On November 15 the Atlantic Council held what is clearly the most interesting and creative think tank event of 2016. It also made history as the first-ever comedy event focused on a think tank report.
The event, entitled "A Robot Walks into a Bar: What's Funny About the Future?" took place at the Improv, a comedy club in Washington, DC, where comics participated in a contest to determine who can make the best jokes about life in 2035.
The comedians used material from the recently released Atlantic Council report "Global Risks 2035," a nearly 75-page report written by Dr. Matthew Burrows which lays out trends for the future.
Dr. Burrows, the Director of the think tank's Strategic Foresight Initiative in the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security, formerly worked at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and National Intelligence Council (NIC).
Think Tank Watch is told that the comedians spent much of the evening parodying and poking fun of the report and noting how smart and well-behaved the crowd was. The evening's festivities were headlined by Erin Jackson and hosted by Jason Weems.
As noted by Atlantic Council's August Cole, the event was kicked off by Alex Ward, Associate Director of the Scowcroft Center (picture inside the Improv here).
One thing is for sure: the event definitely beat the average think tank event by a mile.
