Comedy

Olyphant is best known for portraying lawmen in cowboy hats. He reprises the role of deputy U.S. marshal Raylan Givens in the sequel Justified: City Primeval. Originally broadcast July 18, 2023.

Lear, who died Dec. 5, used humor to address racism and politics. Terry Gross spoke with Lear in 2014; Good Times actor Esther Rolle in 1983; and All in the Family director John Rich in 2006.

In his new book, When I Was Your Age, Thompson shares stories from his life and career, including his early days at SNL and his estrangement from his longtime Nickelodeon co-star Kel Mitchell.

Jones says performing stand-up for the first time as a freshman in college felt like putting on a shirt that fit perfectly. Her memoir is Leslie F*cking Jones. Originally broadcast Sept. 21, 2023.

Larissa FastHorse is a playwright best known for her satirical play, "The Thanksgiving Play" which ran earlier this year on Broadway making FastHorse the first known Native American woman playwright to produce a Broadway production. Larissa FastHorse is of the Sicangu Lakota Nation. Her latest play, "For The People," ran earlier this month at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis and centers around a Native community fighting for grant money to create a wellness center.

The comic/filmmaker is the subject of a new HBO documentary, Defending My Life, directed by his longtime friend Rob Reiner. In 1996, Brooks spoke about his early career in stand-up.

The Key & Peele and Schmigadoon! star explains why he loves sketch comedy — watching it, performing it and writing about it. His book, with writing partner Elle Key, is The History of Sketch Comedy.

In her new memoir, Leslie F*cking Jones, she reflects on growing up as a military brat, performing in comedy clubs in a male-dominated field and joining the cast of SNL in 2014, when she was 47 years old. When it comes to getting laughs, Jones is committed to physical comedy — even if it sometimes results in injury.

Nancherla's starred in TV shows like BoJack Horseman and Master of None, and written for Late Night with Seth Meyers. She recounts her struggle with depression in the memoir, Unreliable Narrator.

Bamford has been part of five different 12-step programs, including groups for overeaters and sex and love addicts. In her new memoir, she jokes about anxiety, depression and the desire to fit in.

Sterlin Harjo says society has a tendency to be "very precious with Native people." The third and final season of the irreverent series dropped recently. Originally broadcast Sept. 19, 2022.

We remember Reubens, who died July 30, by listening back to a 2004 interview with him, and to archival interviews with Laurence Fishburne and S. Epatha Merkerson, who appeared on Pee-wee's Playhouse.

Comedian Leanne Morgan. Her self-produced comedy special "I'm Every Woman" is now on Netflix.

Olyphant is best known for portraying lawmen in cowboy hats. He reprises the role of deputy U.S. marshal Raylan Givens in the sequel Justified: City Primeval, based on Elmore Leonard's novel.

"My father was not a good person, but he was a great character," Sedaris says. The humorist reflected on his late father in the memoir Happy-Go-Lucky. Originally broadcast May 31, 2022.

Jesse Armstrong is Succession's creator, showrunner and head writer. In the past, he has been reluctant to reveal much about Succession's plot lines or the characters' motivations. But with the finale behind us, Armstrong is ready to talk. He spoke to Terry Gross, along with Frank Rich, an executive producer of the series.

The Emmy-winning actor, who died in 2017, is the subject of a new MAX documentary, Being Mary Tyler Moore. She spoke to Terry Gross in 1995 about the ups and downs of her career and personal life.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus is best known for playing Elaine on the hit comedy series Seinfeld, but her credits also include SNL, The New Adventures of Old Christine and the HBO series Veep. Along the way, she's won 11 Emmy awards. In the new movie, You Hurt My Feelings, Louis-Dreyfus plays a writer whose world is turned upside down when she learns that her husband hates the novel she's working on — despite his reassurances to the contrary.

Sykes has a new comedy special on Netflix titled "I'm An Entertainer," where she takes on everything from raising teenagers with her French wife to the dilemmas of living in a hyper-charged political climate.

The title of Irby's new memoir in essays, Quietly Hostile, was inspired by her own public persona, which she describes as a "a constant low-grade frustration with everything" wrapped in "an outer shield of Midwestern politeness and charm."