Comedy

The Emmy-nominated lyricist/performer used to consider song parody cheap humor: "But ... I've gotten [such a] response ... that I'm appreciating it as an art form." Originally broadcast July 17, 2019.

Mulaney spent five years as a writer and producer on SNL, but was "absolutely terrified" when he came back to host. Now he's up for an Emmy for hosting SNL. Originally broadcast March 26, 2019.

Before Sykes became a comic, she worked at the NSA and had top security clearance. Now she takes on the president in her Emmy-nominated Netflix special Not Normal. Originally broadcast Aug. 1, 2019.

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.

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.

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.

Raphael Bob-Waksberg's animated comedy series for Netflix satirizes Hollywood using a mix of human and animal characters. "Part of the original pitch was like, 'What's Mr. Ed like behind the scenes?'" BoJack (a horse) is a depressed, alcoholic, sexist former sitcom star in the #MeToo era.