Science Comedy Paradox
By Kasha Patel
Science Comedy ParadoxApr 30, 2020
Can memes treat depression and anxiety?
Memes make us laugh, but they also help us feel better according to recent research. Kasha chats with meme researchers and experts to discuss how memes can affect our mental health.
Relevant links:
Exploratory study on the role of emotion regulation in perceived valence, humour, and beneficial use of depressive internet memes in depression: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-57953-4
Internet memes related to the COVID-19 pandemic as a potential coping mechanism for anxiety: https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-384283/v1
Know Your Meme: https://knowyourmeme.com/
COVID’s mental-health toll: how scientists are tracking a surge in depression: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-00175-z
Benefits of Good-Natured Climate Comedy
Can comedy help prevent climate burnout? Host Kasha Patel speaks with a professor who may have some promising insights.
Professor Beth Osnes, a theater and environmental professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, is a director of Inside the Greenhouse and helps creates funny climate change-related projects with students. In a 2019 study, Osnes and colleagues found that students involved in creating comedic sketches felt more hopeful and motivated to act on climate change. Rate us on iTunes if you enjoyed this episode.
Relevant links:
Inside the Greenhouse Earth Day comedy show: https://insidethegreenhouse.org/node/5078
Good-natured comedy to enrich climate communication: https://doi.org/10.1080/2040610X.2019.1623513
The Emotional Toll of Climate Change on Science Professionals: https://eos.org/features/the-emotional-toll-of-climate-change-on-science-professionals
Follow DC Science Comedy on Facebook for upcoming virtual shows and comedy workshops: https://www.facebook.com/DCsciencecomedy/
Cartoons and Climate Change
In honor of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, host Kasha Patel interviews a scientist who is using cartoons to combat misinformation about climate change. With over a decade of research into climate change communication, Dr. John Cook has learned how parallel thinking--basically using analogies--is an effective way to address the logic behind many climate change misconceptions. Cook has recently released his cartoon book called Cranky Uncle vs. Climate Change, which is available on his website along with video versions of the cartoons.
This episode also features clips from Kasha's Virtually Sustainable Earth Day Comedy Show, which can be viewed here on her YouTube channel. It also features a clip from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to illustrate how parallel thinking is often used by late-night talk show hosts.
Wait, Wait, Earth Isn't Doomed. (Live comedy show)
You heard correctly, we attempted a non-depressing science comedy show about Earth's future! Join us as we adopt the style from the beloved NPR show, "Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me!" and test your knowledge with a panel of the smartest – and funniest – conservation scientists and sustainability experts D.C. has to offer! Host Kasha Patel (NASA journalist by day, stand-up comedian by night!) will guide our guests and audience through a mine field of news, fake news, clearly made up stories not even resembling news, and of course, limericks!
Panelists:
+Jessie Deichmann, conservation biologist at Smithsonian's National Zoo
+Julie Speers, sustainability officer at National Science Foundation
+Tom Di Liberto, climate researcher at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Host: Kasha Patel
Score keeper: Haywood Turnipseed Jr.
This show was produced by DC Science Comedy and Taste of Science DC. It was recorded live in 2018 at the DC Drafthouse Theater. We released it today as special episode in honor of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day.
If you enjoyed the show, please rate us on iTunes or donate to the podcast.
Virtual Comedy During a Quarantine
During the quarantine, comedy shows moved to online video platforms like Instagram and Zoom. After performing in an Instagram live show, Kasha decides to explore the mechanics and science of what makes a good virtual comedy show. She talks to a psychologist (Dr. Neil Martin), a comedian (Blaire Postman), and comedy club owners in New York City (Caveat) to investigate how much audience laughter affects a comedy show, what is the best medium for comedy, and the differences between performing in live and virtual shows.
This episode contains the following videos and references:
Study: The Effects of Audience Laughter on Men's and Women's Responses to Humor (by Dr. Neil Martin and Dr. Colin Gray)
Study: Measuring responses to humor: How the testing context affects individuals' reaction to comedy (by Dr. Neil Martin, et al.)
TEDx: Sneaking Science into Stand-Up (by Kasha Patel)
Stephen Colbert Returns With A Message: America, You Got This.
Coronavirus Comedy
Kasha explores the different ways people are joking about coronavirus and the purpose behind the jokes. She talks to the creators of one comedy project in New York City called, “Asians Strike Back: A Coronavirus Science and Comedy Show.” This interview was conducted on March 9th and details were current at the time but may have changed since.
Asians Strike Back: A Coronavirus Comedy & Science Show was hosted by Kyle Marian (@kylemarian) and Esther Chen (@theestherchen). Select performances by Dylan Adler, Anhtriet Tran, Bryan Yang, Asian Not Asian Podcast's Mic Nguyen & Fumi Abe, and Woody Fu. Featured scientists were Raj Sivaraman and Diana Klatt.
Other featured segments were clips from The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, stand-up by Norm MacDonald (full performances on his YouTube channel), "Jealous Corona" by the Vietnam Ministry of Health, and "The Coronavirus Lament" by Randy Rainbow.
For more science comedy resources, visit www.DCScienceComedy.com. and follow Kasha Patel for more jokes and #scicomm tips outside of the podcast.
Scientist Comedy: How to make a scientist funnier
Kasha chats with comedian Chris Duffy about getting into science comedy, producing his live science comedy game show called "You're the Expert" and how he approaches writing jokes about scientific topics as a writer on HBO's Wyatt Cenac's Problem Areas. This episode provides pointers for improving your science communication skills as an interviewer or as a scientist.