Showtime celebrates Black History Month with premieres of new stand-up specials and a comedy documentary that will air throughout the month. From the blackface era of Bert Williams to the current in-your-face style of Katt Williams, director Robert Townsend polls a diverse roster of comics, scholars and cultural critics for Why We Laugh, including Bill Cosby, Stanley Crouch, Dick Gregory, Steve Harvey, Kweisi Mfume, Chris Rock, Sherri Shepherd, Congresswoman Diane Watson and Dr. Cornel West to weigh in on how black comedy has shaped America from the late 1800s to today. Stand-up specials include Paul Mooney: It’s the End of the World!, Tony Roberts: Wired!, and Big Les: Problem Child.
Meanwhile, Comedy Central will premiere stand-up specials Mike Epps: Never Faded and X-Rated (February 20), Sinbad: Where You Been? (February 21) and Charlie Murphy: I Will Not Apologize (February 27). Comedian Tony Rock will kick off the 14th season of Comedy Central Presents with his half-hour special on February 19.
