Explaining Climate Science Through Comedy

Summary

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Podcast Summary: “Explaining Climate Science Through Comedy”

Podcast: All Of It
Host: David Fuerst (in for Alison Stewart)
Guests: Raleigh Williams (Climate Town, The Climate Deniers Playbook), Nicole Conlon (The Daily Show, The Climate Deniers Playbook)
Date: September 24, 2025

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Overview

In this episode of All Of It, guest host David Fuerst speaks with comics and climate communicators Raleigh Williams and Nicole Conlon about how comedy can be a powerful tool for addressing climate change misinformation. With backgrounds in both climate science and comedy, they discuss their creative process, the challenge of breaking through denial and misinformation, and the cathartic, motivating potential of laughter in the face of daunting global issues.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Power of Language in Climate Discourse

• Rebranding with Rhetoric: The episode opens with examples from political leaders, notably President Trump’s reference to “clean, beautiful coal,” to highlight how language can distort reality and shape public perception.
  • David Fuerst: “Does coal need a bit of rebranding? Just throw the words clean and beautiful in front. Problem solved.” (00:51)
• Comedy’s Role: Williams and Conlon explain that humor helps reveal the absurdity of misleading rhetoric and undercuts attempts to sanitize environmental harms.

2. Dissecting Climate Misinformation

• The Climate Deniers Playbook: The guests’ podcast and YouTube channel break down denialist arguments.
  • Raleigh Williams: “It’s sort of a breakdown of their playbook and how they use different rhetorical techniques to basically take a half truth and stretch it over a giant lie and kind of make it all feel like it's plausible.” (03:17)
• Examples of Debunking:
  • Nicole Conlon: “He’s really trying to put lipstick on a pig with this one. You can call it clean and beautiful if you want, but that doesn't change what it is.” (04:06)
  • Raleigh Williams (on parodying Trump): “Beautiful, global, growing waste. Spread it on my skin.” (04:26)
• Combatting “Frankenstein’s Monster” Arguments: Raleigh describes climate denial tropes as being stitched together, requiring targeted, factual debunking.
  • Raleigh Williams: “It’s hard to debunk because it's sort of like a Frankenstein's monster of all the different tropes all kind of lumbering through the United Nations.” (06:53)

3. Finding Humor in the Heavy

• Comedic Approach to Grave Topics: The process involves juxtaposing absurd rhetoric with scientific facts, focusing on the specifics for comedic effect.
  • Raleigh Williams: “My job is to look at this stuff and kind of try to make a little hay out of it ... picking one specific sentence and trying to go from there. Aim small, miss small kind of thing.” (07:32)
• Observational Humor:
  • Nicole Conlon (on Trump denying climate change while sweating): “I'm like, man, climate change is happening to you right now.” (08:09)

4. The Journey from Comedy to Climate—and Back

• Personal Backstories:
  • Both guests began with comedy, then pursued advanced degrees in climate and urban planning, before returning to comedy to address climate issues.
  • Nicole Conlon: “Comedy happened first ... The thing that got me into climate change specifically was the documentary ‘Merchants of Doubt,’ which is all about climate change misinformation and disinformation.” (08:37)
  • Raleigh Williams: Developed his Al Gore-inspired comedy show while meeting with climate scientists, leading him to formally study climate science. (09:28)
• Blending Passions: They explore how their unique combination of expertise and performance can demystify complex policy issues and make science accessible.

5. Crafting Content: Picking Topics and Targets

• Recent Podcast Episodes:
  • Topics include “Global Cooling” and the “light duty loophole” for truck emissions.
  • Nicole Conlon: “We try to find something that is both a piece of misinformation ... that kind of permeates everybody's lives without really knowing about it ... and also pieces with a clear villain or ... the target of what we're trying to make fun of.” (10:51)
• Ethics in Comedy:
  • Raleigh Williams: “It's just kind of bullying if you're punching down ... there's not always like a bad guy ... sometimes it’s just systems or archaic rules that have stuck around.” (12:08)

6. The Real Goal: Impact Through Laughter

• Beyond the Laughs:
  • Raleigh Williams: “It just so happens that there is a deluge of disinformation that's constantly pouring over the bow of my boat ... this comedy is just a reaction to that. I mean, I would love to go back to my number one calling, which is as a billiards YouTuber.” (13:25)
• Audience & Outreach:
  • Nicole Conlon: “We are ultimately producing a podcast to give a sense of catharsis to people who might not have a lot of people in their lives to talk about climate change with ... I'm less worried about preaching to the choir ... because there are so many little things about climate change that you just don't think about in your day to day lives.” (14:42)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Nicole Conlon: “You can call it clean and beautiful if you want, but that doesn't change what it is. We're gonna do all the clean, beautiful toxic waste. We love clean toxic waste, don't we, folks?” (04:06)
• Raleigh Williams (on climate denial tropes): “It’s hard to debunk because it's sort of like a Frankenstein's monster of all the different tropes” (06:53)
• Nicole Conlon (observational roast): “He's giving this speech and he's visibly sweating on an 80 degree day in September. Like, he's trying to deny climate change is happening. I'm like, man, climate change is happening to you right now.” (08:09)
• Raleigh Williams (on misinformation): “There's just so much disinformation that is keeping the country back. We're holding ourselves hostage with a bunch of nonsense, and I am aggravated by it.” (13:25)
• Nicole Conlon (on audience): “I am sort of under no delusions that ... some climate denier is gonna hear our podcast and it's gonna change him forever ... We are here to entertain people who are interested in the subject of climate change.” (14:42)

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Segment Timestamps

• Intro & Guests Introduced: 00:09 – 03:01
• Dissecting Denialist Rhetoric & Comedy Response: 03:01 – 07:12
• Philosophy of Climate Comedy: 07:12 – 10:23
• Choosing Topics & Ethical Targets: 10:37 – 12:59
• Goals & Audience Impact: 13:25 – 15:59

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Tone & Style

The episode is lively, irreverent, and smart, blending sharp comedic improvisation with genuine concern and respect for climate science. Williams and Conlon use humor not to trivialize but to clarify, finding catharsis and critique in the face of misinformation.

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Conclusion

Raleigh Williams and Nicole Conlon demonstrate how comedy can be a strategic, meaningful form of climate communication—cutting through the noise, exposing the ridiculousness of denialism, and offering community and relief for those grappling with the enormity of the climate crisis. Their work proves that engaging with serious issues does not mean sacrificing laughter, especially when humor can help illuminate the truth.

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Transcript

[David Fuerst]

This is all of it. I'm David Fuerst in for Alison Stewart today, and we continue our Climate Hour with a look at the way we talk about the crisis. Take this example of climate communication. From President Trump's climate speech to the UN General assembly this week, we have.

[Donald Trump]

The most oil of any nation anywhere. Oil and gas. And if you add coal, we have the most of any nation in the world. Clean. I call it clean beautiful coal. You can do things today with coal that you couldn't have done 10 years ago, 15 years. So I have a little standing order in the White House. Never use the word coal. Only use the words clean beautiful coal sounds much better, doesn't it?

[David Fuerst]

Does coal need a bit of rebranding? Just throw the words clean and beautiful in front. Problem solved. When there is so much misinformation out there and so many powerful interests working to shape the narrative, the language matters. Which is why when you're trying to get people to tune in and not turn away from the crisis, that can feel so depressing, you sometimes need to get creative. Like our next guests who try to find the funny, we are joined by a pair of comics with advanced public policy degrees to talk about the value of humor in climate communication. Raleigh Williams studied climate science and policy at Columbia and is the founder and host of The Climate Town YouTube channel. He's also the co host of the podcast the Climate Deniers Playbook along with Nicole Conlon. She's a comedy writer for the Daily show and the Late show with Stephen Colbert. Her degree is in sustainable urban planning from the University of Southern California. And Raleigh and Nicole, thank you both for joining us today. Raleigh. Nicole oh, it sounds like we might have some difficulty with Raleigh and Nicole's Zoom connection. We're going to see if we can get them back in just a moment here you're listening to all of it here on wnyc. And hey, if you want to join this conversation, you can always give us a call here. The name of the podcast again, it is called the Climate Deniers Playbook and it features Robin Raleigh Williams, who has studied climate science and policy at Columbia and he's the founder and host of the Climate Town YouTube channel. Also the co host of this podcast. It is called the Climate Deniers Playbook. And his other co host is Nicole Conlon. She's a comedy writer for the Daily show and the Late show with Stephen Colbert and her degree is in sustainable urban planning from the University of Southern California. And Raleigh and Nicole, I think you are both back. Welcome to all of It.

[Raleigh Williams]

Thank you so much.

[Nicole Conlon]

Good to be here.

[David Fuerst]

It's great to have you with us. And Raleigh, let's start with the name of your podcast. Okay. The Climate Deniers Playbook. I take it you're not actually out to assist climate deniers with tips here.

[Raleigh Williams]

If they can glean some cool tips from our podcast, I guess that's fine. But no, it's sort of a breakdown of their playbook and how they use different rhetorical techniques to basically take a half truth and stretch it over a giant lie and kind of make it all feel like it's plausible.

[David Fuerst]

And maybe you can give us a demonstration of your approach to climate misinformation. Nicole, I don't know if you heard the clip. Just a bit earlier, we played the clip of President Trump speaking to the UN yesterday, talking about clean coal. I'm sorry? Clean, beautiful coal.

[Raleigh Williams]

Beautiful clean coal. Yeah, yeah, There you go.

[David Fuerst]

There you go.

[Raleigh Williams]

I heard that quote.

[David Fuerst]

Yeah. How do you. What do you do with that?

[Nicole Conlon]

Well, I mean, sorry to all of our or sign listeners out there, but he's really trying to put lipstick on a pig with this one. You can call it clean and beautiful if you want, but that doesn't change what it is. We're gonna do all the clean, beautiful toxic waste. We love clean toxic waste, don't we, folks?

[Raleigh Williams]

Beautiful, global, growing waste. Spread it on my skin. Sorry, this is. This wasn't meant to be us trying to do our best Trump impressions on the radio.

[Nicole Conlon]

This is the best we can do.

[Raleigh Williams]

Yeah, we're hitting our peaks here.

[David Fuerst]

It's not getting any better. That impression.

[Raleigh Williams]

Yeah, because it's already the best. Exactly.

[David Fuerst]

Well, let's hear another clip. This is President Trump at the UN again yesterday talking about climate change as nothing but a great big lie.

[Donald Trump]

You know, it used to be global cooling. If you look back years ago in the 1920s and the 1930s, they said global cooling will kill the world. We have to do something. Then they said global warming will kill the world. But then it started getting cooler, so now they could just call it climate change, because that way they can't miss. It's climate change because if it goes higher or lower, whatever the hell happens, this climate change, it's the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world, in my opinion. Climate change, no matter what happens, you're involved in that. No more global warming. No more global cooling. All of these predictions made by the United nations and many others, often for bad reasons, were wrong.

[David Fuerst]

Okay, how do you deal with this, Raleigh? This has it all.

[Raleigh Williams]

Yeah.

[David Fuerst]

Mockery of science denying climate change as a thing. And this comes from the top. The President of the United States.

[Raleigh Williams]

Yeah. I mean, in this, he kind of was just running down the index of all the different sort of climate change denial tropes. He's got, like, scientists said it was cooling, and now it's warming. And, like, that's not really true. He said the 20s and 30s. I think the. The time most people refer to are the 60s and 70s, when like, under 10% of the climate scientists were like, maybe this is gonna cause a cooling effect. We're not really sure. And then they're like, oh, nope, it's. It's warming. Yeah, it's. I. My approach to this would be to, like, dive into the archives and kind of, like, look at what people were actually saying and, you know, compare that to what people said they were saying and kind of try to juxtapose that. But, I mean, this was. This is hard to debunk because it's sort of like a Frankenstein's monster of all the different tropes all kind of lumbering through the United Nations.

[Nicole Conlon]

Yeah. What he's trying to do is he's trying to create the appearance that there is not consensus on climate change or that scientists don't know what they're talking about. And I think the thing to hammer home is very much like, no, no, no, no. 99.9% of the scientists in the world are aligned that climate change is real and it's happening, and it's getting hotter and it's happening fast.

[David Fuerst]

I mean, what do you do there? How do you respond in terms of finding the comedy? You know, I don't want to step right up and say, make me laugh. But, you know, your first response might not be thinking, oh, isn't this funny?

[Raleigh Williams]

Actually, weirdly, my first response was that. But it was. I think this is pretty funny, but only because my job is to, like, look at this stuff and kind of try to make a little hay out of it. Yeah. I think the way I would approach this, again, is like, okay, well, what's the truth? Like, what are the scientists actually saying? And then trying to use that media and sort of riff on the media itself, like picking one, one specific sentence and trying to go from there, Aim small, Miss Small kind of thing.

[David Fuerst]

Oh, sorry. Go ahead, Nicole.

[Nicole Conlon]

He's giving this speech and he's visibly sweating on an 80 degree day in September. Like, he's trying to deny climate change is happening. I'm like, man, climate change is happening to you right now.

[Raleigh Williams]

Look at Yourself, dude.

[David Fuerst]

We are speaking with Raleigh Williams and Nicole Conlon, comedy writers. You both started out with degrees in climate and climate adjacent fields. How did you find your way to comedy, Nicole? How did this happen?

[Nicole Conlon]

For both of us, comedy happened first.

[Raleigh Williams]

Yeah, the old switcheroo.

[Nicole Conlon]

We've been doing improv together since high school. And then when my comedy career post college wasn't working out so hot, I was like, maybe it's time for grad school. And I've been interested in environmentalism for a long time. The thing that got me into climate change specifically was the documentary Merchants of Doubt, which is all about climate change misinformation and disinformation. And I ended up going to grad school for urban planning because that's a particularly useful lever against climate change, I feel. And then afterwards I was like, I think the only thing I can do is television. So I went back to that, but I never lost interest in it, so. So that's kind of how I came back to this.

[David Fuerst]

And Raleigh, it was comedy first for you?

[Raleigh Williams]

Yeah, yeah. I was doing comedy in college, and then I moved to Denver, and I was doing comedy like four or five nights a week in Denver. Then I moved to New York, and eventually I started doing a comedy show that was called an inconvenient talk show where I played a kind of strung out Al Gore on an I told you so tour. And after enough months of performing that show, I met a bunch of climate scientists along the way. It was a. Just a. Just a comedy show. And in meeting climate scientists and hearing every single one of them say, like, you know, we really don't have this under control, and this is actually a massive problem. And so I went back to grad school. I went to Columbia to get a degree in climate science and policy as a way to make the comedy show better.

[David Fuerst]

Wow.

[Raleigh Williams]

So this is really. Both Nicole and I are coming at this from a perspective of like, how do we do the still do comedy, but also add climate to that comedy?

[David Fuerst]

So it started out as a comedy tour and then you actually became Al Gore.

[Raleigh Williams]

Yeah, I am Al Gore. You're exactly right. I'm ready to say on public radio that I am Albert Arnold Gore Jr. Thank you so much.

[David Fuerst]

Well, can you give us some examples of some topics that you've covered recently on your podcast and how you thought about what was most important to communicate in those stories? Nicole, do you want to give an example?

[Nicole Conlon]

Yeah. We actually just re released an episode called it's actually Global cooling, which we recorded a couple seasons ago. So that was sort of perfect timing for the Trump thing. And then the most recent episode we did was about something called the light duty loophole, which is about how trucks don't face as stringent regulation as cars. And so that's why you get these proliferations of enormous gas guzzling trucks everywhere. And I think when we're picking topics, we try to find something that is both a piece of misinformation or disinformation that kind of permeates everybody's lives without really knowing about it. Like, I don't know a lot of people who understand that the F150 is regulated in a different way than a Toyota Corolla and it makes you see the world a little bit differently. And also pieces with like, a clear villain or like somebody clearly that we can point at and be like, this is. This is the target of what we're trying to make fun of. I think helps clarify the story and makes it a little simpler for people.

[David Fuerst]

Raleigh, is that a key part of the comedy that this is? You know, a lot of people say, who talk about, like, ethics and comedy, that it's not about punching down. Right. It's about punching up at those in power. Is that really the target?

[Raleigh Williams]

Yeah, I mean, it's like just kind of bullying if you're punching down, you know, like, oh, this, this group that's had it bad for years. Let's. Let's pile on again. No, I think that's a big key to this. And there's not always like a bad guy. Right. It wasn't always an intentional thing that got us into this situation. For instance, like, Nicole is an expert in urban design, and one thing that she kind of brought to my attention was that parking spots are governed by a bunch of incredibly archaic, nonsensical rules that just kind of get adopted by townships as they are incorporating. And you were grandfathering new towns in with old town rules. And it doesn't make any sense, but it wasn't really a bad guy. It's just like it was easy to copy paste. And now there's, you know, 4,000 parking spots at your local dentist's office.

[David Fuerst]

We're speaking with Raleigh Williams, founder and host of the Climate Town YouTube channel, co host of the podcast the Climate Denier's Playbook alongside late night comedy writer Nicole Conlon. And Raleigh, ultimately, what do you hope to accomplish with this climate comedy work? Is it just to get some laughs, or is it really to break through that misinformation and to have an impact?

[Raleigh Williams]

Yeah, I mean, I want to Go back and do some other kinds of comedy. You know, like, I like a lot of comedy, not just climate comedy. And it just so happens that there is a deluge of disinformation that's constantly pouring over the bow of my boat. You know, sorry, my, my book on mixed metaphors is coming out soon. But, yeah, it's, it's, it's more out of a reaction to just the state of the world. There's just so much disinformation that is keeping the country back. We're. We're holding ourselves hostage with a bunch of nonsense, and I am aggravated by it. And this comedy is just a reaction to that. I mean, I would love to go back to my number one calling, which is as a billiards youtuber. That's a real thing. And someday I'll be back.

[David Fuerst]

But you're hoping that you can solve this thing first and then get back to the billiards comedy.

[Raleigh Williams]

Yeah, the stuff that really matters. Billiards comedy, of course.

[David Fuerst]

Nicole, you started to touch on this before, but what is your sense for the audience for this kind of content? And does it change anything about your approach when you feel like you're sharing something that you think is new to most people versus to moments where you might be preaching to the choir?

[Nicole Conlon]

Yeah, I mean, I am sort of under no delusions that we're gonna. Some climate denier is gonna hear our podcast and it's gonna change him forever and will alter the trajectory of his life. I think we're, we are ultimately producing a podcast to give a sense of catharsis to people who might not have a lot of people in their lives to talk about climate change with, or people who maybe sensed that something was weird in the messaging about climate change and couldn't quite put their finger on what. We are here to entertain people who are interested in the subject of climate change. And I'm less worried about preaching to the choir because I think there are so many little things about climate change that you just don't think about in your day to day lives. And we cover such a broad range of topics that even if you're somebody who, like, yeah, okay, I know a lot about, like, the atmospheric science of climate change you're not going to know about, for example, TV show that is spewing a specific piece of misinformation that is about, like, wind turbines, for example. So I think there's a. There's a lot of different topics. People find us because they are interested in climate change and they just want two people to hang out with in their ears and talk about it with.

[David Fuerst]

So it can be all of those things. Yeah. And check it out. The Climate Deniers Playbook. Raleigh Williams and Nicole Conlon are the co hosts of that podcast, the Climate Deniers Playbook. You can also check out the Climate Town YouTube channel that Raleigh hosts. Raleigh and Nicole, thank you again for joining us today.

[Nicole Conlon]

Thank you so much.

[David Fuerst]

I don't mean to interrupt your meal, but I saw you from across the cafe and you're the Geico Gecko, right? In the flesh. Oh my goodness. This is huge to finally meet you. I love Geico's fast and friendly claim service. Well, that's how Geico gets 97 customer satisfaction. Anyway, that's all. Enjoy the rest of your food. No worries.

[Raleigh Williams]

So are you just gonna watch me eat?

[David Fuerst]

Oh, sorry, just a little starstruck. I'll be on my way. If you're going to stick around, just pull up a chair. You're the best.

[Raleigh Williams]

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