Last night the best and the brightest comedians in the world convened at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas for “Earth To America!” – a two-hour TV special that aired on TBS. It managed to make America laugh about one of the least funny issues on the planet: global warming. The show’s runaway success was not too surprising given the all-star lineup of comedians, including Will Ferrell, Jack Black, Tom Hanks, Steve Martin, Ben Stiller, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

Also starring was creator of “Seinfeld” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” Larry David, whose eco-activist wife Laurie David produced the show. It was a welcome departure from the dour, preachy, guilt-ridden personas environmentalists are known to have. Better yet, it made the case that global warming is increasingly becoming the defining issue of our time—in politics and pop culture alike. Read an interview with Larry David about the challenge of making global warming funny.

Producer Laurie David is also spearheading a year-long virtual march to protest climate change at Stopglobalwarming.org. The idea is to send a signal to Washington leaders that America wants action on this now. It’s not too late to sign up. (Larry's own “Why I Am Marching” post on the StopGlobalWarming.org website reads: “The virtual march is a perfect opportunity for the lazy man to do something good without having to expend any effort. This thing was made for me.”)

Image credit: www.tbs.com