GEOFF BENNETT: In the 1990s, a remarkable wave of Black sitcoms and sketch comedy reshaped American television.

Shows like "In Living Color" and "Living Single" reflected a wide range of Black life and helped broaden how millions of Americans understood Black experiences.

That moment and the long history that helped make it possible are at the core of my new book, "Black Out Loud."

I recently spoke with Amna Nawaz about it.

AMNA NAWAZ: Congratulations on the book.

GEOFF BENNETT: Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: I'm so happy to talk to you about this.

So this is a book that looks at the long history of Black comedy in America.

You focus on the 1990s in particular though, right?

GEOFF BENNETT: Yes.

AMNA NAWAZ: Why?

GEOFF BENNETT: It was this question that I kept coming back to.

What was it about the '90s that allowed all of these shows to exist on the air at the same time and thrive?

These shows were at the top of the ratings.

They had broad appeal, but they were at the same time unapologetically specific and authentic.

And as a journalist who covers American life and culture, as we do, I realized that the story of these shows, what they meant, what they gave us, the overall cultural imprint, had never really been told.

So I wrote the book I wanted to read and in the process spoke to the performers and the producers who really built that era, not just about what existed on screen, but what it all really meant.

So here's a glimpse of some of the conversations that informed the book.

WOMAN: Ladies and gentlemen, Keenen Ivory Wayans.

(CHEERING) GEOFF BENNETT: On a Sunday night in April of 1990, something quietly radical happened on American television.

FOX aired the first episode of "In Living Color"... MAN: Jewelry, jewelry, jewelry.

GEOFF BENNETT: ... a sketch comedy show created, written, and controlled by Black artists.

DAMON WAYANS, Actor: Homey don't play that.

(LAUGHTER) GEOFF BENNETT: It was a cultural shockwave that helped ignite a boom of Black comedy on TV,when millions of Americans saw versions of themselves on screen that felt specific and True.

Erika Alexander played Maxine Shaw on the FOX sitcom "Living Single," about young Black professionals navigating work, friendship, and dating in Brooklyn.

The '90s were the golden age of Black sitcoms.

What did it feel like to exist inside that ecosystem?

ERIKA ALEXANDER, Actress: It was amazing.

It was amazing to be in that era.

It felt like anybody could be done and that we in large measure could start to achieve some of the things that in the '60s people said would happen.

GEOFF BENNETT: But to understand how that door opened, you have to go back, all the way back, because, for decades, Black comedy existed inside narrow limits, propping up America's first form of mass entertainment, minstrelsy.

Comedians like Bert Williams became stars even while navigating an industry that demanded Black performers play degrading caricatures.

MAN: Mom, take it away.

GEOFF BENNETT: Decades later, Moms Mabley mixed sharp social commentary with disarming warmth.

In the 1960s, Dick Gregory carried stand up directly into the civil rights movement.

DICK GREGORY, Comedian: Have you ever stopped to think that, if all the Negroes left the South, buses would ride like this?

(LAUGHTER) ANNOUNCER: "The Flip Wilson Show."

GEOFF BENNETT: By the early 1970s, Flip Wilson broke new ground as the first Black comedian to host a major network variety show.

FLIP WILSON, Comedian: You destroyed my whole image.

RICHARD PRYOR, Comedian: The damndest thing I have ever heard of in my life.

GEOFF BENNETT: Richard Pryor, whose approach was raw, fearless and deeply personal, reshaped what comedy could do.

RICHARD PRYOR: All the people you ever heard of freebasing, have you ever heard of anybody blowing up?

(LAUGHTER) RICHARD PRYOR: Why me?

GEOFF BENNETT: Comedian Sinbad says Pryor changed everything.

SINBAD, Actor and Comedian: Richard was so real.

The first album I bought, comedy album, I was playing it.

My father, who was a preacher, was in the hallway.

And mother, my mother, who's a mother of the church, they were both cracking up.

They said: "Who's that?"

I said: "It's Richard Pryor."

So he called everybody.

GEOFF BENNETT: By the 1990s, the TV industry was shifting.

Networks and advertisers began recognizing the buying power of a growing Black middle class.

For the first time, Black audiences weren't just being counted.

They were being courted.

And sitcoms became the perfect vehicle.

"A Different World" proved comedy could tackle serious ideas... ACTRESS: You can't trust anybody in a uniform.

GEOFF BENNETT: ... gender, class, racism, without losing its audience, since comedy has a way of lowering defenses, while making a point, says Sinbad.

SINBAD: We're the ones you can bring in and talk about what's happening in the world, and we can bring it away that's funny, and somebody in the audience that might not even agree with the viewpoint, if you do it right, you can get somebody to go like, OK, I will cast you that side of it.

GEOFF BENNETT: "Living Single" captured the lives of young Black professionals years before mainstream TV caught up.

ACTRESS: So good to see a woman on the job.

ERIKA ALEXANDER: It's good to be one.

GEOFF BENNETT: Erika Alexander says the influence of her character, a high-powered attorney, still surprises her.

ERIKA ALEXANDER: These amazing people started coming up to me saying they went into law, they went to executive positions, they went into education, leadership positions because they were very inspired by Maxine Shaw, attorney at law.

I knew that representation mattered, but there was proof positive.

They had actually done the things that Maxine Shaw was purporting to have done.

ACTOR: Go put on your work clothes.

GEOFF BENNETT: "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" presented a Black family whose lives were shaped by affluence and aspiration.

ACTRESS: How's your job going?

GEOFF BENNETT: Karyn Parsons played Hilary Banks, a character who could have become a one-note punchline, but became something far more enduring.

WILL SMITH, Actor: You know he likes you.

KARYN PARSONS, Actress: Oh, and I'm supposed to be nice to everyone who likes me?

How much time do you think I have?

(LAUGHTER) KARYN PARSONS: Well, I hear people a lot say stuff about her being ditzy.

And the younger generations didn't see her that way.

They look at her as a role model, because she went out there and she went after what she wanted.

And she had no problem saying, this is who I am and I'm beautiful and I'm going to do this, and no holding back, no trying to make nice for people or try to make people comfortable.

GEOFF BENNETT: Did you feel the weight of representing a version of Black life which at the time really contradicted so many dominant narratives?

KARYN PARSONS: No.

I think at the time, for one thing, it was hard to comprehend that so many people were actually watching and that so many people would watch.

"Cosby Show" was happening at the time.

And they were the -- they were kind of like the epitome of Black family and family period because it was a number one show, period.

So we were kind of this -- to me, it was kind of like this very odd cast of characters, strange, kind of all very different, all of these things that were actually very important, I would find later, I think for representation.

They were such different Black characters, people.

GEOFF BENNETT: Different voices, different visions of Black life airing the same week, sometimes even the same night.

And that mattered because audiences were finally seeing a range of stories instead of just one.

ERIKA ALEXANDER: I think up, until that point, everybody was thinking about the weight of what it would mean and how we told those stories.

But there was a specific freedom in maybe saying, well, we don't have to because there's all sorts of different people telling the stories.

There was just a feeling that the sky was the limit and that we were suddenly being supported.

That's different when you're being funded and supported.

GEOFF BENNETT: Supported and, for millions of viewers, that expanded what seemed possible.

AMNA NAWAZ: That is so incredible to hear from these folks, a sneak peek into your book.

But, big picture, at this moment, Geoff, why does all this matter, like, beyond being nostalgic about some of these characters and shows?

GEOFF BENNETT: I think it matters because cultural memory is fragile and it requires tending.

For Black viewers, these shows were important because there was a sense of recognition, there was a rhythm, there was a familiarity that we saw when watching these programs.

And for everybody else, there was something just as powerful.

It was this intimate window into lives and experiences they might not have otherwise encountered.

Having covered national politics and having covered cultural issues, I can tell you that culture is where politics gets debated first.

It is where society often tells the truth about itself first.

And Black comedy has always done that.

That is the legacy and lineage of Black comedy.

So this book really speaks to that.

And I should say this book is part oral history, it's part serious scholarship, but it's also a lot of fun.

It's meant to be a fun read.

So anybody who grew up in the '90s watching these shows, anyone who's rediscovering them now, this is a book for them.

AMNA NAWAZ: Well, I know you have poured yourself into it.

It's been a lot of hard work, but it's clearly been joyful for you too.

So, congratulations again, my friend.

GEOFF BENNETT: Thank you.

I appreciate it.

And you can hear my full conversation with Amna about my new book, the writing process, and much more on a special episode of this week's PBS News podcast "Settle In."

That's on our YouTube page or wherever you get your podcasts.