Kent Alterman

Explore what makes us laugh, why, and how that's influenced our social and political landscape throughout history.

Jackie Moon is the owner, promoter, coach, and star player of the Flint Michigan Tropics of the American Basketball Association (ABA), the worst team in the league. In 1976 before the ABA collapses, the NBA plans to merge with the best teams of the ABA at the end of the season. Only the top four teams will make the move and the worst teams will fold. If the Tropics want to make it to the NBA, Jackie Moon must rally his team and start winning.

A dive into an incredible moment in comedy, culture, and politics when Tom and Dick Smothers challenged CBS censors, Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon, and ultimately each other. The duo did so via their comedy variety show The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, which in its two-year run on CBS, made a major impact with its political satire. The Smothers Brothers used the program as a platform to critique the Vietnam War and tackle other hot topics, coming into conflict with censors, who demanded cuts or last-minute edits to jokes, and fighting management to keep their material intact.

Explore what makes us laugh, why, and how that's influenced our social and political landscape throughout history.

Jackie Moon is the owner, promoter, coach, and star player of the Flint Michigan Tropics of the American Basketball Association (ABA), the worst team in the league. In 1976 before the ABA collapses, the NBA plans to merge with the best teams of the ABA at the end of the season. Only the top four teams will make the move and the worst teams will fold. If the Tropics want to make it to the NBA, Jackie Moon must rally his team and start winning.

A dive into an incredible moment in comedy, culture, and politics when Tom and Dick Smothers challenged CBS censors, Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon, and ultimately each other. The duo did so via their comedy variety show The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, which in its two-year run on CBS, made a major impact with its political satire. The Smothers Brothers used the program as a platform to critique the Vietnam War and tackle other hot topics, coming into conflict with censors, who demanded cuts or last-minute edits to jokes, and fighting management to keep their material intact.