''The History of Comedy'' is a

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

documentary series, as part of CNN Original Series. The documentary explores the underlying questions of what makes American people laugh, why, and how the laughter influenced their social and political landscape throughout American history. The show utilizes archival footage, punctuated by contemporary interviews with comedians and

scholar A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researc ...

Series overview

Episodes

Season 1 (2017)

Season 2 (2018)

''History of the Sitcom''

In 2021, CNN followed their comedy history docuseries with '' History of the Sitcom'', an eight-part series which traced the development of the American situation comedy show from the 1950s to the 21st Century. The show features 184 interviews with creatives, actors and directors including Norman Lear,

Mel Brooks Mel Brooks (born Melvin James Kaminsky; June 28, 1926) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. With a career spanning over seven decades, he is known as a writer and director of a variety of successful broad farces and parodies. He began ...

and

Carl Reiner Carl Reiner (March 20, 1922 – June 29, 2020) was an American actor, stand-up comedian, director, screenwriter, and author whose career spanned seven decades. He was the recipient of many awards and honors, including 11 Primetime Emmy Awards, ...

(in his last recorded interview).

References

2017 American television series debuts CNN original programming English-language television shows 2010s American documentary television series {{US-nonfiction-tv-prog-stub