Jake Mace
Matt Winning describes himself as a ‘Climate Comedian’, and is also a researcher with a PhD in Climate Change Policy and a focus on climate mitigation. Heis upcoming EdFringe comedy hour Solastalgia explores how we go about saving ourselves in time and protecting what we love in the face of the climate emergency. We caught up with Matt for a pixelated pint to unpack the weighty themes of the show, and found out how he found the funny in them.
You can catch Matt Winning: Solastalgia from July 30th to August 24th (not the 12th) at Assembly George Square Studios – Studio Five from 16:35 (60mins). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.
Jake: Hi Matt! Tell us about your intriguing show title for EdFringe 2025, and what it means both more broadly and to you.
Matt: It’s called Solastalgia. Think it was an Australian academic who came up with the word. They invented it to describe a feeling of environmental loss. When change is happening to the place you love, your home, and it deeply saddens you as it feels like a part of you. I think we can all relate to the idea of whatever change in our lives making us sad, a part of us being or our life has gone forever, and a longing for what has been lost. Given that I am a climate lecturer it seemed like an apt word to use for the show. But nobody knows how to pronounce it. It’s a portmanteau of the words Solace and Nostalgia. So just take the first part of solace and the last part of nostalgia and bang them together. Interestingly the word portmanteau is also a portmanteau of Natalie Portman and Big Toe.
Jake: Tell us about what the audience can expect coming into the show, and what they might not expect about the show.
Matt: Well, I don’t want to give too much away. Just enough so they have an idea. I guess what I can say is that all my previous climate comedy shows have focused on a whole gamut of topics including impacts such as heatwaves, droughts, floods, wildfires, sea level rise, plus all the causes and solutions like energy, wind, solar, transport, heat, and food. And then all the politics and societal issues at the end about laws, inequality, the language we use and the role protests. Whereas with this new show I have given myself a much, much narrower focus to talk about the stuff nobody is really talking about. Which is how do we end the bad stuff and answering one question – why are fossil fuels still being financed?
Jake: What are you hoping the audience might take away from the experience, if anything?
Matt: Again, I don’t want to completely tell an audience what I want them to take away before they see it. But the themes are around thinking about where our money goes and what it gets used for. And purpose and fatherhood and legacy, and how change happens. So, loads of rather big concepts. In fact, there’s one important concept that I want everyone to understand and take away. But I’m not revealing that here. But I’ll be providing answers and hope mixed in with the desperation and doom.
Jake: With Edinburgh Fringe 2025 just around the corner, what are you most excited for?
Matt: I’m most excited to be immersed in the greatest arts festival on the planet and probably my favourite city in the world. I lived in Edinburgh for many years, and it feels like coming home, or at least back to a simpler past. And so I am really excited for walking about the streets and remembering places where various girlfriends dumped me, buildings where I failed exams, or where I was once punched in the head by a gang of youths. Great memories. And I can’t wait to go to Palmyra Pizza and buy everyone in the shop some baklava. It’s a tradition I started a decade ago that happens one night each Fringe. So if you’re lucky and there on the right night, I’ll buy you some.
Jake: Given the themes of Binge Fringe, if your show was a beverage of any kind (alcoholic, non-alcoholic – be as creative as you like!), what would it be and why?
Matt: There is quite a lot of references to alcoholic beverages in the show and very likely the extensive use of an alcoholic drink in an extended metaphor. So if you like booze and science then this might be the show for you. And there’s a dig at a local alcoholic beverage brand. Let’s just say it rhymes with ShoeHog. I’d say though that my show would be a Old Fashioned. Its pretty grown up but incredibly fulfilling.
A reminder, you can catch Matt Winning: Solastalgia from July 30th to August 24th (not the 12th) at Assembly George Square Studios – Studio Five from 16:35 (60mins). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.
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