The American Age

101 – Patrice O'Neal died in 2011, but his comedy is still hot. Stories that turn a bitter reality into laughter is this week's subject. Should there be a limit on what comedians can say for a joke?

100 – The hosts reflect on the last 100 episodes. What have the learned about each other, and about the issues they've discussed?

099 – The cliché goes that "laughter is the best medicine," but the idea's been around for thousands of years, so it's probably best to call it "wisdom." How can comedy help us cope with trauma?

098 – There's laughing at yourself, and then there's laughing at others. While the former is virtuous the latter is indispensable to group cohesion. In this episode the hosts talk about Jim Jefferies and Louis C.K. What are the limits of comedy?

097 – The hosts take a personal look at what they find funny and why. Fair warning, political sensitivities aren't off-limits.

096 – Even though the country's racist history still troubles the present, there are reasons to look up. What can we take away from @NYTimes 1619 project?

095 – The history of racism in medical care is not surprising, but the impact it continues to have on contemporary medical treatments is shocking. How do unscientific racial biases continue to distort evidence-based medicine?

094 – The hosts talk about the history of food production in the United States and its connections to poverty, race, and slavery. How is the legacy of slavery connected to the contemporary obesity epidemic? Listen and find out.

093 – The hosts discuss the history of "performing blackness" in music, as well as other forms of media. What does it mean to "co-opt" another culture's music? What's fair and what's foul in artistic expression?

092 – The legacy of slavery is long, but should the criticism of it extend to musical appropriation? What exactly is musical appropriation, and what can Warren G's Regulate teach us about it?