Comedy

B.J. Novak served as a writer and an executive producer of The Office, and played Ryan, one of the stars of the series. Novak created the new topical anthology series The Premise. Each episode deals with an important cultural issue, like social justice, sex tapes, guns, and how we’re shaped by social media. Novak talks about both shows, his early days doing standup, and how his idea of comedy and good writing was affected by his father, writer William Novak.

SNL's Cecily Strong co-stars in the Apple TV+ satire series Schmigadoon!. It centers on a couple who gets trapped in a town where people burst into song. We talk with Strong as well as Cinco Paul, the show's co-creator.

Hesseman, who died Jan 29, performed in the San Francisco improv troupe The Committee in the 1960s and later played DJ Johnny Fever on WKRP from 1978 to 1982. Originally broadcast in 1988.

As a cast member of Saturday Night Live from 1995 until 2001, Molly Shannon became famous for playing Catholic schoolgirl Mary Katherine Gallagher. That should have felt like a triumph, but instead, she felt depressed. Shannon's mother, along with her 3-year-old sister and a cousin, died decades earlier, when her father, who had been drinking, crashed the family car into a pole. For years, the memory of her mother and sister propelled her forward in her career. Her new memoir Hello, Molly! recounts the tragic as well as the wonderful turning points in her life.

Hader plays a hitman who enrolls in acting classes in the dark comedy, which he co-created. He's been nominated for Emmy Awards for both acting and directing Barry. Originally broadcast June 2019.

The Emmy-winning actor talks about struggling with typecasting after Happy Days, his family's immigration story and finding out in his 30s that he had dyslexia. Originally broadcast April 11, 2019.

Thede's HBO series, A Black Lady Sketch Show, is the first sketch comedy show solely written, directed and starring Black women. "It is a nonstop job," she says of the various hats she wears.

Amer grew up in Kuwait, where he enjoyed a comfortable life — until he was 9, and the first Gulf War forced his family to flee to the U.S. in 1991. His new series is Mo.

Veteran actor Sheryl Lee Ralph has been nominated for an Emmy for her role as a tough but loving kindergarten teacher on the comedy series Abbott Elementary. With just a glance, Mrs. Barbara Howard can get an unruly class to quietly sit down or to line up single file — and Ralph is no slouch at classroom management either.

Reservation Dogs is the first and only TV series where every writer, director and series regular is Indigenous. Part comedy and part drama, the FX series streaming on Hulu follows four teenagers who long to escape the dead ends they face living on a reservation.

Critic at large John Powers reviews the third season of the acclaimed Hulu comedy-drama series, Ramy.

Bloom talks about writing songs for Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and losing her musical collaborator Adam Schlesinger, who died from COVID-19 complications in March 2020. She stars in the Hulu series Reboot.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.