Features / Comedy
‘If you can laugh, you feel less afraid’ – Stuart Goldsmith on his latest comedy obsession
How many comedians does it take to change the climate crisis?
At the moment Stuart Goldsmith has his work cut out. There are only three other climate comedians that he knows of, and one of those is in Australia.
It’s not that surprising: a weighty, complex and emotive subject, it doesn’t exactly scream funny. But Goldsmith says he’s hooked. So what drove him to venture into this tricky territory in the first place?
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“I couldn’t think about anything else,” he says simply. “I always write comedy that I can’t help but write. I was feeling it very keenly, the fear and the wild swings between hope and despair, and so it just came out of me.”
Despite – or perhaps because of – it being what he describes as ‘a terrible idea’, Goldsmith has found his purpose with climate comedy which, he says, can help alleviate fear around the subject and perhaps galvanise action – photo: Matt Crockett
It started with an Edinburgh show that had five minutes of jokes about climate change which had grown to 25 minutes by the end of the run. Despite initial scepticism from his agent, Goldsmith felt compelled to go further.
“It’s a huge challenge and apparently I enjoy them!” he says. “There’s something addictive about this because it is so incredibly difficult. I feel passionately about the climate, I feel passionately about doing comedy, and putting them together seemed like a terrible idea, so I did it!”
Two decades in the business had left him “in a creative rut, in need of a fresh challenge,” while in-depth exploration of the comedic process with over 500 other comics for his hit podcast the Comedian’s Comedian had armed him with the skills to extract the funny from climate facts to create a show that is, he says, “silly, relatable, non-threatening stuff about the huge deep shit that we’re in.”
Creativity can hold a power that pure science doesn’t get close to. It can help people get to grips, emotionally, with something like climate change far more effectively than facts and figures.
And Goldsmith sees comedy as uniquely suited to tackling climate issues. “I think if you can laugh, then you’ll feel less afraid,” he says.
“Comedy is brilliant at talking about difficult things, because it’s all about saying the unspoken – doing the joke in the cancer ward about how you’re the only person that’s going to be around next year, or whatever. It’s the crack in the idea, the flood of relief and the nervous laugh – releasing the tension of what is unsaid.
“Comedy is all about problems – the problems are the material. There are loads of problems in climate – one great big problem which, when you look at it, is made up of millions of granular problems.
“Comedy can find and inhabit the complexities and ambiguities to this subject. If you have bad news and feel awful, comedy can make you laugh and feel like it’s not the end of the world, even when your world is ending.
“And people need to feel OK to be active. It’s not my thing, but if people want to glue themselves to roads I’d rather they do it because of anger than fear.”
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The show is designed to be approachable rather than activism, with a ‘climate confessions’ portion that encourages the audience to share their less than sustainable habits, from an irrational love of clingfilm to flying because it’s cheaper than the train.
Goldsmith is aware these aren’t conversations people are having in their day-to-day lives, maybe because they’re perceived as boring or “because we feel guilty. But with that section I want to undermine the idea that unless you live a perfect carbon free life, you’re not entitled to an opinion – because that plays into the hands of the fossil fuel companies.”
He says his motivation was never to change the world – but rather to change himself. Writing jokes about the climate crisis is his way of processing what’s happening to the world and, he says, has forced him to learn more about the subject.
Sharing this learning in an accessible way and making himself the butt of the joke means he can broach unpopular themes and forge a sense of community round the problem.
“For example, yes, I think that people should go vegan, but I haven’t bloody gone vegan!” he laughs. “But rather than, I’m a vegan and you should be one too, I’m saying, ‘I understand about the carbon impact of meat so I’m in the pipeline to becoming vegan and I bitterly resent it.’
“That’s a funny way to talk about it, and it still gets the stuff across but it’s not a lecture. I’m the victim – I’m saying ‘oh for fuck’s sake, I’m going to have to be vegan aren’t I, God this is awful!’ I’m trying to find ways to talk about stuff that doesn’t scold the audience.”
Goldsmith tested his climate material on a very receptive audience at Shambala festival last year – photo: Ursula Billington
It seems to be an approach he is naturally well suited to. “I just think that the highest and best use of my time may be to use the skillset I have, the fact that my every review will include words to the effect of ‘when this guy comes on, you relax’,” he says.
“I’m a normal person, I look and sound normal, so I can use that to wriggle into people’s minds. By being a funny guy in a suit I can smuggle that intense message in past their vibe sensors.
“My speciality now is doing climate comedy for sustainability departments in big organisations – to make sustainability feel visceral, personal and funny, and not just like a health and safety briefing. I want to help the people doing the work.”
Above all, the message Goldsmith wants to get out there is that – contrary to some expectations – his stuff is really funny. “Who goes to see a climate comedian?!” he asks wryly.
“I have to constantly transmit – this isn’t bad! It’s won awards, I’ve done a Live at the Apollo! It might be about climate but it’s honestly just like really good standup that you like.”
Stuart Goldsmith’s Live at the Apollo is available to watch now on BBC iPlayer and he is performing the work in progress show Confessions of a Climate Comedian at Sidney & Eden on March 28.
To book a corporate climate comedy gig visit stuartgoldsmith.com
Main image: Matt Crockett
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