Black Comedians Are Utilizing their Comedy to Awareness to Social Injustices

When we tend to think about artists and people who have an impact on our society through entertainment, we normally think of musicians, dancers, actors, and sometimes even athletes. We reflect on the movies we’ve watched, the basketball games we’ve attended and our favorite songs, but what about the jokes we laughed at? Comedians are one of the best assets to our entertainment system, but a lot of people aren’t aware of the impact they have on society, let alone how they point out real issues during their sets. TIME Studios and Kevin Hart’s media company, HARTBEART, created a new documentary that is focused on the evolution of Black comedians and their unique way of sharing what it’s like to be Black in America and the injustices that millions of people face on a day to day basis. Right to Offend: The Black Comedy Revolution will premiere on Wednesday, June 29 at 9pm ET/PT and Thursday, June 30 at 9pm ET/PT on A&E Network.

Right to Offend features interviews from many well-known comedians, and the families of the comedians who have passed. With the widespread and normalcy of social media and television today, most people know about Tiffany Haddish, Kevin Hart and Steve Harvey, but what about those who paved the way back in the 1900s? Redd Foxx, who was born in 1921, was one of the pioneers of comedy back during the civil rights movement (1950s and 60s) along with Dick Gregory, and Moms Mabley. The comedy didn’t stop there, over the years comedians like Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, Dave Chappelle and many others also rose to popularity! While on stage in front of thousands of people (and millions of people when they have TV comedy specials), these artists are able to keep people entertained while also sharing the raw truth about the many ridiculous things that happen each and every day. This two-part documentary shares the obstacles that our Black comedians have faced, how the current generation of comedians are building off of their hilariously amazing predecessors, and how important it is to stand up for social change.

“Right to Offend” will also be available on demand and to stream on the A&E app and aetv.com.