Eco-comedian sends [WRONG] message with jokes

[Louis H Iselin <liselin@planetx.bloomu.edu>]

Just what we need.

http://www.nando.net/newsroom/ntn/enter/052896/enter3_9836.html

> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Eco-comedian sends message with jokes
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Copyright © 1996 Nando.net
> Copyright © 1996 Los Angeles Daily News
> 
> LOS ANGELES (May 28, 1996 11:53 a.m. EDT) -- As a soil scientist for
> the Environmental Protection Agency, Lori Weiss discovered a lot of
> illegally dumped toxins -- but she also found a lot to laugh about.
> 
> So five years ago the 37-year-old resident of the Toluca lake section
> of Los Angeles ditched her EPA career to become a standup
> "environmental comedian."
> 
> Using material gathered from her years with the federal government,
> Weiss now performs in comedy clubs around the country, cracking jokes
> about filthy rivers and denuded mountains, wrapping a message of
> environmental doom in humor.
> 
> "I'm getting the environmental message across without being preachy,"
> said Weiss, who worked for the EPA in Colorado. "Nobody wants to hear
> we're all going to die from pollution. ... Through my act I can get
> people to think about how they can make a difference."
> 
> Vice President Al Gore, an avid defender of the environment, is so
> taken with Weiss' act he has invited her to perform at the White
> House. And comedian Joan Rivers has bought material from Weiss for her
> show.
> 
> "People love there is someone who is poking fun at such a serious
> subject," Weiss said. "And truth is funnier than fiction."
> [snip]
> 
> One of Weiss' favorite routines came out of a commercial she saw for
> nuclear power that, she said, absurdly showed a father and son fishing
> downstream from a nuclear power plant.
> 
> "I can't tell you how many times my boyfriend wakes me up at the crack
> of dawn and asks: 'Where should I go fishing? Three Mile Island or
> Chernobyl?"' Weiss said, demonstrating her act this week at a Toluca
> Lake coffeehouse.
> 
> "But you know there are advantages of fishing near a nuclear power
> plant. If your flashlight dies you can use your fish to find your way
> home."
>[snip] 
>
> Weiss' manager, Mickey Blowitz, expects his client will be booked for
> years to come given widespread environmental destruction.
> 
> "Until we get on the right track and save this planet, she's going to
> be busy," he said. "She's the guru at poking fun at how we're screwing
> up the environment."-- 
_____________________________________________________________________
Louis H. Iselin, Ph.D.           * Go Gators! *                   <*>
Assistant Professor of Physics (Health Physics Program)
Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania
Bloomsburg PA  17815-1399                  liselin@planetx.bloomu.edu