Esteban Gast, Climate Comedian – Yes, You Read That Right – Transcript

Kirk: Welcome to Let’s Hear It.

Eric: Let’s Hear It is a podcast for and about the field of foundation and nonprofit communications, produced by its two co-hosts, Eric Brown and Kirk Brown. No relation.

Kirk: Well said, Eric. And I’m Kirk.

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Eric: So let’s get onto the show.

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Kirk: Welcome in. Welcome back. You found us. We found you. We’re glad you’re here. We’re glad to have you. We’re here. It’s, let’s hear it. Mr. Brown. Welcome in.

Eric: Oh, thank you. Thank you for welcoming me in. I feel welcome.

Kirk: You should be welcome because, let me start from the get go. We’re gonna talk a lot about what’s funny today, but you and I are not gonna be funny and we’re not even gonna try.

Let’s just get that out of the room.

Eric: I’m not funny, I just wanna be funnier, but it’s, it’s terrible ’cause I’m just, I’m really not that funny.

Kirk: We’ll play it straight. But this is a great conversation and uh, this is something that we all need to be thinking about. And actually, you know how I always have these great ideas based on your interviews.

I’ve got a great idea based on this interview and we’ll save that for afterwards.

Eric: No, I know how you always think you have great ideas based on the interviews.

Kirk: You’re so glad to have me on this podcast. So set this up ’cause there’s a lot to talk about here. There’s so much to talk about.

Eric: I spoke with Esteban Gast, who is the Comedian-in-Residence at Generation 180, a nonprofit working to inspire and equip people to take action on clean energy.

He is a climate comedian. Just, you know, like, let that wash over you, Kirk.

Kirk: You did not hear that incorrectly. He is the Comedian-in-Residence. We would all kill for this title. We’d kill for this role.

Eric: No, ’cause then you have to be funny about climate.

Kirk: Yeah, well, true.

Eric: Which I guess might as well be funny about climate because there’s precious little else to laugh about right now.

Kirk: Oh my goodness.

Eric: As our democracy spins into the abyss.

Kirk: Let’s go to this interview because, uh, Esteban Gast is so, so gracious. So funny, so thoughtful to come join us on the podcast and oh my gosh, Generation 180. Is it possible this is the first comedian in residence in the history of our country that’s worked on climate?

That’s worked on climate change?

Eric: It might be, I don’t know. Who knows? It might be.

Kirk: It’s a Mount Rushmore one.

Eric: It’s certainly one of very, very few. If that’s very few if that’s the case. But we’ll talk more about, and I talked about it in the interview, we’ll talk more about. How do you use different ways to communicate, to advance your message and to make the world a better place and to engage your audience and stuff like that.

And I think Esteban and what Generation 180 is doing is an a a, an object lesson in good communications. So there’s, that’s my, I’m setting the volleyball for, for you to spike it.

Kirk: There we go. Esteban Gast, Generation 180 on Let’s Hear It. Let’s listen. We’ll come back.

 

Eric: Welcome to Let’s Hear It. My guest today is Esteban Gast, writer, host, speaker, and, get this, Comedian-in-Residence at Generation 180, a nonprofit working to inspire and equip people to take action on clean energy. Okay? So I’m always intimidated by people who are actually funny, so I’m a little worried about this one, but, oh no, I’m gonna give it a try. Welcome, Esteban. I’m scared.

Esteban: Eric, I’m scared too because first off, thanks for having me, but now I have to live up to the funny, this is how, if I’m like meeting someone and they don’t have context, and they go, well, sometimes I don’t wanna say, oh, but they’re like, oh, you’re lots of fun. And then when I go, oh, I’m a comedian, and then they’re like, oh.

Then it’s like the [00:04:00] fun was required. It’s like this is bonus silliness. I’m not doing my job now. This is just bonus silliness.

Eric: Well, your title is Comedian-in-Residence, so yeah, I, you know, you’re behind the eight ball on that one.

Esteban: You know what is the mistake? I never clarified the residence, and I think that people are like, is it the residence of life?

You know, is it, is it mankind? It is in the offices of Generation 180?

Eric: Comedian in the office.

Esteban: Comedian, yeah, comedian in the office, Monday through Friday, business hours.

Eric: Or you could just be that guy who like never stops making jokes.

Esteban: Yeah, yeah, yeah. They’re like, things are getting pretty serious. And I’m like, just in back heckling.

Absolutely.

Eric: Like, Hey, we’re talking about climate here. This is the worst boringest, most serious thing. Why do you keep making jokes? Yeah. Alright. Well, so tell us a little bit about Generation 180. Most organizations that I’ve [00:05:00] worked with did not have a Comedian-in-Residence

Esteban: Oh, I thought it was standard. I told them everyone had it, and then they believed me. Oh my. This is a really, this is a shocking moment. No, it is amazing. I, I had worked with Generation 180 for a little bit. I had made some funny videos for them and love them, love the team. Like they’re doing all sorts of interesting things. The thing that I think about and connect with them is, is they’re really doing what I think are like remarkably interesting things in in climate communications and flipping the script and using culture as this tool to motivate. And I’m like, oh, I love it. You’re speaking my language. But even outside of that, one of their programs that I tell everyone and I think about all the time, is they’re putting solar on schools, which helps lower the energy costs, which also they like. There’s education programming, so kids learn about solar. Like it just like, I’m like, why isn’t everyone doing that? If I were president, I would just be like solar for schools. This is my one issue. And I feel like everyone would be like, absolutely, we have more money to pay teachers and kids get to learn. Anywho, so all that is to say, I love what Generation 180 is doing, and I was working with them for a little, and I have to credit Wendy Philleo, the executive director. She was like, Hey, it’d be interesting to have you be involved a bit more. What would it look like to build out trainings? And this is key. Okay, this feels small, but this is key.

Before, when I had worked with, ’cause I, I have some background in education and activism, things like that. So before when I had worked, I had been the comedian and then they go, can you be a marketing consultant? Can you make, you know, like these things that –

Eric: How are your plumbing skills?

Esteban: Yeah. Yeah. And I was like, I was like, Hey guys, it should be important to note that I’m a comedian, but they, you know, I, I worked for political campaigns and they’re like, can you help design flyers and manage people? And I was like, sure. But I, I do stand up comedy, but sure, of course I wanna help. And this is where Wendy changed everything and she went, Hey, we’d love for you to be involved.

You can still be doing comedy things. Let’s just make a role called Comedian-in-Residence and you get to help make videos and you get to help create these comedy training programs. You get to help work with us to make things a little bit sillier and funnier. You get to work with our communication, you know, like she’s like just still be a comedian, but just with us some of the time.

And that to me, I was like, you can, I mean, we made the joke, but truly I was like, you can do that? Like, I’m like looking around being like, is anyone gonna be like, no, you can’t?

Eric: You’re gonna lose your, your nonprofit status. It has to be serious and terrible.

Esteban: Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Not profit. It’s just already sounds sad.

We’re defining it by the things it isn’t. I’m looking around and apparently this is my third year, so you can do it. Wow. I think no one has told us otherwise.

Eric: That’s impressive. The IRS hasn’t come banging on the door.

Esteban: They have, but I won’t answer. I just won’t answer.

Eric: Well, so you, you are a part of, so Generation 180, which is working on clean energy in a lot of ways.

They’re doing it in very straightforward ways and also in funny and fun and engaging ways. You also have a climate comedy cohort.

Yeah.

Okay. Which is fun to say, which is nice, but it sounds like a different approach talking about climate change, which as we all know is one of the funniest subjects on Earth.

Esteban: Very easy to pitch people on climate comedy.

Eric: How do you do climate comedy?

Esteban: I think it is the way that you do any comedy.

Eric: How’s that?

Esteban: To, to me, if you look at. What comedy has done, if you look at the best comedy specials of all time, right? Even if we sit here and we go, George Carlin was a major, you know, George Carlin talked about really heavy things, including occasionally actually climate change and the climate crisis.

A few, a few jokes here and there, but he talked about these really heavy things, right? And you look at Richard Pryor and you look at all these folks, even in the last years, some of the most beautiful standup specials and meaningful specials have been – Marc Maron talked about, it’s From Bleak to Dark. It won a bunch of awards and it’s about the passing of his longtime partner, you know, and he is mining that for comedy.

So, so for me to think, Hey, the climate crisis is a heavy topic, to me, I go, yeah, actually, that’s actually exactly where comedy goes and shines a light into those dark places, and it makes us feel less alone. Comedy’s really great for showing hypocrisies. It’s showing it in the world, even within ourselves, right?

So you can write a joke about grief, grieving someone, and then having a good day and feeling guilty because you should be sad and what that means and oh my goodness. And then you can write a joke about, the same structure, the same thought process of being at the airport and forgetting your water bottle.

So you have to buy a plastic water bottle and then, and then you don’t want to, so then you’re on the plane and then you’re really thirsty, but you feel really morally good about yourself. But then you eventually break and you go, and then you end up buying two water bottles, ’cause you’re so thirsty, ’cause you went so long without water, trying to take a moral stance. And then as you’re drinking the water, you’re like, wait a minute. Why? [00:10:00] Why do I feel guilty? Corporations are doing all these different things and I’m sitting here on the plane with a stomach ache ’cause I feel like I’m morally bankrupt ’cause I wanted to be hydrated.

Whatever are all these complexities and contradictions and everything exists if you’re writing a joke about anything. So I think when it comes to climate, it’s like the same approach of making it really human. Finding these things that maybe we all do, but we don’t acknowledge, pointing out hypocrisies, pointing out inconsistencies.

I think all those tools are really, really relevant for any topic, but particularly in the topic that we’re talking about now and that I’m really interested in, in, in the climate.

Eric: That’s funny. That’s actually, that’s very funny. You know when you see comedians sitting around like, oh, that’s funny.

Esteban: Yeah. No one laughs and they just, that’s funny.

Eric: That’s very funny. I, I’m dying. That is very funny. Yeah. I mean, you’re quite right. What we’re trying to. All trying to do when we’re communicating about anything that matters is to get people to relate to it. And it sounds [00:11:00] like helping people laugh at their own foibles is at the middle of that. So what does the cohort itself do?

What, do you have deploying comedians around the country in these kind of – airdrop them?

Esteban: I’ve got a red phone and someone goes, comedian needed in Shreveport, Louisiana. And I go, they’re on the way.

Eric: I’ve been to Shreveport. That’s a tough room.

Esteban: I’ve done comedy in Shreveport. I’m huge in Shreveport. Eric, I should have said I’m Shreveport’s favorite comedian, self-described and they would, by the way, not agree with this.

Okay, so the cohort works with professional comedians. This small group, it’s really amazing to be working with this handful of comedians who this really high level, they’ve got comedy specials, they’ve been on TV, they’re doing these things. What we do is we, one, do a lot of climate education, which I think is really, really big because I think the peer-to-peer learning in community model of learning around climate is so important because there’s so much in climate and I love it.

I read the nerdy books and the nerdy magazine and I’m also like fairly outgoing and I’m still scared to ask questions. I’m also like, are, um, I just, are electric vehicles, like, batteries, you know, like, like a little timid. And I think a lot of people feel that way. And I don’t think we’re doing enough to like invite people in and be like, Hey, by the way, ask us any question you want.

And we still think you are a good person if you are asking us about whatever, electric or these things. Right? And let’s, let’s talk about that. Let’s bust the myths. Let’s talk about who started some of these rumors. Let’s talk about the reality of it. Let’s compare, let’s have a really. Open, honest conversation about all these things.

So I think that’s really key. So we talk about climate and then we just do what comedians do. And we’ve seen, I live in LA and what we’ve seen in Hollywood, we do writer’s room style where people go away and they have some time and they write jokes and they come and they share with a partner, and then they share with a group.

And our ideas and the jokes become better and better and better. And then even to the last example I shared of these are the jokes. Then the jokes, we encourage them to be about something, they get deeper, right? So for the joke about feeling guilty about. A water bottle, it can be a funny story, but ultimately it’s about how blame has been shifted to individuals.

Oh, that’s really interesting. How do we write five minutes on that instead of just one funny story? So I think we encourage comedians to go deeper. To find these compelling thesis. So we’re doing this as in, in this like period of time. And then we make videos. We do live shows. So we did a tour one year.

We did videos with Comedy Central, we did videos with Yellow Dot, which is Adam McKay’s company. So then we take this original comedy. Sometimes it’s on a focus, sometimes it’s comedians can decide what they connect with and we put it out in the world and it’s been really interesting and beautiful to see.

I think comedians are a great bridge. I think someone might hear something from a comedian and they might. That they might not normally click on if it’s a climate scientist.

Eric: Good point.

Esteban: Yeah. And then they might go, oh, that’s really interesting. I wanna learn more. So I think we feel really excited about the comedy we’re creating, where people at the end go, oh, I wanna learn more about that. Wait a minute. Heat pump. You just made heat pump jokes.

Eric: Heat pumps are funny. Come on.

Esteban: I mean, yeah. The jokes write themselves.

Eric: You, you can’t kind of screw that one up.

Esteban: That was a gift. Gift from the comedy gods to have heat pump rebates, uh, in the IRA. Thank you. Thank you, thank you.

Eric: Thank you Uncle Joe for the, for the comedy gold.

Esteban: We’re telling the, we’re telling the Biden administration if they could just have sillier names than we would be, we would tell everyone about everything they’re doing, but instead –

Eric: You could read all 22,000 pages of the very cleverly named Inflation Reduction Act. Yeah. Okay, so I have, I have a favor to ask you.

Esteban: Absolutely.

Eric: And feel free to say, not just no, but hell no. But if you say yes, then I have evidentiary proof that you agree to this. Can I just sit in, in your writer’s room and just watch? Always wanted to be in a writer’s room because it sounds like a lot of fun, and I just [00:15:00] wanna sit there and I wanna watch.

I’ll be quiet, I promise not to crack any joke.

Esteban: First off. Yes.

Eric: You heard it here, folks.

Esteban: Secondly, Eric, here’s, here’s, do you wanna know the bummer?

Eric: You’re lying.

Esteban: Is everything I’ve told you a lie? No. I think you’ll see the iterative process of comedy is very fun. But the first jokes, like the first half of everything is gonna not be funny.

Eric: I’m prepared to be devastated.

Esteban: Yeah. Yeah. I just want you emotionally to know that you’re gonna sit in a room and someone is gonna stand and go, I’m thinking about something, um, like, uh, like wind, um, and, and, ah, someone help me out here. And then you’re gonna sit there and go, I can’t believe I made Esteban promise that I should be here.

Eric: Wow. Okay. All right. I will hold you harmless against my own dissatisfaction and dejection of the not funniness of the writer’s room because I [00:16:00] I know it’s gonna pay off.

Esteban: Not funny at the beginning.

Eric: At the beginning. No, no, no. Clearly.

Esteban: And at the end you’ll go, oh my goodness. And then, yeah.

Eric: In Nirvana.

Esteban: Yeah.

Eric: Okay. We’re gonna take a very quick break with Esteban Gast, who is the Comedian-in-Residence at Generation 180 will be right back after this very short break.

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Eric: You are listening to Let’s Hear It, a podcast about foundation and nonprofit communications hosted by Eric Brown and Kirk Brown. If you’re enjoying this episode, you may just be a rule breaker. Tune in to Break Fake Rules, a new limited series podcast with Glen Galaich, CEO of the Stupski Foundation. Hear from leaders in philanthropy, nonprofits, government, media, and more to learn about challenges they’ve overcome by breaking fake rules and which rules we should commit to breaking together. We are also sponsored by the Conrad Prebys Foundation. Check out their amazingly good podcast, and we’re not just saying that, Stop and Talk, hosted by Prebys Foundation CEO, Grant Oliphant. You can find them at stopandtalkpodcast.com. And now back to the show.

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And we are back with Esteban Gast. I would say officially the funniest guest in the history of Let’s Hear It.

And that’s saying, oh, there’s some very funny people who have been on this show.

Esteban: Oh my goodness.

Eric: But right now you are right at the top and let’s just, you know, hope that you stay there because with comedian in your name, you’re gonna have to make us laugh. Every second of every day. Make me laugh, schmuck.

I think that’s what most people say to you, right?

Esteban: And they treat me with that disdain. That’s good. Almost everyone calls me schmuck. I’ve been meaning to talk to someone about this.

Eric: I think low expectations are perfect. That’s all you ever want in life because you can only exceed that. You’re talking about how you’re taking a complex issue like climate change and something that people usually don’t wanna talk about or which is boring or that goes over their head or something like that, and [00:18:00] making it an engaging subject.

What are you hearing back? How are you finding ways to continue to talk about this issue that creates some value, like it gets people working or doing or feeling better about things. They don’t wanna just sit in the room and hold themselves and rock back and forth and pretend that stuff is happening.

Tell me about the good stuff that’s happening as a result.

Esteban: I think there’s so much good stuff. And it feels very varied. Very varied. Very, very, very, very. I think when we take something that’s issue specific, like the inflation reduction act, right, and we made some jokes about that. I think that is awareness and I think what is really nice, it’s like it’s unlikely messengers of what the IRA does, right?

So I think we are telling people that normally would not know about this and or we’re telling them, and we’re also like this audience surrogate. So we go, Hey, there’s actually this amazing climate thing that happened. It’s called the Inflation Reduction Act. I know the [00:19:00] name is weird. I might go, Hey everyone.

The Inflation Reduction Act is the new climate legislation bill that President Biden passed. Here’s the things that it will do. If I’m listening to that, there’s already a cognitive dissonance and I think comedians can really be like, yeah, I know. Isn’t that wild? And then make jokes about it, dig into it and then be like, anyways, here’s basically the news is that there’s a ton of money for you to do that.

There’s a ton of infrastructure. Here’s the thing, even cities, they get to like claim stuff. So you, you kind of gotta nudge your city, which is cool. ’cause sometimes maybe you’re like, oh my gosh, federal government, my town doesn’t, you know, and you can really speak. In a way that’s different and yeah, and I think audience surrogate is a good way to think about it.

I’m kind of skeptical, I’m kind of busy. I kind of just need you to tell me what it is. And a comedian can kind of cut through that. So we’re seeing that in videos. We’re seeing that in standup. We’re seeing that even the way that the comedians themselves are thinking about this. One of my favorite things, and Eric, you’ll see this because as we’ve agreed, you’ll, you’ll be in the writer’s room as per the contract.

Per the vow that we’ve made.

Eric: I’m sure it’s legally enforceable.

Esteban: Absolutely. For the listeners, there’s a lawyer right behind Eric who’s holding up the contract that says, you promised, Esteban.

Eric: If you hear the knock on your door, it’s the contract being delivered. None of this DocuSign.

Esteban: We’re going old school. We’re going old school. One of the, the best things we hear is in these moments, right? Where if it’s on Zoom, if it’s in person, wherever we are working with these climate scientists, they are, or climate communicators, they are so curious to what comedians are grabbing, ’cause that is also interesting.

You’ve got the comedian brain that just is scanning things for things that are memorable and funny and weird and kind of don’t make sense. So they’re listening. We had David Roberts, who’s wonderful Volts podcast.

Eric: Former guest on this podcast,

Esteban: Former guest?

Eric: That’s right.

Esteban: And it’s good to know if I remember you said I was the funniest guest so far.

So it’s just good to know. I’ll tell David next time I see him.

Eric: With apologies to a whole bunch of people are gonna now gonna be really mad at me.

Esteban: Yeah. But David Roberts was there and David would stop speaking and be like, wait. What do you, tell me why that’s interesting to you guys, or like, what do you guys hear about this?

And it was this very interesting dialogue where I was like, yeah, this is valuable. So anyway, I’m sort of rambling all different things, but I think unlikely messengers, I think the way comedians think, I think the audience gets to be represented in that. I think comedians can also have irreverence in a way that’s like, I’m figuring this out.

Comedians can also be in the journey, so it’s less top down. I’m telling you information. This is information that you need to process, and comedians can be like, I am processing this information, with you, with the collective audience. So I think a lot of those shifts are valuable in comedy, but I know a bunch of people from all walks of life listen to this.

But I think those are also just valuable communication tips of what’s it look like to process with the audience, what it looks like to be like, we’re going through this collective, what’s less top down and more sort of peer to peer. I can keep going forever, but I know it’s a limited podcast. People are sitting in their cars right now being like, he’s gotta wrap up.

Eric: That’s right. I’m about to hit my exit.

Esteban: Yeah.

Eric: Or like, I don’t wanna run any longer. I wanna stop my workout.

Esteban: Yeah. They’re on a treadmill being like, please, we get it.

Eric: Okay. Yeah. Comedy, get it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. I need to cool down. One of the reasons I have this podcast is because it allows me to learn and process in real time.

’cause otherwise I just sit in a room and stare at the wall. And what you’re saying in a larger sense, for the folks that work in nonprofit organizations who work on serious things, who say, oh no, you don’t understand, it’s complicated. I would say to those people out there, do yourselves a favor. Bring somebody into your organization, hire Esteban or one of his cronies to come in and push at your issue and ask questions about it and find the funny, or find the interesting or the weird so that you can tell your story in a way that is more engaging than it is ’cause many [00:23:00] folks doing serious work I think are probably missing out on an opportunity to engage with their audiences on a deeper level, because we keep it up here in the brain place instead of in some other part of your body where you hold feelings and emotions and humor and other, other things like that. It’s also, by the way, it’s a jobs bill for your ilk.

Esteban: I appreciate it. Yeah. Eric, anyone comes my 10% your way? The lawyer’s nodding yes. No, but I also think there’s something interesting too, someone like a third party that isn’t that deep in the weeds, if that makes sense. Right. I think it’s important that a comedian comes in in these moments. He is literally getting this like climate education, Hey, here’s all the solutions, and they can sit there and there’s no obligation.

Like they can be like, this feels confusing. I think there’s a lot of power to that, to bring comedians or artists of any type. ’cause I think what is tough, and I’ve done this, I’ve been in organizations and been like, oh my gosh, I need to communicate. And you’re just in it. You’re just in it so much that it’s tough to get that perspective.

It’s tough to get that, even that irreverence that I’ve talked about, I’m like, this is my life’s work. You know? And, and then someone’s like, absolutely, I love your life’s work, but you’re using this phrase and that makes me think about something else.

Eric: Well, I mean, people will constantly tell me like, oh, Eric, you’re dumbing down my life’s work.

I was like, no, no, no. I’m not dumbing it down. I’m making it interesting. Uh, I’m helping people to understand what your life’s work is, and I think we have to bring those two things together whenever possible. Yes, these are important issues, but if you can’t talk about them in ways that people can relate to, they’re not gonna relate, they’re gonna just go on like back to whatever it is they’re doing, back to their coffee or something else, and bringing people together for a common good, that’s the point. And getting the thing done that you wanna get done seems to me to be the point. And how you get there. I. Is, it’s up for graphs and I just think what you’re doing is so interesting and so much fun.

Obviously you’re a comedy climate, comedy cohort. That’s what it is. Are these people with climate engagement before or are you now converting the regular comedians into climate advocates?

Esteban: Good question.

Eric: Finally.

Esteban: Yeah, a good question. Good question. I knew it would happen eventually. Here we are. No, no, no.

We are very thoughtful about the way that we think about this, right? So Generation 180, the partners, the climate comedy cohorts, Generation 180 that we talked about, amazing Clean energy nonprofit. That’s where I’m Comedian-in-Residence. And then our partners are American University, specifically for the climate comedy cohort.

Right. So Gen 80 does other comedy culture stuff outside of that. But for the climate comedy cohort, it’s American University Center for Media and Social Impact. And they’ve actually got this program called Good Laugh, which is all about comedy and social issues. If you’re like, even if you’re sitting and you’re like listening and you’re like climate, it’s like they’re taking on every issue.

Eric: Hemorrhoids.

Esteban: Yeah, it’s amazing.

Eric: Gastric distress.

Esteban: And they’ve got research on it right there at a university. So the leader of that, the director, Dr. Caty Borum, she wrote this book called the Revolution Will Be Hilarious, all about how a lot of change like social and systemic change happens through the lens of comedy.

Anyhow, really good stuff. So together we think about this and I think it helps to have people who are climate curious is what we say. People who are curious and willing to learn. But we’ve had people who are like activists and comedians as well and have worked with, you know, we had Paula. She’s amazing.

She really involved with Sunrise movement in New York. Just really, really walking the walk doing really incredible things. She’s in it. And for her it’s really exciting and, and she also got to take on more of a leadership role, right? In this writer’s room, if we’re talking about this community, peer-to-peer, she gets to lead that.

Then we’ve got other people who are like, I’ve always wanted to do something about this, but I don’t know what, and to me those people are really key because I think that is where most people are. When I talk to my friends who are not in the climate space. A hundred percent of them go, oh my gosh, I want to, I’ve been meaning to, I just don’t know.

It’s a little intimidating. I don’t know what to do. And isn’t recycling fake anyways. And they, they’re like, so I don’t even, I thought I was recycling, I’m composting. Is that good? And these are some of the things that they’re grabbing. So I love someone in that space because then we get to walk them through that.

These comedians then really become climate ambassadors. So they are to their own communities, in their own spaces, and they’re public figures, so to their own fans, right? They’re going around and they’re literally doing comedy. So to their own fans, they get to be ambassadors. So for us, it’s really, really important, not just that we make videos, but that the people who go through our program leave and genuinely have authentic relationship to this issue and to this movement. So that’s something that we think a lot about.

Eric: That’s great. I love that. And in just a minute, a couple of minutes that we have left, what’s next? What’s the next kind of exciting comedic climate thing that you’re looking forward to?

Esteban: Yeah, I think we, we feel really excited about this model and I think we’re looking to see where this model is. Because I think sometimes genuinely people email me Gen 180 and things like that because I think sometimes people hire artists or comedians and comedian, or the artist doesn’t have that space to ask those climate questions doesn’t have, so then maybe they make something, they create some sort of art, but it’s not rooted in their own authentic engagement, passion, interest in this, right? So something that we kinda, when I say it’s like climate 101, but really that’s like, Hey, be passionate. Let’s cultivate a genuine passion for the climate, crisis and movement and everything. And then let’s write some jokes. So I think we’re, we’re really excited about this model and think we’ve got this gift, which I, I genuinely mean as a gift to be like.

Oh my gosh. Where do we want to go? Where do we wanna think about this? I’m a standup comedian, but what does it look like to have influences? What does it look like to look at different demographics? I’m Colombian. I lived for a bit in Puerto Rico. Latinos feel like they’re not invited in certain ways, or when they are, it’s like only in cheesy Spanish, right?

So they go like, and el climate movement es para tu! And you’re like, that’s not even right. Spanish. So, so I think there’s something interesting there that I’m thinking about. So yeah, I think it is where can this model live and, and make an impact? And part of that is, you know, we’ve got a big election coming up.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, I don’t know if you’ve read the newspapers, but pretty big election.

Eric: I’m sorry. Really? There’s no election. I had no idea.

It’s a, yeah,

Esteban: it’s, it’s a little bit of like dictator verse, little bit life and death, maybe democracy. Yeah, it’s just a teeny bit. I don’t wanna stress you out.

Eric: Sounds a little dramatic.

Esteban: So, yeah, so we’re looking at all that. So I know that’s a, that’s a vague answer, which I apologize, but that is the true, true answer. We’re in the vague, I’m in the vague right now. We’re in living in the vague.

Eric: It’s so vague.

I just, I love what you’re doing. I think this is so important and so valuable.

I think that there is not a single nonprofit organization on the planet that would not benefit from a comedian in residence or at the very least a creative person to come in and ask questions and try to make sense of what it is you’re doing and to find the humanity and the engagement and all that crap.

And what you’re doing is kind of the funnest extreme of that. But it tells, it just teaches us so much about how do you communicate about your work in ways that are meaningful and relatable. Congratulations to you. Thank you so much for coming on and being the funniest guest in the history of Let’s Hear It.

Esteban Gast, Comedian-in-Residence at Generation 180. Esteban, thank you. And I’m holding you to the writer’s room.

Esteban: This was so, so fun. Thank you. Thanks for having me. This was a blast and thanks for all the kind things you’re saying about artists and the role of artists and comedians in the nonprofit, in the change making space that is so great.

And I will as promised, Venmo you the hundred dollars for all those compliments. Uh, no, that, that truly, I think a lot of people sometimes don’t get it. So this is wonderful and affirming and validating. So thanks. Thanks for all the thoughtfulness.

Eric: Well, the kind words have the added benefit of truth Esteban Gast, thank you. [00:31:00] Again, thank you so much.

Esteban: Thank you.

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Kirk: And we’re back. Okay. Okay. I wanna go straight to my big idea. This was awesome. I am so glad. I’m so glad that you brought us one onto the podcast and also so cool. There’s so much to talk about here. But you know how like at a certain point, you know, you’re running an organization and it’s back in the day and you’re like, you know, this design thing’s a real thing.

We should hire a designer. They’re not gonna be focused on a project, they’re just gonna design and then they’re gonna design because everything needs a design. And then it was like, oh, actually, you know, this online thing, that’s a real thing. We need to hire a web person.

You know? So you would hire these people that had a skillset that worked across your project areas, not just spiraled into a project area. Is it possible?

Eric: I think I know where you’re going with this. Go ahead.

Kirk: Here’s the big idea. Should every organization have a Comedian-in-Residence or someone like that?

Because of the points you made about how salient this is for stretching our muscles and thinking [00:32:00] about how to reach different people in new and effective ways. Should everybody have somebody like this in their office discuss?

Eric: Sure.

Kirk: Yes. Thank you. There we go. Thank you.

Eric: That was a great conversation, Kirk. Absolutely. Well, the point I was making with Esteban is that when you bring people in who say, wait a minute. I don’t understand what you’re saying. Right? And people like me won’t understand what you’re saying. Oh, and by the way, it’s boring.

Or I, or I know what the science is. You don’t have to tell me for the 99th time that the climate is changing. I get that. But the question is, how do I talk about it to my kids or my, the people that I, other people that I know, or with whom I work, that kind of thing. How do I make this a useful and interesting and, God forbid, fun topic?

And that’s what. That’s what he’s doing. He’s bringing the funny in and the fun in, and helping to translate some of these complicated concepts into things that regular, normal people who don’t wanna hear. It’s complicated, can understand, and that I think is beautiful. And whether you do it as a comedian or you do it as something else, heck could be a cartoonist, it could be a interpretive dance, I don’t know.

But. I think what he’s doing is great and I think that you know that they’re barnstorming around the country and doing comedy shows. Fabulous. Love it. I’m. Tickled pink over the moon. I could go on.

Well, any skill set that requires us to hone that muscle, that gets us out in a new and different way. You’re right.

Like we can use all of that capacity. I have to say though, could you imagine walking into any program officer’s office? So let’s assume that Generation 180 is largely funded by foundation and other philanthropic resources, and you’re gonna walk in and you’re like, we’ve got a. Big idea. We’re gonna hire a comedian.

And can you imagine? I mean, we, we have been on this podcast talking about, well, you know, it used to be that [00:34:00] people would call you the day before the report was done and they wanted a press conference. Like that was the big idea. Now, now we’re going all the way to, you’re gonna walk in, you’re gonna say, look, we’ve gotten so thoughtful.

We’re so, we’re so. Reflective about how we’re trying to position this stuff and get it into the mainstream conversation. We’re gonna hire a comedian who’s taking that meeting, who’s

taking that meeting, get the hell outta my office and like, don’t let the us on the way out, out, out. I don’t want any comedians in here.

It’s, it’s, it is, you know, it’s terrible enough as it is. These people dumbing down my stuff. It’s so complicated.

Kirk: Well, isn’t that great? He invited you into the writer’s room and he was like, you have to remember, you can come into the writer’s room, but it’s gonna be terrible. Like the first few hours are just awful in a writer’s room.

Eric: I can’t wait. I, my, my kingdom for the writer’s room. Yeah. I just, I would, I can’t wait to Esteban, if you’re listening, I’m gonna give you a call. ’cause I wanna know when, when I can come down and sit in the writer’s room. I’m, I’m working on some material.

Kirk: Well, can we come back to, you’ve, you’ve touched on this briefly, but you’ve, we’ve had [00:35:00] different discussions on this podcast about bridging and the importance of building bridges, and this is just a brand new and fresh one, isn’t it?

I mean, who doesn’t wanna laugh? We all want to laugh, and I, and so what I love about this notion of introducing a comedian to help us think about how we communicate climate change, is that it forces us to turn our considerations upside down, which I love. So like, so often it’s like, well, I’m a climate person.

How do I make you a climate person? Right. You know, it’s like, no, no. Now I know you wanna laugh. I know I wanna laugh. Let’s laugh together. Okay. Topically, we’re gonna talk, we’re gonna try to marry this stuff. And I thought it was interesting how, um, Esteban talked about, you know, we’re seeing this from some pretty, if not mainstream, like pretty substantial comic voices out there like Marc Maron, you know? Mm-Hmm. You know, a lot of people like to play with and have fun with the doom-saying around climate change. And, and I even wonder if this, this work around comedy and climate could actually even almost help us get the word climate out of our vernacular.

’cause I don’t even know if we don’t what that word means anymore, you know? Right. It’s so hard, but, but. This notion of comedy as a bridge. It just, it just feels like it’s such a powerful way and inclusive way to bring people together and, and bring people into this conversation in a new way.

Eric: Yes, I totally agree.

It’s one of the art forms that it, it gets beyond your brain stem, you know? Mm-Hmm. And, and I think I was watching a play where somebody was saying that, you know, laughter is one of these things that is inexplicable. There’s no kind of gene for laughter. There’s no thing that you can understand. It’s an involuntary reaction.

And that’s really cool. It’s one of these things we, we just don’t know what makes it funny other than, you know that it’s funny,

Kirk: right? It’s just whatever’s funny, it’s magical. It’s truly magic. It’s truly magic. Or

Eric: you see a child, you see a baby that can’t even. Speak. Yeah. And they see something that’s actually funny and they laugh and you go, woo.

I know it’s funny. The brain is so weird. But in another way of thinking about it is that you get to go around all of our very, very esoteric or very intellectual, brainy brain stuff and get to some kind of [00:37:00] inexplicable emotion and connect with somebody on a different level than usual, in which, whatever, you make your seven points and you show your 99 slides and you know all your 47 graphs, and people go, they nod nicely and they go outta the room and they’re like, I have no, I can’t remember any of that stuff. So this is a way that you can have this emotional connection with folks.

Kirk: It’s so visceral and it just, it feels like it’s an extension.

Like we’re just completely addicted to experience around here in my shop these days. ’cause you know, we’re watching the entire social landscape collapse and it’s like, you just need to create experience. We need to create real lived experiences with all the stuff that we’re trying to promote. And this feels like it’s such a visceral and, and, and powerful way to connect with people.

But the other piece of it too is, are we going to doom-say our way to solutions on climate change? And I think we’ve all decided maybe not. You know that, that, that screaming about the sky is falling. Like we need to understand the horrific consequences of the situation that we’re creating. And at the same time, if we’re just convincing all of us that this is not gonna go well get under a rock.

It’s just not gonna, it’s just not gonna work for us. And so the notion of bringing some, literally comic relief to this conversation. It feels like it also not only bridges to different audiences, but creates ways for people to open up their brains to, oh, actually, you know, this isn’t just gonna be a, a total catastrophe that takes us all away.

That there’s actually something maybe that I can do here. So I love the fact that he’s sitting at Generation 180 in the context of this organization that’s promoting clean energy and solutions that just, I, I, that connection just seems like it’s really great.

Eric: Because who wants to have another bummer of a conversation?

I mean, please, it’s tough enough. And so if there’s, Hey look, I had conversation with somebody and it was, and it was engaging and it was fun, and I laughed a little bit. I didn’t feel quite so horrible. I like those people. I’m, I’m happy they’re there. This is good. You know, he talks people off the ledge, whatever it takes to, to engage on a topic that is really important.

We all need to figure this stuff out, but people are really tired. Really, really, really tired of bad news and, well, that’s the other thing about Generation 180, which is a really interesting o organization helping people to make their own choices as consumers and as individuals and as advocates. To advance clean energy as Esteban was talking about putting, so, you know, doing solar schools and solar school bus, you know, uh, electric school buses and things like that.

Like these are practical things that make people’s lives better. Yeah. And they can do them and you can see it. It’s highly tangible and that kind of stuff is kinda solutions based and it allows individuals to actually do something and ’cause so much of what we see out there are like, oh my God, where, where are we going?

And what are we doing in this hand basket? And there’s nothing I can do about it. I feel totally powerless. And so I think that’s with the, whatever the, the zeitgeist of the organization, which is that this [00:40:00] is about engaging people and making them feel good about their decisions or the op, the things that they have to offer and kind of have a little fun as they go.

So. I, all this stuff is of a piece. It doesn’t surprise me in the least that they would have a Comedian-in-Residence, for example. Uh, it’s not the only thing they do, but it’s a a perfect example of how do we engage new audiences in ways that will be interesting and yeah, and bring them in and want them, and give them the opportunity to do more.

So they have people who are electric. Car ambassadors, for example. Mm-Hmm. And so they, anyone asks them about their car, they pull out all this stuff and like, here’s what it is and here’s why it’s fun and here’s why I love it. And I haven’t been to the gas station in two years and all that stuff. So more opportunities to talk with other people about things that matter and, and help them engage in a way that’s fun and interesting.

Kirk: Unless anybody suggests that this is way too airy and there’s not enough evidence in research behind it, I also love the [00:41:00] fact that they’re partnering with American University and the Center for Media and Social Impact. In fact, Eric, you missed your calling. You, you should go back to grad school. I’ve go here, go here, go here, go here.

You got, get a degree. But, and, and so, um, and our good friends at the Communications Network, guess what? They’ve done a webinar together: How to Use Comedy for Social Change. How great is that? And the, and the Good Laugh Initiative. So if anybody’s out there. A fair degree of skepticism.

That’s fair. We shall also be skeptical if anybody’s wondering, well, what’s the evidence behind this? Just go to our colleagues at the Center for Media and Social Impact at American University and just look at the evidence they’re accumulating for this kinda work. And of course, intuitively, we kinda get it, intuitively like, Hey, yeah, we think this is gonna make sense.

And yet at the same time, this is really brave stuff. I mean, again, I go back to my thing. How many people would’ve been laughed outta the room had you walked, had they walked into your office or any foundation office and said, Hey, we need to start hiring comedians. I mean, but what a progression.

I just love it. At least it’d be funny. At least it’d be funny.

Eric: You need hire comedians. Ha ha ha ha, ha. Get out.

Kirk: So there’s two things about this bridging thing that I wanna talk about. So one. Esteban talked in a very funny way about comedy with an eye towards different audience segments, particularly he mentioned Latinos, that that could be a really funny way to bridge stuff.

And I even wondered, my goodness, is this a way to actually help cultivate a new crop of donors, you know, because we have so many donors in so many different segments and they’re, you know, families of wealth or families of looking for solutions, it’s really hard to find your way into an issue like climate change.

It’s so gnarly, it’s so complicated. It’s got so many facets. It could something around common and just softening and making this whole. Experience more engaging and more fun. Could that actually be a way to unlock new kinds of philanthropy? And I bring that up because we know that that’s a big need, right?

We’re like, Hey, 2% of global philanthropy is going to this issue, which threatens to take us all down. You know, how do we, how do we move the needle on that? But again, could you imagine going good to. What are the major multi-party donation strategy? Like the billion dollar entities would be like, Hey, I know how you’re gonna get your next billion dollars.

Let’s hire some comedians and have them work, show some stuff in the writer’s room. But what do you think about that?

Eric: I don’t know. I, I haven’t met a lot. I’ve met my share, I guess, of, uh, very wealthy people over the years and working in philanthropy. They’re not always that funny. They don’t, they don’t seem to laugh a lot.

So maybe, you know, if we could unlock that special, maybe it’s what they need thing inside them that, that would allow them to kind of like, ah, right. Let it be, let it loose. But I don’t know, it’s, it’d be a nice challenge, that’s for sure.

Make the rich guy laugh. See if he can do it.

Kirk: Esteban, your bravery.

Your bravery, your willingness to be out here in the field doing the work in this way. I just, I, it, it reminds me of some of the early, when you think about the early stuff that used to be so innovative, and again, it was so scary. It’s like this, even this unlikely messengers thing. You know, let’s, let’s work with people that don’t typically look like [00:44:00] they should be advocating for the kinds of social purpose concern stuff that we care about.

And this is such an interesting and important extension of that. So, oh my gosh, Esteban, what a great conversation. And Eric. Thank you for bringing Esteban to the podcast. That was, that was awesome. I’m so glad you found him.

Eric: You are very welcome. Esteban is brave. He’s like the person who ate the first oyster.

Kirk: He goes about. And so before we go, I wanna do a shout out to Eric’s false Promise. He’s gonna take you out to dinner. A false promise at t at Communi. He’s claiming he’s gonna take you out to dinner at Communications Network. If you, uh, send over a great question, we should ask to an actual person we could actually interview on the podcast, right? Not, not a fictitious person.

Eric: So, best question, to a potential. Uh, legitimate interviewee gets dinner at the Savoy Grill in Kansas City during ComNet so I’m, I’m waiting for the flood of questions to, yeah. To begin hitting our inbox.

Kirk: I don’t, I don’t trust for a second. This is gonna actually happen, so send it in, send the questions in and, and force Eric to pony up for dinner at the Savoy. ’cause that would be, yeah.

Eric: Either that or I’m going by myself. I’ll sit there quietly. Eat my steak and feel bad about cows and the climate.

Kirk: Oh my goodness. Well, Esteban Gast, Generation 180, thank you so much for all the work you’re doing. Thanks for joining us on Let’s Hear It. And Eric, thank you. That was another great conversation.

Eric: Well, thank you Kirk. Good luck to us all.

Kirk: There we go.

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Kirk: Okay, everybody. That’s it for this episode. Please let us know if you have any thoughts about what you heard today or people we should have on this show, and that definitely includes yourself. And we’d like to thank…

Eric: Our indefatigable producer, Harper Brown.

Kirk: John Allee, the tuneful and inspiring composer of our theme music.

Eric: Our sponsor, the Lumina Foundation.

Kirk: And please check out Lumina’s terrific podcast, Today’s Students, Tomorrow’s Talent, and you can find that at luminafoundation.org.

Eric: We certainly thank today’s guest, and of course, all of you.

Kirk: And most importantly, thank you, Mr. Brown.

Eric: Oh, no, no, no, no. Thank you, Mr. Brown.

Kirk: Okay, everybody, till next time.