Need a lift, and a laugh, amid all the sobering news about our warming climate?

Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert, on his “Colbert Nation” cable program, came up with an anecdote September 28 in his “The Word” feature.

“The New Abnormal,” the comedy faux-news host said in reporting that more and more of the public now appears to want to “do something” about climate change. Colbert pointed to President Obama’s inauguration day comments on climate change and compared it with President John F. Kennedy’s call for starting the Apollo program, “with one-half of the country denying the moon exists.”

He pointed to wildfires, typhoons, and record heat in January in Australia and deadpanned: “And that’s in January. Imagine what it’s like there in the summer time.” He also aired an Australian television reporter’s announcing that the country’s Bureau of Meteorology has added two new colors — incandescent purple and magenta so that maps can faithfully represent temperatures of 125 degrees Fahrenheit.

Colbert’s take on that move: “I believe the country’s color wheel goes from orange, to red, to purple, to magenta, to fever blister, to Satan’s taint.”

Never one to hide his political preferences, Colbert spoofed conservative pundits for suggesting nothing can be done about the warming climate or suggesting that any results from actions taken now won’t be noticeable for 100 years in any event.

“I don’t want to be one of those grandpas who spoils the grand children with a habitable planet,” Colbert said. “It’s the same reason I will not buy life insurance: I get hit by a bus and my family gets rich??? Sorry. I don’t want anybody happy at my funeral.”

“Get used to it,” Colbert urged. “Crawl into bed with a cheesecake and wait for death.”