Funny or Die: Franken and Letterman Take on Climate Change in Hilarious Web Series
Founding Editor, Climate Progress
Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) has finally brought his trademark sense of humor to climate change.
The former Saturday Night Live comedian, now a U.S. senator, teamed up with comedian David Letterman on the first season of a new web series, “Boiling the Frog with Senator Al Franken.”
The series was created by the website Funny Or Die and “the geniuses behind Years of Living Dangerously,” as Franken describes the producers of the Emmy award-winning climate change series in the hilarious first video.
Viewers of the series may recall that the second season, which aired on National Geographic Channel last fall, opened with Letterman traveling to India to see how that country is dealing with climate change and making increased use of solar power. (In the spirit of full disclosure, I serve as chief science adviser for the series).
“In Season Two we learned the value of integrating comedy into climate change storytelling,” Years of Living Dangerously executive producer Joel Bach explained in an email to ThinkProgress. “We decided that if we were ever to do a short-form series on the intersection of politics and climate, Senator Al Franken would top the list.”
Bach, a former 60 Minutes producer, added, “fortunately Senator Franken loved the idea and the result is ‘Boiling the Frog,’ a series that we hope will gives audiences a sense of the many hurdles lawmakers face when trying to make progress on climate. All with a few laughs.”
Franken has emerged as a true climate champion, fighting back against the misinformation and outright climate science denial spread by the Trump administration, as we have been reporting.
Other episodes in the web series have Franken telling Letterman who is really behind the inaction in Washington on climate change; the two men taking on Trump for having no idea why coal jobs are really disappearing; a look at why Letterman’s beard is actually a weapon in the fight to control carbon emissions; and Letterman answering Franken’s question, “Dave, when you were in India, why did you seem so stupid?”
You can watch the entire web series right now on FunnyOrDie.com.
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Reposted from ThinkProgress
