ABOUT  THE SHOW



Genre: Satirical sketch show  
Format: Webseries // 12 x 6 minutes

Imaging waking up one morning to find your SUV gone. Only it hasn’t been towed away for a parking violation, but because SUVs have been declared illegal. It’s not what’s happening, but according to many, it’s what should! And that’s where The Ministry comes in. The Ministry of the New Normal (MNN) is a satirical sketch show challenging what is considered normal in North American society in light of the climate and ecological crises.

As we hurtle towards climate Armageddon, we are still operating in business-as-usual mode: flying when we want, buying what we want, eating what we want.  During the Great Depression, WWI and II, our entire national political, social and economic lives were organized around mobilization (during WWII Ford halted all production of civilian automobiles!). The threat posed by the climate and ecological crises is even greater, yet today, our high-carbon lifestyle is still not fundamentally being questioned by society at large. 

The MNN presents itself as an international agency come to restructure North American society to drastically reduce our CO2 missions from 13 tons per capita, to 3 tons per capita by 2030, what it should be to stave off catastrophe. The show is designed as a weekly information bulletin recapping the MNN’s activities, which will consist of a mixture of outlandish pranks (recalling SUVs from a car dealership, announcing the closure of non-essential clothing stores, shutting down media companies infected with climate incoherence), “COPS” style hunt and capture of climate criminals, fake ads (travel packages to natural wonders soon to be destroyed by climate change), experts debunking well-worn societal myths (“How to protect yourself from dangerous propaganda” ie advertising) , all through humour and backed up by trusted sources. The aim is to get the audience to first laugh, then think. 

The MNN is following a well-respected tradition of activists using humour to get the public to laugh at the absurdity of the status quo and in the process making them rethink notions they took for granted. The MNN Show has been inspired by satirical news shows such as This Hour Has 22 Minutes, The Colbert Report and The “Australien” Honest Government ads. With the climate crisis at our door, the MNN, with its brazen approach, absurd humour and biting truths, will garner a dedicated following.

ABOUT THE CREATOR

Writer/director Elza Kephart (aka Hélène Touze) enjoyed notable success with her third fiction feature film, SLAXX (2020), a satire on the fast-fashion industry, starring a pair of killer jeans! At the onset of the pandemic, Kephart co-founded The Ministry of the New Normal with fellow climate activists. Operating between 2020 and 2022, the MNN put together over 30 actions, mixing satirical videos, street theater, and culture jamming. While TV is new for Kephart, she is operating within her tonal and thematic wheelhouse and looks forward to bringing the MNN to a wider audience.

HOME PAGE