Comedy for Future: German comedians collect money against climate change

COLOGNE. A total of 17 television comedians have announced the "Comedy for Future" event in the Cologne Lanxess Arena, the proceeds of which will flow into climate protection projects. "We comedians definitely have a socio-political responsibility," Atze Schröder told the dpa news agency. "We are doing so well, we have to give something back."

The humorists each want to dedicate themselves to one of the 17 sustainability goals of the United Nations (UN). Schröder, for example, deals with refugee policy. The cabaret artists include Jaqueline Feldmann, Matze Knop, Markus Krebs, Benaissa Lamroubal, Tobias Mann, Michael Mittermeier and Olaf Schubert. The UN's global goals are part of the 2030 Agenda, through which the members of the confederation want to "enable a decent life and at the same time permanently preserve the natural foundations of life".

Artists want to give food for thought
Climate change is a topic that he has not worked on enough, Schröder justified his motivation. "I see the event as a good opportunity to both take a position and support, because climate change is obvious." He and his colleagues hoped to give food for thought, "where one or the other gets stuck with laughter ".

TV producer and co-initiator of the event, Wolfgang Link, added that humor is "one of the best vehicles" to anchor sustainability issues in people's minds. Link is one of the founders of the "Comedy for Future eV" association that was set up for the project.

Somuncu: "Greta is not a soft target"
Cabaret artist Serdar Somuncu, on the other hand, spoke in an interview with Tagesspiegel about why Swedish climate protector Greta Thunberg had to endure criticism. Thunberg is “not such a soft target” because “the people behind her are a very hard target. I resist the superficiality represented by the figure Greta Thunberg ”. He also found an ambivalence among the demonstrators in the Hambacher Forest. These people, "who demonstrate and tweet, charge their cell phone battery with electricity from RWE".

The comedian Dieter Nuhr joked about Thunberg last year and was therefore criticized several times. Somunco described the "babble" about Nuhr as "terrible". Jürgen von der Lippe also recently said to the Hamburger Abendblatt: “People are fed up with being brought up. And people are fed up with Greta.”

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