nice place, but no atmosphere.
autocorrect is your worst enema.
Brevity is – – – of wit.”
‘Woke’ definition: A state of awareness only achieved by those dumb enough to find injustice in everything except their own behaviour.”

Reply to  sherro01
February 22, 2024 4:25 am

Really funny! 🙂

I was going to pick out a favorite, but I liked them all!

observa
February 21, 2024 5:49 pm
Reply to  observa
February 22, 2024 4:28 am

So, it looks like the Western nations are just spinning their wheels with their CO2 reduction efforts.

The coal burners will offset any Net Zero gains, and then some. From now and into the future.

So why are Western nations still pursuing Net Zero? Does that make sense given the realities?

Edward Katz
February 21, 2024 6:08 pm

The very line that climate change is the greatest threat humankind has ever faced is a big enough joke in itself, so it doesn’t make any difference who’s telling it. And when there are few signs that anyone from governments to industries to businesses to consumers are making any big operational or lifestyle changes to combat this “threat” or “crisis” or whatever the alarmists want to call it is further proof that they view it as nothing but an exaggeration or a joke from the outset, especially when they see that fossil fuels continue to be the dominant energy-generating source by a wide margin. As well, when it’s obvious that the really big emitters have no intentions of switching away from them to supposedly save civilization, any demands that the rest of us should do this are met with a horse laugh.

Reply to  Edward Katz
February 22, 2024 8:54 am

I think it is reasonable to assert that scientists are a greater threat to humankind considering just how many people were killed by their genetically engineered Covid-19 virus. Let alone the other things scientists have created, from nuclear weapons to fentanyl.

Walter Sobchak
February 21, 2024 7:24 pm

Aren’t the comedians afraid of losing credibility by being associated with “climate scientists”?

markm
Reply to  Walter Sobchak
February 24, 2024 2:32 pm

Apparently not these “comedians”. I use quotes because I can’t imagine how someone who totally lacks a BS detector can be funny rather than pitiful.

Keitho
Editor
February 21, 2024 10:01 pm

This has a bit of a Fonzi on water skis feel about it.

John XB
February 22, 2024 7:03 am

Comedians joining climate scientists.

How shall we know which are the clowns?

Brad Keyes
February 22, 2024 4:18 pm

Climate comedy is to comedy what climate science is to… well, you know.

February 25, 2024 3:21 am

Jo Brand isn’t funny, She is a rancid chippy old wokester.