Earth to America

So last night, Mr. Shakes and I watched Earth to America, a comedy special about global warming produced by Laurie David, the NRDC activist who is also the wife of Curb Your Enthusiasm’s Larry David—hence the comedy special. The intent was to raise awareness about the Stop Global Warming virtual march, which you can join here, and get information about taking action in big and small ways.

The show was pretty funny, and a lot more political than I expected. Bill Maher, as usual, pulled no punches, and Will Ferrell, doing his spot-on Bush impression, made an absolute mockery of a president totally disengaged not only from environmental issues, but science in general. Kevin Nealon reprised his old SNL character Mr. Subliminal to get in a few good digs, too. And Conan O’Brien read the cast of NBC’s made-for-TV-movie about global warming, starring, among others, the Penguin as Dick Cheney as Ralph Wiggum as George Bush.




In one segment, Dustin Hoffman and Leonardo DiCaprio read quotes from astronauts, the theme of which was looking back at earth and seeing not the borders that divide us but the planet that unites us. Jim Lovell came out at the end to make his own statement. It was really quite moving.

I even managed not to puke during Tim McGraw’s performance, mainly because he sounded more like old school country than the confederate pop calling itself country music that shows up at GOP conventions.

Anyway, I suspect it will be re-run at some point on TBS, and if you can catch it, I recommend it, if for no other reason than to see the passionate Robert Kennedy, Jr. speaking about why this issue is important—and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog interviewing GOP congressmen and making them look like absolute wankers.