By Hailey Andrews
TAMPA – Comedian Forrest Shaw performed a comedy show on the USF Tampa campus on Sept. 22 to support GenCLEO’s USF chapter by discussing environmental topics through comedy.
Shaw has been on his journey with comedy for 16 years, but before he was able to make a living making people laugh, he was a marine biologist. Shaw has a degree in environmental science and biology and worked as a marine biologist for nearly 15 years. Originally from Miami, he worked for the Department of Environmental Resources Management in Miami-Dade County.
“I worked doing coral reef monitoring, seagrass monitoring, manatee protection and water quality testing for Biscayne Bay and the Everglades watershed,” Shaw said.
Even though he was passionate about the work he did for the environment, Shaw felt like something was missing.
After his grandfather passed away, Shaw was scanning photos for the memorial and was struck by how full the man’s life had been. Photo after photo showed Shaw how his grandfather had lived his life to the fullest, and it inspired a change.
“It made me think, man, I’m getting older, and I don’t want to regret not having done things,” Shaw said.
So he made a list of things he wanted to do.
“One of the things was comedy, so I just signed up for an open-mic and just started doing it,” Shaw said.
For years, Shaw was both a marine biologist by day and a “terrible” comedian by night, until in 2010, he decided to take a leap of faith and do comedy full-time. With only cats as dependents, Shaw was able to travel the world, performing his shows in 47 different countries and all across the U.S.
“I got to see places I’ve never even dreamed or imagined I’d be going to,” Shaw said.
Shaw has seen years of success with comedy, having appeared on Conan, Netflix is a Joke Fest and Just for Laughs, and has written for the Jim Jeffries Show. Shaw’s marine biology background has seen little influence on his comedy career. That is, until about a year and a half ago when Shaw decided to write his show The Ocean Hates You.
“I said, you know what, I should combine my two lives and two careers together,” Shaw said, “I want to be able to entertain people but also have some sort of meaning to it.”
As an educational comedy show, The Ocean Hates You has opened up doors for Shaw across the country. He has been introduced to organizations like the CLEO Institute to perform his show for audiences that are passionate about the environment.
The CLEO Institute, an acronym for Climate Leadership Engagement Opportunities, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to climate education, advocacy and engagement, according to cleoinstitute.org. GenCLEO, the club that hosted Shaw’s comedy night, is a youth-focused offshoot of the CLEO Institute.
“We decided we really wanted to have him here on campus because it really connects to our mission goals like understanding the impact humans have on the climate,” said GenCLEO at USF Officer Max Merchant.
GenCLEO has already been successful in passing a student resolution to limit plastic foam and single use plastics on USF’s campus. State-wide, members travel to the Florida state capitol each spring to lobby with officials for the benefit of the environment.
“Two years ago when we went, we got people to vote for legislation to prevent development of public land, specifically state forests,” Merchant said.
Both Shaw and GenCLEO encouraged students at the comedy show to find ways to engage with their communities. Whether through voting or beach clean-ups, they hope students will find ways to take action.
“We really need to shift the narrative around climate change because the solutions all exist,” said USF student Josh Durden, who attended the show.
And Forrest Shaw and GenCLEO are doing exactly that.