Stand Up!

Co-creating a stand-up comedy event to raise awareness about climate change

Can laughter help us avoid climate catastrophe?

Humour is a powerful tool to raise awareness and inspire action. Climate change affects literally everyone and requires input across the board to deal with it. That’s why we developed “Stand Up! for climate action”, a pilot project that tackles climate change and environmental collapse by combining stand-up comedy and environmental awareness.

The aim of the project is to bring to the front diverse voices and perspectives on our current common condition, and explore the potential of climate action with participants and audience members.

Conceived as an open mic stand-up comedy show that is co-created by comedians, scientists and activists, “Stand Up!” aims to bring momentum to environmental issues in Switzerland and beyond. Organized by DISSCO and hosted at L200 in downtown Zurich, the event offers space for the public to engage with climate change challenges critically and collectively through humour.

Featuring original short acts by a diverse group of engaged activists, scientists and comedians, the show is the result of intensive workshops, during which participants developed and practiced stand-up comedy skills – most of them for the first time. The workshop participants were selected through an open call based on their climate awareness engagement and their diverse backgrounds. Whether scientists, amateur stand-up comedians, activists, artists, or engineers, they all engaged in intensive public speaking and joke writing training with professional stand-up comedians Vanessa Lépine and Chris Darwa, improvising and practicing new content. These original short stand-up comedy acts (approx. 3’ each) were then presented live during the Stand Up! for climate action show.

Workshop participants

Click on the names to watch the stand up comedy sets.

Aydin Akay_trained as an aerospace engineer, I came to Switzerland 12 years ago to continue my studies. Besides studying, working and waiting for vacation, I continued my passion for music. I have been playing music on different occasions, and got a taste of being on stage. Being a long and steady consumer of comedy, I couldn’t miss the chance of being heard and laughed at while talking about climate.

Hedwig Bäbler_born and raised in Zürich, finished the gymnasium here. 1989 I lived in Berlin for a while, then moved to Budapest 1991 to attend the Hungarian film school. Graduated as a director in 1995 and became a mother soon after. 1997 I moved back to Switzerland with my son and have been working since then as a video editor at the Swiss TV. Comedy, I think, is a very relieving way to deal with the present time and its weighty urgency.

Mathieu Bailly_took a deep dive in climate change during the Covid lockdown and has been changed forever since.  He is convinced that comedy can be a strong communication vector and that sharing on stage his journey towards sustainability will help him reduce his level of eco-anxiety.

Clelia Calabrò_an Italian citizen who landed in Zurich in 2018. She is also a Spoogler (spouse of a Googler), a founder of a business called “The Rebel Company”, first daughter of 6, a tea lover and a Dua Lipa fan. Stand up comedy is her most recent guilty pleasure.

Onur Ceritoglu_As an artist and architect, I work on participatory projects, installations, and performances. I focus on urban phenomena from a material-driven perspective. As an academic researcher, I’m interested in informal waste management in the construction sector. Recently, I finished my Ph.D. in the urban planning department at the B-TU in Germany.

Veronica Contucci_is an environmental engineer and sustainability fan dedicated to recycling and resource protection in the fields of plastic and construction waste.

Kostas Iliou_comedian by night, engineer by day. Since 2020 does English Standup in CH. Forms: from storytelling to short+sharp one-liners. Subjects+approaches: from careless goofiness to deeply concerned dystopian satire. Background: 10+ years in a comic strip group, writing (+ often illustrating) scripts/storyboards. And way too many nerdy puns.

Richard Lüchinger_33 years young, works as a research assistant and is writing his PhD at the University of Lucerne. His research topic is heat storage and the development of new technologies in society. In his free time he likes boxing, travelling and spending time with friends and family. Until recently, Richard had no experience with comedy, although he is a big fan of it.

Tatyana Petrukha_Ukrainian. Born and raised in Kyiv. Traveller. Passionate about training and development activities and the hospitality industry. In 2017, I established my training company in Ukraine and worked as a lecturer in business schools. After the full scale Russian invasion, I fled to Switzerland.

Polina Suppé_Grew up in the two-dimensional German north, still getting used to the three-dimensional landscape of Switzerland. Therefore, sometimes found in snowy scenes wearing shorts and t-shirt while riding a bike. Part-time entrepreneur with kreuterbar – a food start-up with a spelling error. Hobbyist of the art of spoken and written word.

Theri Reichlin_is a new comedian – she has three citizenships and an identity crisis. Although she studied ecology and is a forester, she doesn’t really enjoy hiking, which is a shame, because she lives in Switzerland.

Evgenia Tsianou_is an environmental scientist and science communicator. Her passion is to create citizen science projects and participating in community-supported agriculture activities. She never stops learning and is always seeking new opportunities to challenge herself.

Kostas Tzouflas_a Film Studies Post-doctoral Researcher at the University of Zurich. He has taught at the FHGR and the University of Thessaly, conducted research as Visiting Scholar at the University of Buenos Aires and NYU, and worked at film festivals, cultural events and audiovisual projects in Greece, Spain and Switzerland.

Rose_came all the way from Qazaqstan. She is new to the stand-up scene. When she is not on stage she works as an interpreter. Languages are her thing. As a comedian she wants to make people laugh and make them feel good. You’re welcome to follow her on Instagram. Just look for: Rose_is_on_stage.

Ekaterina Voronova_has studied molecular medicine. Her PhD in cell biology is in Schrödinger’s cat status – (not) done. Besides her passion for science, Ekaterina loves teaching, dancing, comedy, and making the world a better place by founding  @saveourplanet2019. She is a“baby comedian” but dreams big to become @sciencefluencer_in.

Fiona Zimmermann_is an environmental scientist, doing experiments with humans in Living Labs for the energy transition! An Irish Mother of 2 and lover of all things Swiss.

Special Thanks

MERCEDES RITTMANN, renewable energy expert

GRIGORIOS TANTANOZIS, Dj Tarzan db (Tarzan Bros)

BETTINA ROHR, Climanosco o FRANK RICHTER, stand up comedian o HARRY FÜCKS, In your Face Comedy o JOHANN OTTEN, Klimakontor o KOSTAS ILIOU, stand up comedian o LINDA STRANDE, Senior Research Scientist, EAWAG