I'm Natalie Moore. I fell in love with soap operas when I was just five years old, and I still

watch them. Their television's longest scripted series and have zero reruns. Now let me tell you,

soap operas aren't just some silly art form. They are significant. In this season of making,

Stories Without End from WBEZ Chicago.

Join me as I share how the genre began, their social impact, and why these stories endure.

Listen wherever you get your podcast.

From WBEZ Chicago, this is Nerdat.

I'm Greta Johnson.

And I'm Tricia Bobita. And today we speak with comedian W. Kamau Bell. As an African-American comedian, he is tackling issues like racial justice and all sorts of other really intense things. He has a new show on CNN, which is usually considered to be a pretty newsy network.

It's called United Shades of America.

Let's take a listen to some of it.

My name is W. Camau Bell.

As a comedian, I've made a living finding humor in the parts of America I don't understand.

And now, I'm challenging myself to dig deeper.

I'm on a mission to reach out and experience all the cultures and beliefs that add color to this crazy country.

This is the United Shades of America.

So on this show, Kamau is talking to all sorts of people.

He talks to preppers, you know, those like Appalachian survivalists? Oh, the ones with lots and lots of canned foods. Yeah, totally. Exactly.

Like Alaskans, essentially, is what he's talking about. Or hipsters from Portland where he talks about gentrification. Or he also, in fact, talks to these guys.

The first thing that any man or woman learns when they join a clan group is how to wrap the cross.

So when you burn a cross, you don't burn it. It's a nothing. It's called a cross lighting.

So this, how often do you do this, you said? You wouldn't want to do them every month. It makes it less

...