Hey everyone, it's me, W. Commode Bell. Welcome back to the ACLU's podcast at Liberty.

62, 68, 72, 75, bingo.

These are the words that comedian Phil Baker recited on CBS Radio in the mid-1930s.

He was listing the ages of the Supreme Court justices and the network executive that comedian Phil Baker recited on CBS radio in the mid-1930s.

He was listing the ages of the Supreme Court justices and the network executives censored

him for it.

At the time, there were pitched protests over what comedy was considered, quote, political

and what made it to air.

This country is in a state of fear, declared ACLU lawyer Morris Ernst.

He continued, this is why we have censorship. It wouldn't surprise me if in the next year

the president took over control of all the radio stations. Nearly 100 years later,

what constitutes political comedy is still up for debate and attempts to censor this humor are just as contentious.

That's why today we're turning our attention to the history of censorship and comedy,

and what it reveals about the history and present state of free speech in America.

We have two experts joining us.

Cliff Nestroff is a comedian, historian, and author whose books include

Outrageous, A History of Showbiz in the Culture Wars. Also, Cliff is a Canadian, which I'm

only saying, because it comes up. And Dean Oblediah is a lawyer, comedian, and journalist, and

the co-founder of the New York Arab American Comedy Festival, which has been going on for 22 years.

All right, we got the setup.

Let's get to the jokes.

A couple episodes back I shared with the audience where I was when I found out the

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