Comedy
Wanda Sykes Loves Stand-Up: 'That's Where I Can Be Free,' She Says
Before Wanda Sykes became a comic, she worked as a procurement officer for the National Security Agency and had top security clearance. But she always loved telling jokes, and when a local radio station sponsored a talent show that included a comedy category, she decided to audition.
Comic Ramy Youssef On Being An 'Allah Carte' Muslim: 'You Sit In Contradictions'
Comic and actor Ramy Youssef is the son of Egyptian immigrants and a semi-observant Muslim who co-created and stars in the semi autobiographical Hulu series 'Ramy,' and has new HBO comedy special.
Ray Romano On Fame, And Finding His Bearings After 'Raymond' Wrapped
Ray Romano's comedy special, Right Here, Around the Corner, is now streaming on Netflix. He spoke to Fresh Air in 2016 about the story behind the title of his hit sit-com Everybody Loves Raymond.
John Mulaney On Hosting 'SNL': 'I Had No Idea How Hard This Was'
John Mulaney spent five years as a writer on SNL. He won an Emmy for writing his 2018 comedy special Kid Gorgeous, which was recorded live at Radio City, and is streaming on Netflix. In the animated series Big Mouth, about adolescence and puberty, Mulaney voices the character Andrew.
Kevin Hart Says Comedy's Full Of 'Flawed But Funny' People, Himself Included
For about 48 hours in December, Kevin Hart was slated to host the 2019 Academy Awards. Then Hart was called out for homophobic jokes and tweets he made in 2010, and the Academy asked him to apologize.
Hart insisted that he already had apologized. Finally, after some back and forth, Hart stepped down from hosting, saying he didn't want to be a distraction.
Don't Be Fooled By The Talking Horse — 'BoJack' Is A Sadness 'Sneak Attack'
The central character in the Netflix animated comedy series BoJack Horseman is a former sitcom star struggling with depression and alcohol addiction — who also happens to be a horse. Creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg likens his series to that other show about a talking horse, Mister Ed.
Phoebe Robinson: There's No Excuse For The Lack Of Diversity In Comedy
Phoebe Robinson has set out to change the demographics of comedy: "It's a very white male, straight male-dominated industry — and that can be exhausting," she says.
Michael Che And Colin Jost On 'SNL,' Hosting The Emmys And Hating Twitter
Saturday Night Live head writers and Weekend Update hosts Colin Jost and Michael Che are co-hosting the Emmy awards Monday night. They'll talk about their different approaches to it, and about working together on SNL.
Playwright Neil Simon Explains Why He 'Just Always Wanted To Write'
Simon, who died Sunday, spoke to Fresh Air in 1996 about finding balance between his desire for leisure time and his need to write: "They were at odds," he says. "I'm my own odd couple."
Comic Tig Notaro Wants You To Know She's 'Happy To Be Here'
After Tig Notaro stand-up set about having cancer went viral, she released the comedy special Boyish Girl Interrupted, and co-wrote and starred in the semi-autobiographical Amazon series One Mississippi. In 2015, she married actress Stephanie Allynne, and they now have twin boys.