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An Indian-American comedian unafraid to joke politely about race and politics, Hari Kondabolu regularly challenges long-standing beliefs with his material. While his comedy is about being treated like an outsider, the jokes offer a sense of community.

Waters created Drunk History after hearing a friend sloshily recount the story of Otis Redding's death. Now, the popular series has been picked up by Comedy Central, where viewers can see famous actors lip-sync drunken narrators' laughably wrong versions of historical events.

The stand-up is back with another run of his Webby-winning online series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. He tells NPR's Linda Wertheimer the project still feels like a personal outing with friends from the business.

A new CD and DVD box set, No Pryor Restraint: Life in Concert, showcases the searing, profane and moving performances of comedian Richard Pryor. Pryor's widow, Jennifer, says his genius lay in his honesty about his well-publicized troubles.

Andrew Hudgins is a prominent poet, but what he'd really rather be doing is telling jokes — the more daring, the better. His new memoir, The Joker, explores the way uncomfortable and taboo jokes create learning and communication, and the important role they've played in his life.

Launched as an alternative to the stale stylings of the '80s stand-up circuit, Beth Lapides' event bills itself as a venue for "idiosyncratic, conversational comedy." It's helped establish careers for performers from Kathy Griffin to Randy and Jason Sklar.

Bassem Youssef, the wildly popular host of an Egyptian political satire TV show, pokes fun at Egypt's president, Islamists and others. But he's now facing a slew of legal suits accusing him of everything from insulting the president to apostasy. His legal troubles are in many ways a test case for freedom of speech in the new Egypt.

He rose to fame in the 1960s with frequent appearances on The Tonight Show and roles in such movies as It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World. In the '80s, he was on TV's Mork & Mindy. Winters' comedy albums are considered to be classics. He was 87.

Former SNL cast member Julia Sweeney has written a new memoir of her life as a Midwestern mother. She speaks to NPR's Scott Simon about her decision to adopt from China, how her daughter got to be named Mulan (yes, after the Disney character), and gaining a new appreciation for her own mother.

Rob Delaney has almost 670,000 Twitter followers. He talks to NPR's Audie Cornish about what that means for his traditional standup career, and whether he cares if you call him a "Twitter comedian."