comedy

John Oliver speaks at Comedy Central's "Night of Too Many Stars: America Comes Together for Autism Programs" in New York in 2015. Charles Sykes/AP hide caption

Comedian Irwin Corey was known for his long-running act as "The World's Foremost Authority." He is pictured here in the 1970s. Corey died at the age of 102. ABC/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images hide caption

Corey Ryan Forrester, Drew Morgan and Trae Crowder write and perform together. They wrote a book called The Liberal Redneck Manifesto, which challenges what readers might expect from Southern comedy. Robin Marchant/Getty Images hide caption

Stephen Agyei (left) and Roy Wood Jr. talk about what it takes to make it in comedy. Jeffrey Nicholson/Courtesy of Stephen Agyei; Mindy Tucker/Courtesy of Roy Wood Jr. hide caption

Aparna Nancherla says that making jokes about depression and anxiety injects "a little dose of hope." Shaughn & John hide caption

Qui Nguyen wrote Vietgone to tell the story of his parents' meeting at a Vietnamese refugee camp in Arkansas in 1975. Jesse Dittmar/Courtesy of Qui Nguyen hide caption

Cameron Esposito (left) and her wife Rhea Butcher play married comedians in their new show Take My Wife. Seeso hide caption

Comedian George Carlin appears at Wheeler Opera House in Aspen, Colo., in 2007 during HBO's 13th Annual U.S. Comedy Arts Festival. Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic Inc for HBO/Getty Images hide caption

Pakistani stand-up comedy pioneer Saad Haroon tests cultural sensitivities between his native country and India in his material. "When it comes to satire, I think as a culture, we kind of struggle with it," he says. Facebook hide caption

Comedian Aziz Ansari says while online dating has its problems, "1 out of 3 people that get married now, they meet their spouse through online dating. So you could look at it like, oh, well, there's an insane amount of love that would not even be there had it not been for these things." Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images hide caption