Sep 18 Watch 2:18 Baratunde Thurston on fighting racist absurdity with laughs By PBS News Hour When you're the one black friend, says Baratunde Thurston, you're kind of like a double agent trying to prevent thermonuclear war. The former Onion digital director, “Daily Show” producer and author of “How to Be Black,” gives his Brief but… Continue watching
Sep 15 Got a joke for the pope? You can win a spot as his ‘comedic adviser’ By Alison Moore Tickets to next week's Masses with Pope Francis in New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., went rapidly, but that doesn’t mean you can’t engage with the pope during his 2015 tour of the United States. You just need to have… Continue reading
Aug 19 For Tig Notaro, nothing is off-limits By Colleen Shalby This year alone, Tig Notaro has done the comedy special “Knock Knock, It’s Tig Notaro” for Showtime, debuted a self-titled documentary on Netflix, and will release a one-hour stand-up special for HBO, “Boyish Girl Interrupted,” on Saturday. Continue reading
Aug 15 Remembering Will Rogers: 80 years on, how the ‘cowboy philosopher’ popularized political humor By Carey Reed Eighty years ago Saturday, William Penn Adair, better known as Will Rogers, an entertainer, humorist, political commentator and writer, died in a plane crash in Alaska. Continue reading
Aug 06 5 times ‘The Daily Show’ actually influenced policy By Corinne Segal As Jon Stewart prepares the leave "The Daily Show," we looked back at the moments the show and its alums crossed into the world of policy. Continue reading
Aug 01 Watch 4:06 NYC comedy fest spotlights Muslim comedians By PBS News Hour At a recent comedy festival in New York City, the big joke was Islam -- that is, being a muslim in America. Organizers say the three-night "Muslim Funny Fest," highlighting stand-up by Muslim comics, was the first of its kind. Continue watching
Jul 28 Twitter removes plagiarized jokes, sparking copyright debate By Corinne Segal Joke about a juice cleanse on Twitter, and you just might begin a national conversation on copyright laws. Continue reading
Jul 24 Watch 6:17 Aziz Ansari wants to help you find a mate. Seriously. By PBS News Hour In the modern world, romance is just a click away. Dating sites have sprung up, and the Internet and cell phones allow for quicker communication than ever before. This can make dating easier than ever, but also more awkward than… Continue watching
May 19 Watch 7:14 Saying goodnight to stupid pet tricks, top 10 lists and David Letterman By PBS News Hour In the fall, Stephen Colbert will take over the TV time slot that has belonged to David Letterman for 22 years. The host of CBS' Late Night with David Letterman influenced generations of comedians and brought a new voice to… Continue watching
Apr 26 Watch: Obama cracks jokes at White House Correspondents’ dinner By Kevin Freking, Associated Press A presidential election just getting into gear provided President Barack Obama plenty of new material to work with on the night he describes as Washington celebrating itself. Continue reading