In 2004, a culture war was brewing when the Super Bowl halftime show audience saw a white man expose a Black woman's breast for 9/16ths of a second. A national furor ensued. The woman was Janet Jackson, and her career was never the same.

From the immediate aftermath of 9/11 to today stand-up comedians, talk-show hosts, sketch performers, television animators and other entertainers have used often-controversial jokes to unite and heal in the face of tragedy.